Hue: A Royal Feast and Imperial Palace

Phillip and I are in Hue, another city in Central Vietnam. Two days ago, we took a private car for the 3-1/2 hour drive from Hoi An, north thru the Hai Van Pass, to Hue. The road was interesting, with outstanding views as we climbed the mountain. Hai Van translates to "Ocean Cloud," so the pictures have a bit of haze from the moisture in the air.

view to the east from Hai Van Pass road

The pass was high enough that my ears popped both going up and coming down the other side. We stopped at the top of the pass for a break before we continued on to Hue.

lakes in the mountains

This road was two lanes; however, cars, motorcycles, and heavily laden trucks weren't the only things using it!

second time we saw cows on this road

The road had many switchbacks and steep grade signs.

over a dozen switchbacks on each side of the mountain pass

I was hoping that Hue, being on the north side of the mountains, would be cooler or less humid than Hoi An and Danang. Nope. Still hot and humid! It is a more modern city than Hoi An because Hue saw much fighting during the war. A lot of the city buildings, except those preserved in the Citadel, are less than forty years old.
     The Citadel and the Imperial City within it have the UNESCO World Heritage designation. This complex is significant because the emperors of the Ngyuen Dynasty ruled Vietnam from there for almost 200 years. They were the last dynasty in Vietnam, ending in 1945.
     The Citadel is a thick wall, 11 km in circumference, surrounded by a moat and guard towers. Inside the Citadel is the 4 square km Imperial Palace, the actual home of the emperors.

entrance to the Imperial City

     Buildings accessible by only royalty had a yellow tile roof. A green tile roof signified non-royals (mandarins, soldiers, foreighners). Note that the royal family were the only ones who went in thru the center of the entrance. A moat encircled the citadel, but the second, interior moat around the Imperial Palace was stocked with alligators. Not today, though! No aligators for decades.

just lily pads today, no alligators

     During the Tet Offensive in 1968, most of the Imperial City was bombed, but more than ten buildings are still intact and preserved.

foundation of destroyed buiding seen thru intact gate

      Phillip and I were escorted on our Imperial City tour by two wonderful young ladies, Linh and Huong, from "Let's Hue," the local group of university students who practice their English thru free tours of local sights. Both spoke great English, especially Linh, who was finishing her fourth year at the university and is actually the leader of Let's Hue.

Huong and Linh of Let's Hue

    Unfortunately for me, the heat and humidity made me nauseous during the tour. Phillip was very sweet, fanning me to cool me down.

Linh and Huong were impressed with Phillip's care and concern

     When we left the Citadel, we headed for a restaurant that Linh was told had air conditioning. It didn't, but it had fans and a shady patio. More importantly, it was a royal food restaurant!

candle inside the pineapple (Phillip said the brown item was a corn fritter nugget)

     The lady who owned it is a food artist. She has a set menu, which we ordered for Phillip and the girls. I didn't eat, just drank water. I missed a great meal, but I was able to see the beautiful presentations.

phoenix (pate in a crepe wrapper, sliced)

     My photos do not do justice to the beauty of the food. Before the pate course, they were served a delicious soup, but I didn't get a good picture of it. All three had several servings of the soup!

rooster (fried spring rolls)

Multiple courses, all artfully presented.

dragon, a carved cucumber and carrots (green papaya salad)

This royal food would have been created for the emperor, so it had to entertain and please his eye as well as his palate.

turtle (fried rice)

After Phillip, Linh and Huong finished lunch, we returned to our hotel and parted ways with the girls. Phillip and I stayed in the air conditioned room yesterday afternoon and I drank lots of water. I'm fine today, although we are taking it easy, just going a couple of km on shorter walks, then back to the air conditioning.