Our over-night bus arrived in Hue (pronounced Hoo-ay to clear up any confusion regarding my corny title) in the early morning. It conveniently dropped us off right in front of our hostel, the Imperial, which was owned and operated by the same charming group that ran our hostel in Hanoi. (www.vietnambackpackerhostels.com/the-hostels/the-imperial-hue/)
After freshening up after our 14 hour bus ride, we decided to explore the city a little bit. Hue, the former capital of the Nguyen emperors, was founded in 1802 by Emperor Gia Long, who was also responsible for constructing the city's famous citadel. The Nguyen dynasty ruled Vietnam until 1945, however this was more ceremonial considering various other countries occupied it during that time.
On our walk, after we crossed the perfume river (Song Huong), we stumbled upon a small park comprising some pretty impressive military equipment from the Vietnam war. There was not only American weaponry, but also Vietnamese and Soviet weapons as well.
From there we made our way towards the principal entrance of the citadel. Jutting out at an impressive height of 37 meters was the imposing flag tower, which is said to be the tallest in all of Vietnam.
It was then only a short distance across the moat to the Ngo Mon gate, which is the principal entrance to enter the Imperial Enclosure. To be honest, the architecture and layout of the walls and guard towers had a very similar look to the forbidden city in Beijing.
Once inside the Imperial enclosure, however, the differences became apparent rather quickly. Yellow and other pastel colours were everywhere, and in a charming state of decay that was either due to the repeated attacks on this compound during the Vietnam war or just shoddy paint jobs from the team responsible for the restoration. I'm leaning more towards the latter, but that doesn't detract from it's appeal.
Another prevailing theme was a stylized Chinese character contained within a circle. I've tried to look it up, and it may be phu, loosely translating to "double happiness" or good luck. Either way, it is quite prevalent all over Vietnam and especially at the citadel, and I'm pretty sure I had a Diesel t-shirt with that symbol on it when I was a teenager.
During the Vietnam war, Hue was the site of a vicious battle during the game-changing "Tet Offensive", and was the only city in South Vietnam to be occupied by the north while the Americans were actively involved.
The parts of the citadel that were intact or had been restored were quite impressive despite their relatively small stature.
After exploring the citadel and its contents, we made our way back to the hostel for a bite to eat and to shelter ourselves from the blistering sun.
Later that day, we rented bikes and made our way to Thien Mu Pagoda, around 3.5km from the citadel. Getting there involved riding for a short time through central Hue and its hundreds of motor bikes. By no means was this on the same scale as the traffic in Hanoi, but as the first direct exposure to traffic in Vietnam, it was both scary and fun at the same time.
Once we left the city center, it seemed as though we barely encountered any other vehicles on the way to the pagoda.
If you've been following my blog in the past, you may know that I have a bizarre fascination with pagodas. Thien Mu did not disappoint and was probably the nicest pagoda I saw in Vietnam, probably because it closely resembled the style that I fell in love with in China.
Standing at 21 meters high, it was constructed in 1844 by Emperor Thieu Tri. The site also has a small temple that is frequented by local yellow-clad monks.
We enjoyed the pagoda until the sun had nearly set and then made our way back to the hostel. Since we had partied so hard in Hanoi and Halong Bay, I was almost happy that Hue didn't really have any nightlife to speak of so that Mike and I could finally recover and get some proper, non-alcohol-induced sleep. Besides, the next next morning we would be waking up quite early to do a tour of the former demilitarized zone (DMZ) and important sites of the Vietnam war.
As promised, we woke up quite early and were on the road by 6:30am. We followed Highway 9 for a few hours until we approached a hilly area with patchy vegetation. One of these outcroppings was known as "the rockpile", and it was used by the US Marines during the war. Our guide explained that the area was once huge swaths of dense, impenetrable jungle, but the Americans dropped Napalm and Agent Orange on the area and rendered it nearly bald. The trees that we saw before us had only been growing since after the war.
Our next stop was Dak Rong bridge, which marks a place on the Ho Chi Minh Trail, which was the main supply route used by the Vietcong and the North Vietnamese army during the war.
From there we went to Khe Sanh military base, which is just east of the border with Laos and was used by the Americans until it was attacked in 1968.
We stopped briefly for lunch in Dong Ha and then made our way to Highway 1. Our first stop of the afternoon was Hien Luong bridge which crosses over the Ben Hai river. This portion of the river is significant because it marks the former border between North and South Vietnam dating between 1954 to 1972.
After a stop at Doc Mieu military base, we made our way to the coast and visited our final site of the day, the Vihn Moc Tunnels. These small, elaborate tunnels were where an entire village lived during the war in order to avoid the incessant bombing done by the Americans.
Started in 1965 and completed in 1967, these tunnels measured almost 2km when finally complete, and were located at a depth of 30m at their deepest. Despite the 9000 tonnes of bombs dropped on the area, no civilians were killed thanks to these tunnels. It was even said that 17 babies were born inside!
On our way back to Hue, we briefly stopped at a Vietnamese military graveyard that was located across the street from a rusted tank still sitting where it was destroyed during the war.
I was really glad Mike had suggested we do this tour. I didn't know anything about the Vietnamese War prior to visiting Vietnam. Despite the long and complex history of the Vietnamese people, I feel as though this war is the only legacy that they wish they could escape. The burnt-out tanks, patchy forests and old military bases act as old wounds that may never heal. Although the country is making money from the tourist revenue at these sites, their presence is a constant reminder of a time they all wish they could forget.
