"Hue (hway) is steeped in 3,000 years of history and is built on the banks of the Perfume River. We have time for a visit to the Citadel (and a few other goodies) before the 4:25 pm flight to Ha Noi, Vietnam's capital".
Today saw a change in the original plans to allow for a half-day tour of Hanoi due to a change in the original flight schedule which disappointed some who otherwise will have no time left at the end to explore Ha Noi. Nevertheless, we got to a lot more of Hue. No rest for the wicked on our rest day, once again we are up for a 6:30 am breakfast prior to getting into the tour bus that takes us to the Citadel, a walled city encompassing the Forbidden Purple Palace, home to a series of Emperors, their wives, parents and in-laws, a hundred plus concubines, eunuchs and mandarins. Our group was the first there on a very drab, dreich day (of which there have been several) but we did add some colour (photo). From there we went to a large Pagoda, from which one of the Buddhist
monks died by self-immolation on June 11th, 1963 in protest against the (South Vietnamese) government's policy of persecution of Buddhists and lack of religious freedom - this event is regarded as one of the major factors resulting in dissatisfaction with the regime, leading to the civil war of re-unification with the North in which America tried to prop up the extant regime in the South.
Next up was a cruise back into town on a tour boat on the Perfume River (characterized by mist, mud and not the kind of perfume you mght like!) The main amusement during this 30 minute interlude came from watching the ladies negotiating the purchase of silk pyjamas, pants etc Jean came out the best with a pair of silk pyjamas for which she paid the grand sum of 7,000 VDG (less than 50 cents) see photo later.
Then off to a back-alley hole-in-the-wall cafe (with only three tables) in none to hygienic conditions for several rice cake delicacies. We then returned to our hotel to check out and headed to the airport, but since we had plenty of time Binh toook us out to see Thai Dinh's mauseoleum, a grand multi-tiered affair, characterized on one level by Terracotta statues, and in the tomb itself by en bas ceramic artwork. It was paid for by taxing the populace 30% pa for 20 years! Carrying onto the airport for the next 5 kms we drove through a region of thousands upon thousands of buddhist tombs of varing styles and complexity. The English translation of the area is aptly "Sad City" - it is said that "everyone is dying to get in there"! (I know, groan!!)
We caught our 4:25 pm Vietnam Airlines A321 Airbus and were pleasantly surprised to find it warm and not humid in Ha Noi.
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