Hue and Lunar New Year

Hue was an unexpected little city.

When we first arrived in Hue we were greeted by our hotel's bell-hops who packed our bags and drove us the 2kms to the front door. We checked into the largest room yet, replete with light, airy (and drafty), and it came with a balcony! We couldn't quite enjoy it... too cold!!!! Story of Vietnam!

The first few days we did our usual: walk around, find the supermarket, stock up on lunch and dinner options, and enjoy the ambiance. It was pretty okay.

Turns out that eating is one of our favorite things to do. And spending time looking for a good and cheap place takes up most of our time. We happened across a place that served our favorite Vietnamese food (bun thit nuong or grilled pork and peanut sauce over noodles with fresh herbs). We doubled back after our first stroll around the town on day 2 and went back on day 3 and 4! The place was delicious and priced the way things should be! Lunch was a dollar! The second day I tried some amazing lettuce wraps, mmm!!! The small store was run by a deaf man who did a better job at communicating with us than most Vietnamese, Cambodian, Laos, or Thai person has in the last 3 months. Kudos to you and your amazing daughter the cook!

We heard that on the day of Tet, the Lunar New Year, all the cultural destinations were free, so we planned to head to the Citadel. We went to sleep early so we could get an equally early start. Around 12:05am I was startled awake by explosions and bright lights: fireworks right outside our window!!! I woke up Leighton and we gawked at the night's show. It was a bit too cloudy and the air was stagnant, so the smoke didn't dissipate and the show was a bit unfortunate. Still, having missed lots of great firework shows recently, I was happy for the brief and exuberant show!

The next morning came later than we'd hoped...

Hue was declared the capital of Vietnam by a new dynasty (Nguyen) in the 1800's and is home to The Citadel, a city within the city surrounded by a moat and large wall. It is similar to other Chinese Imperial Palaces such as the Forbidden City in Beijing, Gyeongbukgung in Seoul, and the Japanese Imperial Palaces. Within the walls of the Citadel is the imperial palace itself, the Purple Palace (no, didn't make that up). Largely destroyed during the war, this city and its palace have been on the mend and are impressive in both their scale and architecture. Far more unique than Gyeongbukgung and less gaudy than its counterparts in Cambodia and Thailand, the Purple Palace is oppulant and grand without being ostentatious.View from the top of the main gate on the outer Citadel Wall.

The throne of the Nguyen Emperors.
Leighton found somewhere cool to pose in the Purple Palace grounds.

An awkwardly vertical dragon... can't say more.
A view of the Purple Palace's outer wall and moat from the outside but still inside the Citadel.

A neat little gate leading to a French-era office block in the Citadel.

So that was Day 3 of 5... anything else to do in this place?


MORE HOT SPRINGS!

We hired bikes and hit the road, only 7km and no downpours this time! Because it was the day after New Years we were worried it might be uber crowded. Boy were we wrong! We saw a grand total of 10 people there throughout our stay, only 2 when we arrived! These were more what I thought hot springs would be like: shallow and broad pools filled with natural, stinky water so hot it stung at first. We avoided the fill-pipes because the water was brutally hot.

We had a lot of peace and quiet and were very thankful to be warm... when the sun came out for the first day in 2 weeks we were giddy as school boys on "free candy day." No locals, no tourists, no noise AND sun!? Perfect little day.

There we are!

The next day we left for Hanoi on a night bus (14 hours), unfortunately not one with the comfy lie-down seats. Boo. Leighton did his smarty pants dance and made a pillow out of 1) pillow case 2) blanket 3) towel 4) extra tee shirts. I copied and our necks gave us high-5's the next morning when we woke up REFRESHED! Wow, who would have thought?

We arrived hours earlier than expected (again) and started off into the dark streets of Hanoi...