Halfway Mark in Hue

We left Hoi An after a fast four days on the coast.  In the spirit of our quest to move from south to north, Nathalie and I packed up and made the half day journey from the outskirts of Da Nang to the regional capital of the central highlands and former hub to the demilitarized zone (DMZ) during the war.   We had heard mixed feedback about Hue, with some people telling us that it was a beautiful town that we shouldn't miss out while others were saying it was good for about 24 hours and that was about it.   With that in mind, we took a two hour train ride to find out for ourselves.

After a smooth, albeit uncomfortable train ride, we made it into Hue around four in the afternoon.  We had worked out a transfer from the train station to our accommodation with the hotel staff.   The place we found, called "The Charming Hotel," which had excellent reviews and with a superior room for only 15 USD/EUR, we didn't hesitate to book.  

The staff were all young (probably in their mid-twenties) and were a shining example of excellent client service.  Upon our arrival, we were offered fresh fruit and some water.  We've seen this before in our travels, but never at an 15 dollar-a-night hotel.   After checking into our room, we soon found out where the low price came from.   The room itself while clean was facing the busy main boulevard.  Devoid of double-glazed windows, we had balcony seats to the car horn symphony below us.  Yikes.  

After spending a few minutes coming to terms with what would probably be an early morning wake-up call, we headed out on foot to see the town.  From what we had read, the vast majority of hotels, at least those licensed to host foreigners, were located in a small district directly adjacent to the old town.  Within the confines of these streets were hotels and hostels, bars and restaurants, and souvenir shops.

The main tower at the citadel

Normally, we try to avoid these parts of town as we find them artificial.  We like to stay a bit outside the gooey tourist center so that we can explore their offerings at our will and then retreat to the outskirts whenever we've had enough.  However, Hue didn't give us that luxury so we made the best of it and jumped headfirst into the foray.  

The first night was largely uneventful, and other than the sales pitch we received from the kind hotel staff telling us how many different tours they could arrange for us (I'm beginning to see a pattern here), we didn't really get up to much.  We had a somewhat bland dinner followed by a couple of drinks at a bar aptly named the DMZ.   

The next morning, after having a surprisingly calm night sleep thanks in large part to ear plugs, we slowly made our plans for the day.  We rented a couple of bicycles from the hotel (another service they could easily provide us with), and headed out to explore the neighborhood.   Our first stop was for coffee, and after ten three minutes of cycling, we found a charming little cafe where I happily indulged in my third cup of the day.  We settled on having lunch there as well, and after taking our time to enjoy the meal we set out to see the old town.  

The sleepy streets inside the citadel

Hue is the 'middle city' of Vietnam.  Geographically located halfway between Hanoi and Saigon, it has long played a key role throughout Vietnam's colorful history.   It was the seat of the last empire and during the French colonial period, it was the capital of the central Annam region.   Backing the legitimacy of the city's claim to regional power is the large citadel at the center of the city.   As the hotel wasn't within these walls, we set out to enter into the old fortified zone and discover the charm that laid ahead of us.  

A gate within the forbidden city

We crossed over the iconic trestle bridge into the old town and filtered through one of the old city gates.  Where the hotel district of the town is teeming with life and an incessant flow of traffic, life inside the citadel's walls was peaceful.  Upon entrance, we were met with grass fields neatly lined with tree covered sidewalks.  To one side of the entrance laid a display of war-era tanks, jets and helicopters in homage to one one of the conflicts bloodiest zones.   After briefly glimpsing at the exhibit from afar, we set out to explore the rest of the town, curious to see what it had on offer.

Our curiosity was greeted with quiet roads painted with small shops and quaint dwellings.   Even though we were in one of Vietnam's most important cities, we felt like we were cruising through the countryside.  Time seemed to have slowed down as we casually biked our way through the city streets going from one end to the other, mostly in tranquil silence, graciously absorbing our surroundings.   Given the serenity, it was hard to image that the town practically laid in ruins not 45 years earlier.

We spent nearly an hour an half aimlessly wandering around before we made it to the entrance of the imperial city.  We paid the reasonable entrance fee and began to explore Vietnam's version of the forbidden city.  Largely overshadowed by the events of the later half of the 20th century, imperial Vietnam played an essential role in Vietnamese history and culture.  The emperor and the empire came out of the liberation of nearly 1000 years of Chinese rule and was seen as a symbol of Vietnamese independence and unification.

Looking down a corridor in the forbidden city

Sadly, the majority of the 100+ buildings in the complex were destroyed during war.  What remained were the ghostly skeletons from a once powerful kingdom.    We spent the better part of two hours exploring what was left and the small bits that have been restored (there were restoration works ongoing, giving reassurance that what was left would be preserved) before heading back over the bridge to plot our next move.

After returning the bikes at the hotel, we set out to answer the most pressing question on our minds: what to do next.   We had a few options on the table: hang around a couple of days in Hue and see an imperial tomb outside of town; head out on a trip around the former DMZ; or head out and continue onward with our journey. 

Nathalie and I both have a deep appreciation for history, but we felt that we had gotten an adequate taste of what the emperor's lifestyle was like during our tour of his residence.  We weren't exactly compelled to go to his final resting place to see the extravagance of his tomb.   We're more interested in seeing a city for what it is and I personally preferred the bike ride through the city streets as it gave us a snapshot of what life is like for the people of the town.  Add to the fact that the trip to the tombs would take a whole day, we took this option off the table.

The next possibility would be for us to visit the former DMZ.  This entailed not only going to the zone itself, but also touring various relics left over from the war.  From Khe Sanh control base, to Hamburger Hill, to the Ho Chi Minh Trail, there was plenty to see.  Hue is considered the base camp  for these adventures and is the perfect place to explore the surroundings.

A cyclo tour of Hue, where tourists are paraded around for all to see

However, during the trip,  I made the decision that I would limit my visits to war sites.  I want to discover modern Vietnam for what it is and who it's people are.  I'm planning on coming back one day to do a history tour that will cover southern Laos, the DMZ area and parts of Cambodia (essentially, I'll just follow the Ho Chi Minh Trail).  But for now, I'm focused on a much broader view of the country.

This left us with one final option: head out of town.  To be fair, Hue, while having a charming citadel and old town, really wasn't much on its own.   The hotel district limited to foreigners was kind of scroungy and we felt that we were constantly being approached by locals asking us if we wanted to buy something or be ferried around in a bike taxi or cyclo.   None of that particularly appealed to us so we decided we'd book our ticket out of town.

After looking on the map, we wound up deciding on flying up to Hanoi where we could explore the north of the country and the Vietnamese capital.   The next morning, we set off, to begin the last half of our journey here in Vietnam.