Museums: Hue and the DMZ

My visit to Hue was sort of a last-ditch decision when I found I couldn't get a plane to Pleiku at the time I had intended to travel there. I took the overnight train again - Reunification Express - but found it to be a bit less plush (relative terms here!) than the train to Lao Cai/Sapa. Still comfortable enough, though I don't think I would like to go end to end of the country without a break.

The Citadel
My objective in Hue was to visit the Citadel and Imperial Palace, as these were the main "unseen" sites from my previous visit here. During the trip south bad weather from China caught up with us and I arrived in Hue to almost constant rain. I also discovered that I had left my cap somewhere (Ninh Binh? Hanoi?). The very friendly and helpful hotel staff (I do recommend this place: Tran Ly Hotel on Le Loi Street) told me it had been raining for a few days already!

Eventually (after breakfast and a walk around the nearby streets) I decided I would just have to get out there anyway. So I bought a lightweight poncho and set off walking across the Trang Tien bridge over the Perfume River. First stop was the market for lunch and a cap!

The Citadel covers a very large area. Inside it are the Imperial Enclosure (comparable to the Forbidden City in Beijing) which contained the emperor's residence and the main imperial government buildings, and then inside that is the Forbidden Purple City, which was for the personal use of the emperor. At that point most comparisons with Beijing's Forbidden City complex have to end. Firstly, because the whole Citadel complex suffered drastic damage during the French and American Wars. Secondly, the complex in Hue has much more of a park feel to it. There are models which show the extent to which the Citadel and its enclosures were actually built up, but the use of the moat around the Citadel, the relative space that seems apparent between buildings, and the lakes and parks inside the Imperial Enclosure make a lighter atmosphere. Maybe it's really just a consequence of the first point ...

Much of my afternoon here was spent trudging around in the rain, with the camera getting progressively damper and damper to the point it almost stopped working altogether! Because I was a shutterbug yet again!

The main features of the outer perimeter of the Citadel are the 10km long walls, the outer moat, and the Flag Tower, seen here from the Ngo Mon Gate, which is the principal entrance to the Imperial Enclosure. The walls of the Imperial Enclosure are surrounded by an inner moat.

Walking through the Ngo Mon Gate you approach Thai Hoa Palace across a large pond. Behind this are the Halls of the Mandarins which have been restored, and beyond them (behind a broken down wall) was the Forbidden Purple City, now almost entirely destroyed.

From here I went on to the To Mieu Temple complex, which has also been restored. Here there are statues or pictures of the Nguyen Dynasty Emperors as well as a set of heavy, decorated bronze urns, intended to symbolise the power and stability of the Nguyen throne (although this was effectively distintegrated after 1883 and the death of Tu Duc). The buildings here were peaceful, beautifully decorated and restored, and only a few visitors. This generally is the situation in the whole Citadel because the tours make very cursory and rushed visits. So if you come to Hue - take your time!

Dien Tho Residence is one of the few other largely intact buildings (also under restoration). Around now the rain was falling again but the pavilions and walkways offered shelter as well as a close-up view of where the Queen Mothers lived and received visitors.

From here I skirted around the walls and along the streets of the Imperial Enclosure to make my way past Truong San Residence (in ruins but praised in 1844 by Emperor Thieu Tri for its gardens as one of the top 20 beautiful spots in Hue). Then past some administrative buildings from Bao Dai's era, and the Thai To Mieu temple complex which provides a counterpoint to To Mieu.

The next day I revisited the outside of the Imperial Enclosure making my way from a gate on the eastern side, around to the five cannons near Quang Duc gate, representing the five elements: metal, wood, water, fire and earth. From here I made the 7km trek to Thien Mu Pagoda (yes, on foot!)


Thien Mu
David and I came here in 1999. It is an iconic site for the Vietnamese, and features in many idyllic paintings, poetry and songs. It also has political significance for demonstrations against the South Vietnamese government of Ngo Dinh Diem. From here the Buddhist monk Thich Quang Duc set out in 1963 on his journey to Saigon and his death by self-immolation in protest against the treatment of Buddhists by the government.

There was much more to the pagoda than I remembered. Perhaps that is an accident of having visited the first time as part of a tour on the Perfume River to visit the Royal Tombs. I elected to return to Hue by boat, but the hotel staff were still amazed that I had walked so far!


De-Militarised Zone (DMZ)
On my last full day in Hue, I took a tour to the de-militarised zone. The itinerary promised a huge number of sites, but given that we also had long distances to cover from Hue up to Dong Ha then further north to Vinh Moc, then back to Dong Ha and up the Truong Son mountains to Khe Sanh combat base, I knew not to expect too much. The main thing for me was to visit the Vinh Moc tunnels. These are different to the tunnels at Cu Chi because their use was as much civilian as military.

Vinh Moc village came under constant and heavy bombardment from the Americans and the south from 1966. Many villagers left, but some remained with the encouragement of the Viet Cong. For about 4 years daily life moved underground. 17 babies were born in the delivery room in the tunnels, and families lived, cooked, ate, washed and slept here.

The other main visit of the tour was to Khe Sanh Combat Base. One of the other Australians on the tour joked that many visitors must come because of the Cold Chisel song, maybe expecting to see some links to the band or Jimmy Barnes. Here we were given an excellent commentary about the base and its history by the director of the base museum. This is the principal feature - evidence of the massive air field that was built here is almost extinguished, except for one thing. The outline remains distinct because nothing will grow on it.