An Overambitious Day in Huế

Hello and xin chào!

Preparations for Tết (lunar new year—and the most important holiday in Vietnam by far) are well underway here in Hanoi. Groves of potted kumquat trees and boughs of peach blossoms have appeared along roadsides, and traffic is becoming a round-the-clock nightmare. The expectant energy of an upcoming holiday is palpable, especially given that I get more than a week off of work.

Last Sunday, meanwhile, I made a less-than-ideal trip to the cultural capital of central Vietnam, Huế. Since I didn't want to use up any of my precious vacation days on a domestic trip, I decided to fly down on a Sunday morning and return on Monday. I had scored round-trip tickets on the hour-long flight from Hanoi for about $50, which made the prospect of a 24-hour visit seem pretty reasonable. What I didn't account for was that I would be subject to the caprices of Vietnamese weather for a single day of outdoor sightseeing. Naturally, it was drizzling that entire Sunday in Huế.

The capital of Vietnam from 1802 to 1945, Huế is known for its Imperial City. In 1802, Emperor Gia Long ascended to the throne, beginning the Nguyễn dynasty, and moved the capital from Hanoi to a new site along the Perfume River in Huế. Though the emperors of the Nguyễn dynasty ruled until 1945, they were seen as colonial puppets of the French by the 1880s.

Entering the Imperial Citadel through Ngọ Môn Gate.

Within the 2.4-square-mile Imperial City lies the Imperial Citadel, Huế's main attraction. To reach the Citadel, you must cross the Perfume River from the modern city center and pass through the Imperial City's fortifications, which are somewhat jarringly abutted on both sides by the modern city. After another moat, the Ngọ Môn (Meridian) Gate ushers you into the UNESCO World Heritage site.

Thái Hòa Palace.

None of the Citadel's architecture was particularly grand or impressive in and of itself, but the site imparted a dignified sense of calm. This was helped by the fact that very few portions of the complex had any crowds or tour groups, perhaps because of the weather. The first building past the Ngọ Môn Gate was the Thái Hòa palace, where emperors were crowned and received visitors. The interior, which barred photos, was surprisingly spare and led out to the Halls of the Mandarins.

One of the Halls of the Mandarins.

Beyond the Halls of the Mandarins was a largely empty expanse of grass flanked by decorated passageways. This area used to be home to the Purple Forbidden City. Similar to the Forbidden City in Beijing, this was the innermost portion of the Citadel that only allowed entry to members of the royal family, but it was totally leveled during the famous Tết Offensive in 1968.

One of the passageways next to the site of the Purple Forbidden City.

One of the longest and bloodiest battles of the American war in Vietnam, the Battle of Huế saw the Imperial City under siege for a full month. Fighting went from house to house in the dense city, with even the Citadel seeing combat. Initially, the Americans and South Vietnamese avoided damage to the historic structures, but after a few weeks of fighting, the South Vietnamese prime minister approved the use of all necessary force to clear the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong. The battle ultimately resulted in the deaths of an estimated 5,000 soldiers and 5,000 civilians—half or more of whom were executed by the North Vietnamese. Although the battle was a victory for the U.S. and South Vietnam, American public opinion started to turn against the war in the aftermath. Walter Cronkite filmed a report from the battle, and his editorializing therein purportedly led Lyndon B. Johnson to famously say, "If I've lost Cronkite, I've lost Middle America."

Schematic of the Citadel. The blue square is the Purple Forbidden City. Structures destroyed by the Americans and South Vietnamese are in green. Surviving structures are in red. For reference, #1 is the Ngọ Môn Gate, #5 is Thái Hòa Palace, and #7 is the Hall of the Mandarins.

As you can see from the map above, large swaths of the Citadel were destroyed (in green), including almost all of the Purple Forbidden City. In the years following the war, much of the site remained in a state of disrepair, as the Communist government disavowed it as a symbol of bourgeois decadence and traditionalism. Since UNESCO World Heritage Site designation in 1993, however, major restoration work has been undertaken. Even so, there's still rubble on the site, and some buildings still bear the pockmarks of bullets and shells.

Wandering in the Citadel.

After inexplicably taking pictures with some Vietnamese teenagers on a field trip, I peeled off and headed down some side paths that were totally abandoned. (Except for one where two middle-aged men were listening to music from a Bluetooth speaker.)

Outside corner of the Emperor's Reading Room.

Detail on a pillar.

I stopped at the totally empty Emperor's Reading Room before stumbling upon Thiệu Phương Garden.

View from the Thiệu Phương Garden pavilion.

Koi pond (or stream, I guess) in Thiệu Phương Garden.

Impossibly serene—especially in a drizzle that could be more accurately called mist—Thiệu Phương Garden was reconstructed in 2010 from pre-war drawings. I should mention that at the time I didn't know any of this information since, unsurprisingly, there was almost no signage anywhere.

One of many plaques along a passageway.

Dragon statue looking over the scant remains of the Purple Forbidden City.

I made my way towards the back of the Citadel and wandered towards the Diên Thọ Residence.

Pond at the Diên Thọ Residence.

Used as the home of the queen mother, the complex was, like many other parts of the Citadel, extremely quiet and calm. I even wandered towards the back of a temple building and found a woman cooking a full meal in a kitchen. (For whom, I have no idea. This country never ceases to baffle me.) Up next was the Tổ Miếu temple complex.

Looking out from Hưng Tổ Miếu, the smaller of the two temples in the Tổ Miếu complex.

One of the Nine Dynastic Urns at Thế Tổ Miếu, the larger temple.

Comprising a pavilion two temples, Hưng Tổ Miếu and Thế Tổ Miếu, the complex honors the emperors of the Nguyễn dynasty. One of the centerpieces is the Nine Dynastic Urns, a row of nine massive bronze urns that mean… something. They certainly looked cool totally full of rainwater.

At this point, it was less than an hour and a half to sunset, and I had to get moving if I wanted to visit one of the many imperial tombs scattered around the outskirts of Huế. As luck would have it, the ceaseless drizzle upgraded from mist to rain around this time, which made for a less-than-pleasant 20-minute motorbike ride. Since I was too stubborn to waste money on another poncho—a fleece hoodie clearly protecting me enough—I ended up really wet when I arrived at the Tự Đức Tomb.

A pavilion at Tự Đức Tomb.

The heavily overcast skies accelerated the fall of darkness; my camera was getting wet; my sweatshirt was soaked; and I was in the middle of nowhere. Totally bedraggled at this point—having slept six hours after teaching for eight hours the day before)—I wandered around the dreary but scenic complex and encountered no more than half a dozen other people.

Something at Tự Đức Tomb. I have no idea what.

It seemed like a really cool place, but the rain made it pretty difficult to enjoy. I had other spots I wanted to visit with my [totally garbage] motorbike, but I ran out of daylight. I called it quits and braced myself for the nearly half hour drive back to my bizarre, cowboy-themed hostel. (None of the pictures online advertised this theme, but it was shockingly pervasive.)

This massive graphic awaited me every time I went used the stairs.

I relaxed at the hostel for the evening, and the next morning I headed to the airport for the one-hour flight back to Hanoi. The airport was by far the smallest I've ever been to: there were cattle roaming next to the access road; the baggage claim and check-in counters were in the same room; and there were three gates total—none with jet bridges. (As a side note, a woman sitting behind me on the plane answered a phone call while we were landing in Hanoi, still fully in the air.)

At 6:00pm, it was back to teaching and the usual routine. Check out more pictures from my trip here.

Till next time,
Gray