Hue

 Hue is a beautiful city situated on the Perfume River. Of course there is a romantic story behind the name....what I caught from the guide is a beautiful woman died in the river (of course).  Wikipedia tells us that in the Fall, orchids drop upriver causing a beautiful smell in Hue. Which story do you prefer?

We toured the palace - - Citadel -- the head of the Nguyen empire which ruled for less than 200 years and situated the capital in Hue in an attempt to unite the north and the south. You see, there is a reason the south sided with the United States during the "American" war. The Vietcong were situated in the Citadel during the Tet offensive back in 1969 causing the destruction of most of the buildings. They are slowly being reconstructed and many have been renovated already. The site had moats within moats, long galleries, and gardens, the physical space symbolic of the hierarchies of man -- wives, concubines, eunuchs, and the mandarins. 

One of the many galleries

Queen's rickshaw

Moat within moat

What is not visible here is the immense size of the grounds and an appreciation of how beautiful it must have been when the Nguyen's were in power. Never mind that later monarchs were puppets of France and taxed the people to within an inch of their lives.

Tomb of Tu Duc

This tomb is situated in a beautiful natural setting with lakes, mountains, and cows. Buildings (not sure of purpose) are evenly spaced on a straight path.

Love the colors

Second structure viewed from first..symbology unknown.

Walked across the bridge with this calf. Clop clop.

Garden -- mirror image on other side of path.

End of the line. Sign says the emperor buried behind this gate, which is open once a year.

Tomb of Khai Dinh, 1925-31, taxed people 30% of everything to build, was a puppet to the French

Chau Thien Mhu Temple

A lovely "zen" temple situated on the Perfume River. We boarded a boat at the tomb of Tu Duc, had a lovely lunch, were hustled by our cook, and walked around the temple.

Lunch on our boat on the Perfume River.

The pagoda.

This guy has real hair! Zoom in.

This little girl asked to have her picture taken with us, have noticed that girls this age anxious to practice their English with us. 

Turtle holding up freize -- love him!

Beautifully situated on the Perfume River

Love this little quickening bonsai 

The incense puts off a mighty cloud of smoke

Dinner in Hue

Very few restaurants are open due to Tet it seems. We got a recommendation from our hotel for a local restaurant and had quite a treat. The local restaurants are little hubs of chaos with waiters frantically try to serve many customers. There were buckets next to the tables to dump banana leaves and other detritus from the meal. We had two local specialties -- 

Banh beo 

Banh luoc