Imperial City
Trip Start
Jul 15, 2007
1
134
195
Trip End
Jul 16, 2008
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Hue,
Vietnam
Sunday, March 9, 2008
We spent two days in Hue, the old imperial city, where the Nguyen emperors ruled until the late 19th century. From 1874 to 1884 the French turned Vietnam and nearby Cambodia and Laos into French colonies, leaving the Nguyen emperors in place as puppets with no real power.
The French looted the country of many of its artistic treasures, including the tiny golden statues of trees that stood on the altars of the dead emperors. The last nine emperors were puppets only, though they continued to enjoy lavish lifestyles complete with fancy palaces, temples built in honor of their ancestors, magnificent tombs and hundreds of concubines.
It rained both days we were in Hue, so our morning and evening cycling tours were cancelled. Or would have been cancelled, had our guide had any idea they were supposed to happen in the first place. We've been happy with our tour operator in general, but for a company one of whose divisions is VeloAsia, specializing in cycling tours of Vietnam, Thailand and Myanmar, they sure have trouble getting the bicycle stuff right. The only kid-capable bike we saw on our whole time in Vietnam was a tandem supplied by the Palm Garden resort, without any help from our tour operator.
When I looked at our daily schedule and saw, 'Tour Tombs of Nguyen Emperors', I rolled my eyes. Buddhist temples and royal tombs in Southeast Asia are like half-ruined triumphal gates in Rome, or rumors about Bill Clinton's extra-marital dalliances, so numerous and similar as to quickly become uninteresting.
Not these. I suspect that part of the appeal of the two tombs was the weather. It was a misty, rainy day with temperature in the low 70s. Not so warm as to be stifling, not so cold as to be miserable. The tombs sit on hills outside the city with views of the Perfume River and the pine-covered slopes of the nearby mountains. Standing on the steps of the Tu Duc tomb, in a courtyard filled with life-size statues of mandarins and elephants, I could see the spires of the temples framed by pine trees, and behind them the tree-covered slopes of the limestone hills half-obscured by the swirling mists. (The landscape here, like that of Halong Bay, is dominated by the fractal shapes of karst formations, here more weathered and covered with more vegetation than in the bay.)
I tried for fifteen minutes to catch the look and feel of the landscape in a photograph, entirely without success. Perhaps a more talented photographer with a better selection of lenses could have captured the moment, but I doubt it. I think this is an example of a landscape that can only be truly captured in a painting; perhaps an ink drawing on rice paper. One tends to think of pictures of rugged mountains and pine trees in the mist as an Asian style of art, rather than an accurate depiction of a characteristic Asian landscape. After seeing the Hue tombs in the rain, I think the art reflects the landscape.
The second Thai Dinh tomb was in a large complex further outside of town. The temple was finished during the king's lifetime, and featured a wide moat leading to the river. A ceremonial pond complete with boathouse lay below the temple. The king would often visit the temple to worship and contemplate, and would often take to one of the boats kept on the lake below. A broad path led through the woods to the king's tomb.
We approached the tomb up stairs and through gates in the surrounding wall. We were the only ones there. The combination of rain and fog had kept other tourists in their hotels.
"Listen!" said Jack. "Can you hear that sound? Is it a waterfall?"
We were all quiet. After a few moments, we began to hear the sound. It was a gentle murmur, the sound of millions of raindrops hitting the leaves of the trees all around us. The raised stone tomb was framed by the bare white branches of the frangipani trees. We all stood quietly, even the children, just listening and watching. It was a peculiarly Asian moment, a combination of landscape, architecture and vegetation giving a strong sense of place, a moment of stillness and peace..
Hue
