During the Vietnam war Hue was just south of the demilitarised zone so suffered significant bombing by the Americans and the Viet Cong. The Americans tried to avoid bombing any of the historic sites but as the conflict escalated they decreased in their reluctance to damage these ancient.places and completely flattened the old city on the east of the perfumed river. The imperial palace and the west old town escaped virtually unscathed. Last night we went across the river to the new town and tourist street. An interesting and original name. A maze of new builds housing a myriad of bars, clubs and eateries. We settled on “The army bar” as there was a group playing and they were very good. 5 young Viet lads on guitar, beatbox flute and bass. They played a wide range of music but with massive enthusiasm and talent. I mention this because the bar was full of Americana from the war. Walls full of gi helmets, shell cases, mortars. Even the rotor assembly off a downed American helicopter. It was very interesting and a little eerie. I secretly hoped that all this equipment was army surplus rather than taken from the fallen and it was a little bizarre to sit in this bar along with people from every corner of the globe drinking, laughing and socialising in this bar full of relics in this city that had suffered so much death and destruction.
Up early. Well early enough. Today we were going to expand our cultural horizons and submerse ourselves in some Vietnamese history. Hue is famous for two particular attractions. One is the imperial palace and the other are the tombs of the Emperor’s. we are already living within the outer walls of the imperial city and can see parts of it over the walls every time we go out. The tombs lie a good distance from the city and it was a selection of these that we aimed to see today. There are seven tombs in all but of these only the two largest merit the journey to get there. Plus Crispy tends to suffer “temple overload” if dragged around ancient ruins too long in one go.
The tombs we had decided to see were Lang Tu Duc and Lang Minh Mang. We caught a taxi to the tomb of Tu Duc which dropped us off right outside the entrance. It’s a huge palace complex with the dead guys tomb tucked away at the back. He’s a sad chap. Contracting smallpox at the age of 20 he suffered constant poor health until finally dying at the age of 57. He was the last “real” emperor as under his reign the French (need I say anything) invaded and created Indo-China so making him an emperor in name only. To his credit though he had 150 wives and concubines where if I get so much as a simple cold I find it hard to manage 1.
From Tu Duc we hailed another taxi to take us to Minh Mang. The drivers command of English was even worse than my poor command of Vietnamese. I tried the Peter Kay thing. “Been busy? “What time did you start? Etc. His response to my inane chatter was to start repeating “Minh Mang, Minh Mang” over and over. Smiling inanely. I joined in with his conversation “Minh Mang, Minh Mang”. Eventually we could take no more and I started singing a song by Jim Reeves I remembered from my childhood. Bimbo. To our complete and utter amazement he joined in and we sang this little known hit from the 60,s all the rest of the way. Feck! It’s a crazy world.
The complex at Minh Mang is not as big as Tu Duc’s but it is equally impressive. Lakes gardens and temples. Both complex have koi ponds filled to the brim with specimen fish. For aquatic lovers I will include a photo. After a stroll around we grabbed a beer and headed to our last cultural highlight. The pagoda of the elderly woman, I thought the girls might feel at home but the translation was lost on them. A temple is attached to the courtyard behind the pagoda and we were lucky enough to sit a while and watch a Buddhist ceremony. It was a privilege to do so. We have seen this many times but the wonder and serenity of it never diminishes. Suitably refreshed spiritually we headed home to get suitably refreshed with spirits of a different kind. The girls are in bed and I’m sat here in this ancient house writing the blob on the eye pad. One more cheeky drink then off to bed with Buddhist chants and Jim Reeves rattling around my Brain.
Bare Crispy and Windy LynNZ signing off Hue, Vietnam...
Footnote. No witnessed occurance of IEG today. I think they were on their best behaviour
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