A pineapple peacock
Trip Start
Sep 17, 2007
1
133
272
Trip End
Oct 08, 2008
Hue,
Vietnam
Saturday, March 15, 2008
We began our investigations of the Citadel in the early afternoon. Old Hue is located in a pretty completely walled city citadel, and inside this is the Imperial Palace, which has it's own citadel, and in this there is another walled structure that was the Emperor's private residence before the Americans bombed it to smithereens. So at the moment it's mostly grass, but they're working on it. But I've gotten ahead of myself.
Before we went into the palace citadel we wandered down to the flagpole, the largest in Vietnam, and admired the square and the nine cannons that were cast by the first Emperor Gia Long to celebrate his victory of unifying all of Vietnam
moat in front of the citadel
. The four on one side represent the four seasons and the five on the other represent the five elements (yes, there are five and you would never guess them left to your own devices - they're water, fire, wind, earth and wood - but not if you're in Nepal). This becomes a very common theme in Asia, just so you know. The square under the flagpole was nice, but very hot, and we soon made our way down the street. We had decided to make a dinner reservation before going to the palace, and the walk was a little longer than we bargained for, but the reservation was made, and we had a 7 course meal to look forward to as a reward for our oh-so-strenuous day. On the way back I was way too hungry, so we stopped for a mango, which turned into three mangoes and a 7up. The third mango wasn't cut by our kindly fruit vendor, so we ventured into a shop where I bought my soda (I'd wanted one ALL day) and I asked for a knife. My asking for a knife turned into the friendly shopkeeper/mom washing and slicing my mango even better than the fruit vendor lady. We went back later for another soda and another mango and she was just as nice the second time around.
At last we made it into the palace. Certain portions managed to survive the bombing relatively intact, while others survived not at all
gate to the citadel
. Still, it's a good place to spend an afternoon exploring. We walked though the gate and into the decorative gates that lead into the audience chamber. This enormous edifice was used by the emperor for audiences and festivals, and the bulk of the room is wide open to provide plenty of space for standing/kowtowing mandarins. There are more than 80 pillars holding up the structure, painted red with gold dragons. Some are even original, and I must say that if I had an audience chamber I, too, would opt for red pillars with gold dragons. Behind this edifice there are two buildings that were once dedicated to the emperor's mandarins. Now one is some sort of storage and the other is a little museum with some Vietnamese Imperial kitsch. You should check out the Vietnamese unicorn. Neither Travis nor I think it looks anything like a unicorn, but the ones here at least had a little bump on their heads. There was also a nifty but impossible-looking game in with you bounce sticks into urns. Speaking of urns, in this same square there are two enormous ones, but unlike the ones at the Forbidden City they are not used for putting out fires. These urns are to enhance the good chi of the palace. After this you enter the inner sanctum of the emperors: the Purple Forbidden City. As I said, however, this inner sanctum is not so much walled anymore (there are bits), and the inside is full of grass. And bomb craters. The emperor's library is still standing, though, and it has a really nifty mosaic roof. I am a fan of the mosaic dragon and phoenix roof decorations. The best is when they make the glass bits really look like scales. Very cool. There is also a rock garden outside the library, and the whole presents a lovely picture.
Having finished exploring the guts of the palace we wandered over to the west side and made our way from the northern corner to the southern, thereby finishing with the best-preserved structures in the complex
a really big flagpole
. We started with Minh Mang's garden, which is supposed to be really pretty, but at the moment it's under some pretty serious reconstruction (read, all the ground you can walk on is covered with wood) and the crescent lake is not so much water as lily pads. But it certainly has the potential to reach its old glory. Next is the den of the mothers and wives. I explored this area for some time, partly because I was curious and partly because I lost Travis. There's the main abode, and in the front of it a large, open room where you can see some of their clothing. Along the far west wall there's a little chapel that you can't enter, but the courtyard has a great big tree surrounded by turtles (unfortunately not live ones), and it's a very peaceful spot. I think it's also not commonly viewed, considering that even Travis didn't manage to find it and he wanders everywhere. On the other side of the female enclosure is a pretty little tea house set in a rock garden pond. The tea house is open and airy, and the pond is speckled with lily pads and two playful rocks covered in plants and pagodas, bridges, and cranes. I particularly liked the old fisherman.
