Days 139 – 141: Hue

Photos: http://princeton.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2059950&l=817c7&id=1101094

The following morning I caught a bus to Hue and experienced my first daylight intercity travel since I’d entered Vietnam. The road wound along the South China Sea coastline, and the views from the cliffs were at times spectacular, and I found myself half-wishing that I’d taken fewer night buses on the way up the coast. But twelve hour bus rides really are far more painful when they don’t include at least ten hours of sleep.

The weather worsened throughout the five hour journey, and by the time we reached Hue the sky was dark and a slight drizzle was falling. The temperature had also dropped considerably—I’d guess it was only 60 degrees or so. Seeing as I had two more days in Hue, I decided to wait for the weather to get better before wandering around the town, and I spent most of the afternoon reading in a café near my guesthouse.

But the following morning the weather was even worse. The air was just as cold, and the drizzle had turned to a steady rain. I ate a leisurely breakfast and waited for the clouds to clear, but they never did, so in the late morning I set out to see Hue in the rain.

Hue has historically been a very important Vietnamese city, although today it seems like more of a museum. Hue served as the political capital of Vietnam during the Nguyen dynasty, from 1802 to 1945, and it was during this time that the impressive Citadel was built. Situated on the north bank of the Song Huong (Perfume River), the Citadel measures four square kilometers and is enclosed by a thick 6m wall. Though the structure was heavily bombed by the US during the Vietnam War, most of the important imperial buildings still remain, although most of the rest of the land inside the walls is now used for agriculture.

I spent the entire afternoon wandering around the grounds of the Citadel. Though the architecture of the temples and palaces was impressive, the cold rain hardly added to my enjoyment of the place, and by the late afternoon I was cold and covered in mud from the knee down. I walked over the Song River bridge and back to my guesthouse, excited for a hot shower. Unfortunately, the hot shower lasted only two minutes and was followed by a frigid shower. Hot water heaters are not Southeast Asia’s forte.

I was hoping to take a riverboat down the Song Huong the following day to visit an important temple and a few royal tombs, but I awoke to more cold rain and I bagged the idea. Instead, I walked four kilometers down the river and visited the temple, which was called Thien Mu Pagoda. Apparently the temple is one of the most holy temples in Vietnam, but I saw far more tourists with cameras that worshipers in the two hours I was there. The thing I found most interesting about the temple was that it was the home pagoda of Thich Quang Duc, the monk who burned himself in Saigon in 1963 to protest the oppressive policies of then-president Ngo Dinh Diem. I’m guessing you’ve all seen the famous photo of the burning, but if you haven’t it’s on the cover of Rage Against the Machine’s self-titled album.

By midday I had seen all I cared to see of Hue, and the constant rain meant that wandering around the city was a less-than-appealing option, so I stopped by the city market and then passed the last few hours before my bus came in a café, finishing Pride and Prejudice and starting Love in the Time of Cholera.