Sticking it to the man

So, the city of Hue in the middle of the country was where we alighted from our overnight train. Hue, nestled on the banks of the Perfume River, is famous for being the location of the "Imperial City", modelled on the forbidden city in China it's where the imperial family of Vietnam were once based. It's an impressive and infamous place. In the picture above you can see the Meridian Gate, one of the main entrances to the complex that has the Kings' palace at it's centre surrounded by moats, temples and walls, it took a good couple of hours to walk around and see everything, much of which was destroyed in the war and is currently undergoing intensive renovation.

On a more sombre note Hue is the location of one of the most fierce battles of the Vietnam war and American troops set up a command and control centre inside the Imperial City (you can still see US watchtowers on the perimeter walls). On the inside of the gatehouses you can see scratches along the entrance walls where American tanks could only just fit as they rushed in to defend their position from advancing North Vietnamese troops during the infamous Tet Offensive. The battle of Hue is renowned for being particularly bloody, house to house fighting between US Marines and Viet Cong lasted for over a month as the Americans fought to regain control of the city, you can see the scale of the battle in the diagram below.

Fortunately the memory of those dark days is fading as development gathers pace, today Hue is a delightful University city with a relaxed and sophisticated vibe to it and a perfect Mediterranean climate in which to enjoy it's ample river-side parks and cafes. The craft beer scene is pretty good to, we visited a great little brew-pub on the outskirts of one of the residential areas, the quality of their brews was really good and their spicy chicken wings mouth numbingly tasty!

In addition to the Imperial Citadel there were many temples in Hue, we visited one in particular that was the scene of a fierce battle between VC and US marines, you can still see the scars of that battle today, hundreds of bullet holes plaster the walls and I snapped this picture of one of the metal posts that hold up part of the temple gate.

In another area of this complex there was the remains of various smaller temple buildings, clearly burnt out, on one of the brick towers there was a rather intriguing hole about a third of the way up. Apparently on this spot was where some US marines stationed themselves during the battle and their main weapon (the M16) became prone to jamming due to the humidity, having cleaned their rifles this hole is where they checked the efficacy of their labours, yep, it was used for target practice!

We visited one temple where there was a rather quirky reminder that Vietnam has a history of sticking it to "the man". Many people will remember the monk (Thích Quảng Đức) who burned himself to death in protest against the (Catholic) South Vietnamese regime and their anti-Buddhist policies. This act of protest happened at a busy crossroads in the centre of Saigon City, the photo of it won many press awards at the time (1963) and famously adorned the cover of a Rage Against the Machine album (Wake Up!) Anyway the car that drove the monk to that intersection was saved and relocated to a pagoda in Hue (where the monk was based) and is still on display there, I snapped a picture of it below (the blue colour isn't original),

After a couple of days in Hue we headed South again! A four hour coach ride across the mountains and over the Đỉnh đèo Hải Vân pass down into Da Nang and onto the city of Hoi An for three days of R&R by the sea.