Sometimes getting from place to place is easy... this was not one of those times.
Initially, when I asked our host to book us a bus, there was only one available, and it happened to leave late in the afternoon. With a three-hour journey time and only two nights to spend in Hue (our next destination), this didn’t really suit us. After a long, confusing conversation, it turns out there were other buses; they just weren’t "limousine" buses. In my thinking, a bus is a bus - we didn’t need anything fancy, so I booked the 9 am departure instead, hoping that it would give us the whole afternoon to explore once we arrived.
For the grand sum of 300,000 VND (each) paid to our host, we had our bus tickets and man who would drive us to the bus stop and wait with us - a detail that should have tipped us off for what was to come.
We were picked up at eight and squeezed into a car along with a German couple who were also heading to Hue - a tight fit with all of our stuff. After a forty-five minute drive we arrived... not at a bus depot as I was imagining, but to a grotty cafe next to a dusty six lane highway. We were asked to sit, it would be fifteen minutes. Fifteen minutes soon passed, then half an hour, our driver seemingly unbothered. At forty-five minutes he told us it would only be five minutes more, “Really?” My mum questioned “The bus is definitely coming here?” He assured us it was and left to go and relax in his car.
Twenty minutes later he was back, showing me his phone, apparently the 9am bus had broken down and the replacement he arranged would arrive within twenty minutes. He was telling the truth this time; not about the bus being broken (I’m sure that was a lie) but about the bus finally arriving. However, the bus stop wasn't where we were but on the other side of the busy six lane highway. He sauntered across, the traffic seamlessly manoeuvring around him, we were far more lumbering, burdened with our bags.
It turns out a bus isn’t always a bus, there are coach like buses and there are sleeper buses. This was a sleeper bus. I didn’t mind, but mum didn’t find getting up onto the top bunk the easiest - especially when the driver decided to go - and Ben got stuck with a multi bed situation in the back, where he spent his ride trying not to roll on top of strangers.
After a fairly swift three hours we arrived at Hue bus station. Most Asian bus stations are filled with taxi men trying to secure your custom before you’ve even stepped foot off the bus, this was no different. As always, I politely declined and we made our way onto the main street to try to organise a grab. This didn't go well and to cut a long story short the only grab driver who would accept our journey didn't even have a working car, so we were back to square one. Admitting defeat, tail between our legs, we headed back to the bus station and the taxi cabs waiting there.
We’d chosen to stay with a local family in Hue, their listing was on booking.com but it definitely was more of a homestay than a hotel. As such, we were greeted not by our homestay host, but the littlest hotelier, our host's12 year old daughter An, who was minding the house while her mum was at work. Once we were given the tour and showed how everything worked, we decided to head back out, we were in need of lunch before we could really plan the day.
I didn’t make the best decision on lunch. The area we were in was residential, there weren’t many options I could see and I just wanted to eat straight away - I couldn’t think through the gnawing in my stomach. We ended up at a place that sold Banh loc goi and only Banh loc goi: a very traditional Hue meal of tapioca dumplings. I personally found that description a bit misleading; if i had to explain them, I would lean more to the description of chewy, gelatinous goo with a faint prawn tinge to it. I don’t want to be offensive but I am happy I never have to eat it again. We ordered a sharing selection, which ended up being a variety of goo that mum and I couldn’t stand but Ben quite enjoyed.
With a whole afternoon to take advantage of we decided to spend the afternoon exploring the Imperial Citadel - the last residence of the Vietnamese royal family and their seat of power for the last 200 years of the Nguyen Dynasty. The entry fee was 200,000 VND each, at first, this seemed a bit of a rip off. The first building we could see was under construction, and not understanding the sheer scale of the citadel we thought this building was “it”. As we rounded the corner and more and more buildings became apparent it was clear that this wasn’t the case.
In three hours of walking I’m not sure that we saw it all. It seemed new pathways would appear every time we thought we had the lay of the land; an ornate pagoda glimpsed through an archway, a garden of bonsai the other side of a stream, a overly colourful palace sat off in the distance. It was hard to imagine the buildings in use, the whole place alive with courtiers and advisors, getting on with daily life and vying for the attention of the royals. For how important it was, historically and culturally, it was fairly quiet while we were there - maybe everyone else was being sensible and hiding away from the intense late afternoon heat.