The best preserved area is somewhat large, quite lavishly decorated (as far as colored glass and ceramics go, but there is gold inside the buildings), and dedicated to the Vietnamese emperors
the imperial enclosure
. It's really a temple, so as we and other tourists wandered around and examined the altars there were Vietnamese doing their little three-bob prayers. It was an interesting experience for me, but they didn't seem to mind. Just so you know, the emperors begin with Gia Long in the middle and then Minh Mang, the second emperor is to his left, while the third emperor is to his right. They seem to flip back and forth like this, making it difficult for you to get a simple chronological picture as you walk the length of the room. The altars have pictures (some of them photos) of the emperors, which is possibly the most interesting thing about the room. Outside, on the opposite side of the courtyard, there are nine large urns, all different, commemorating nine emperors. I don't know who or how they chose, but there were actually more than nine in all, so some got left out. Gia Long's is the biggest and in the middle. It's rather impressive and about half again as tall as Travis. I also wouldn't want to lift it, as I believe it weighs something like 100 kilos.
Then it was nearly closing time, so we sat up in the top of the gate to watch the people come and go in the street and the flag square. There were bundles of cyclo drivers and photographers looking for some end-of-the-day business and the flag was billowing as evening set in
cool lion
. We meandered over to the restaurant. I was wearing a skirt, but also a cotton tee-shirt. Travis was wearing swim trunks and a tee-shirt. We were hoping we wouldn't be underdressed. As it happened, we weren't. One of the staff was wearing jeans. We got to the restaurant a little early, but they didn't have a problem with that. I think it was good we got in at around 6:30 because later a monstrously large (and by extension loud) tour group came in and took over, but by then we were done eating, and so our lovely, fancy dinner was in no way disrupted.
It began with fried spring rolls, but not just any spring rolls! These were little baby spring rolls stuck into the body of a pineapple peacock! It was truly a fabulous work of food art. And yummy, too. Next was an interesting vegetable soup. I was most excited for the third course. It was shrimp, mmm, delicious shrimp. These particular guys had their heads and antennae still on, which was a new experience, but they were enormous and excellent, and I wished we got more than two each. And what was the Hue special pancake? Why, it wasn't really a pancake at all, but it's not a really terrible descriptor. It's a fried rice pancake with some vegetables, pork and shrimp, all of which is dipped into peanut sauce. Quite rich altogether. The fig salad was not really what I would term a salad, and neither of us was totally sure if it was fig, but when you put it on the puffed cracker disks it tasted very nice. I couldn't finish my whole portion, though (it was too rich), so Travis took over. If there was a "main course" it would have been the beef and lotus rice. This was also a very rich dish, with thinly sliced beef covered in garlic and some secret sauce, and the lotus rice had little vegetables on it
a big pot
. I think the lotus part were some rather funny looking beans. They had holes in them, more like beads than beans. And we'd finally made it to dessert. This consisted of bean curd and fruit. Travis reached for the little orange first and I said, "Are you sure you want to do that? You know what it tastes like, but you have no idea what the bean curd tastes like." So he ate the bean curd first and was grateful to me for pointing this out. I really liked the bean curd, probably due to my childhood ingestion of random sweets, but I don't think I ever had it like this before and it was a little strange. The curd was shaped into a sort of fruit and then covered with colored gelatin, just a thin layer, but it gave an interesting texture to the sweet. It also came on stems, so we got to pick it. Very cute. Thus ended our seven course, ten dollar meal. It was oh-so-worth it.
We walked back to our hotel via the Imperial Palace, and it's very pretty when it's lit up at night. Really, the only thing that brought the night down a little was the cyclo drivers who, seeking a fare, will do everything possible to convince you not to walk. And sometimes we like to walk, you know? But really it was a lovely and relaxing day, which is always a nice thing to have.
Erin