With so many options of places to see in Hue we needed some advice: out of all 7 tombs scattered across the countryside outside of Hue, which ones were really worth our time? Luckily, our host was ready to help and we devised a plan to visit the Huyen Tran Cultural Center along with the Mausoleum of Emperor Kai Dinh - which was chosen due to being the most architecturally different from the citadel. She also knew of a driver who would be happy to take us there and back for the reasonable fee of 500,000VND - grab taxis would be much cheaper but the likely hood of finding a grab driver so far away from the city would be slim.
We headed to the Huyen Tran Cultural Center first, a place that is also known as the princess temple. Set on the side of the Ngu Phong mountain, amongst a pine forest alive with cicada song are a series of temples and shrines honouring Princess Huyen Tran, her father the Tran Nhan Tong Emperor and Buddha. Her story is one love, loss and not wanting to be immolated upon her husbands funeral pyre, however the temple is dedicated to her due to her part in the 14th century expansion on Vietnam.
As we explored the place was practically deserted, the only other people about were the temple attendants who kept the area pristine. Although the Cultural centre is named for the princess, her temple wasn’t the most ornate. High on the hill, up a steep staircase guarded on each side by flowing concrete dragons is the temple dedicated to Emperor Tran Nhan Tong. His likeness sits in the centre of his temple looking imperiously across the landscape and his daughter far below.
From here we split up, Ben wandering even further up the mountainside to go ring the peace bell at it’s zenith and mum and I (finding the climb a bit too strenuous in the heat) headed to the other side of the complex to look at some of the smaller shrines and the statue of Buddha that can be found there.
Making our way back to the car we realised we had made a grave mistake. We had a whole morning planned in forty degree heat and we hadn't brought any water. None. Not a single drop. Luckily, our driver wasn't an idiot. He was a very thoughtful and brilliant man. He didn't only have water for us, he had water in a cooler along with moist towelettes. He was the best.
From here it was a short thirty minute journey to the Mausoleum of Emperor Khai Dinh. The Mausoleum was imposing, from the road we climbed intimidatingly steep steps to a courtyard with traditional Mandarin workhouses on either side. 26 steps above, through an intricate stone gate decorated with phoenixes and dragons, is a second courtyard, filled with stone warriors posed as if on guard. On this level, contained with-in a communal house sits a ten ton stele engraved with the Khai Dinh emperor’s biography and achievements - unlike the rest of the tomb which Khai Dinh designed, the stele was commissioned by his son after his passing.
We dragged our way, sweaty and not a little out of breath, up yet another staircase to the final courtyard where Thien Dinh Palace, the final resting place of the Emperor sits. The facade of the building seemed plain compared to the inside where in true asian style every possible surface was covered in patterns, mosaics and motifs featuring phoenixes, flowers and dragons. The tomb was impressive (apparently the most intricate of all of the tombs), but I felt like the 150,000VND entrance fee was slightly excessive seeing as it took all of thirty minutes for us to look around.
With a few hours free after lunch we decided to head to the Museum of Royal Antiquities - a small museum housed in the relocated Long An palace. Relocated in 1923, the museum houses antiques and royal garments that once belonged to the Nguyen dynasty. It was around this time in the trip I made the realisation that i'd been seeing the name Nguyen everywhere, obviously some pride in their former royal family remains. The museum was fine. It didn't take long to look around, and I was frankly quite tired by the time we'd made it there so I didn't really take much of it in. The most exciting thing about the museum was this woman brandishing a selfie stick who tried to "sneak" in by blatantly walking through the gate whist being slowly chased by security.
Our last meal in Hue was disappointing, especially compared to Les Jardins de la Carambole (a fancy french restaurant) we had treated ourselves to the night before. So straight after eating we exhaustedly headed to bed, ready for an early night, ready for our 7am bus the next morning.
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