Hoi An and Hué

Hoi An

How I got there

I had not intended to visit Hoi An but it was recommended by Chai Fong for its proximity to Hué and for the scenic route from Hoi An to Hué. From Ho Chi Minh City, I flew 1.5 hours northwards to Danang, made a detour and took a taxi to Hoi An (about 40 minutes away). On our way to Danang, we flew into some air currents and the plane lost altitude. While the adults screamed (and I cowered in my seat), a little girl sitting in front of me (who could not be older than 5 years of age) raised her arms and squealed, "Again! Again!". Ah, ignorance is bliss. (Unfortunately, the little girl did puke at the end of the flight. Poor thing.)

Town

Hoi An is a little town in the middle of Vietnam and is described by UNESCO as "an exceptionally well-preserved example of a South-East Asian trading port dating from the 15th to the 19th century, with outstanding material manifestation of the fusion of cultures over time" (Source: http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/948). 

The town is small and can be easily explored on foot or bicycle. It has very good representations of Chinese temples, assembly halls and rich merchants' houses. Most of these old buildings are of Chinese influences, with some having Japanese elements in the design. Most of these buildings require a ticket for entry and the tickets can be purchased at the tourist information booths in the town (5 tickets cost VND 120,000 or US$6). While there may not be English speaking staff on site, there are information boards in Vietnamese and English that explain the history of the buildings.

Canton assembly hall

I am mostly surprised by how strong the old Chinese influences were in this part of the world (or perhaps I should not have, given its proximity to China). 

Dragon sculpture in pond in the Canton assembly hall

There are 5 assembly halls in Hoi An, representing clans of Chinese dialect groups from Canton, Hokkien, Hainan, Chaozhou and a generic one for all Chinese. During the heydays when trading activities were flourishing, businessmen and seamen from the same Chinese dialect groups congregated in these halls to exchange news, pray to their gods and help fellow clansmen. Of all the assembly halls, I think the Hokkien one is easily the prettiest.

Hokkien assembly hall

Built over 200 years ago, the Phùng Hùng House, belonging to a rich merchant and his family for 8 generations, is the oldest house in Hoi An. It has Chinese, Vietnamese and Japanese influences in design and is constructed on 80 columns of ironwood on marble pedestals. This is one of the few buildings with tour guides on site to explain the history of the building and family and also show tourists around. 

Phùng Hùng House

I was told by my guide that most parts of this building are in their original form. I like the very practical designs of the house, such as a section on the door which could be slid up to block out the lights or down to allow better lighting and ventilation into the house. There is also a trap door on the second floor that allows one to communicate with another on the lower floor and also allows furniture to moved between floors should there be a flood.

L: Section of door (circled in red) could be moved
R: Trap door on the second floor

I was fortunate to have arrived on the 14th day of the lunar calendar, during the full moon. I am not sure if this is done every night but during the nights with full moon, the streets on the old town are closed to vehicles, with most of the street lamps switched off and the lanterns were lit. The shopkeepers would set up tables in front of their shops with flowers, fruits, joss sticks and other offerings to the gods. On the streets, there were martial arts performances, poetry recitation and demonstrations of how traditional games were played. By nightfall, many of the assembly halls and temples which would have otherwise required tickets for entry were also opened to the public for free.

Hué

Hué, the first site in Vietnam to be listed on UNESCO's World Heritage List, is famed for its citadel and 7 ancient imperial tombs. It was the imperial city and capital of Vietnam during the Nguyen Dynasty (1802 - 1945) and even controlled Yunnan, China.

How I got there

From Hoi An, I took a 4 hour motorcycle ride via the Hai Van Pass to get to Hué. Chai Fong thought that this was the highlight of her Vietnam trip years ago and I could not agree more.

We first passed by the Marble Mountain (which looks like a sleeping Buddha - the area is famous for its marble and limestone formations), beautiful beaches of Danang (which, according to my guide, has a coastline of more than 40 km long and has many great diving sites), the scenic Hai Van Pass, American bunkers and fishing villages.

Marble Mountain 

Beach in Danang

Hai Van Pass through the hills

View from Hai Van pass

American bunkers

Bullet holes on the walls of the bunkers

With helmet head at Hai Van pass

For the uninitiated, the journey on a motorcycle could be a little scary, with trucks trying to overtake buses on the wrong lane, thus forcing my motorcycle into the road shoulders, where there were cyclists riding abreast and chatting away.

Citadel

The Hué Imperial City was built on the same principles as the Forbidden Palace in Beijing and it took 30,000 workmen and soldiers more than 25 years to complete. (Source: http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/678)

The wall and moat surrounding the citadel

Ngo Mon, entrance to the imperial city

The citadel used to have 150 buildings covering an area of 0.4 sq km for administrative, religious, ceremonial, residential and recreational purposes. It has since been destroyed by natural disaster and wars in 1947 and 1968. (Source: Information board in the city) 

Bronze urn weighing 1500kg and an old canon

Musicians playing ancient instruments in the Thai Hoa Palace

UNESCO had began renovation and restoration works since 1994 but all 9 projects seemed to have been terminated. It was a tad disappointing to see the dilapidated structures. 

Interior and exterior restoration works

I asked myself what I had expected and what I would rather see - its current state of crumbled form or the restored, brightly coloured but artificial form? 

Worn out or restored?

The newly restored Royal Theatre

I guess I do not mind the citadel being restored to its former glory but whomever doing it should really pay attention to the details:

Restored gate

Surely the ceramics used to restore the walls of the gate need not have brand names?

Tombs

Outside the citadel, the emperors built palaces in choice locations as their final resting places. The tombs are more than just tombs - they consist of extensive grounds with ponds, pavilions and courtyards. Statues of mandarins, soldiers, horses and elephants lined the courtyard, symbolising "dynastic stability and majesty". Chinese words were carved on large slabs of stones to praise the emperors. 

I visited the tombs of emperors Minh Mang, Tu Duc and Khai Dinh. 

Gates to the tomb of Emperor Khai Dinh

Statues in courtyard

Emperor Khai Dinh ruled from 1916 - 1925 but the construction his tomb started in 1920 and took 11 years to complete. There were  photographs of the emperor in his palace and visiting France displayed in the Thien Dinh Palace, the building which housed his grave. The palace showed stylistic influences from Europe.

Thien Dinh Palace

Emperor Khai Dinh's throne

View of courtyard and Hien Duc Gate from the Stele House,
where his son wrote a 2500 word eulogy that praised the Emperor Minh Mang

"Tragic" is probably the most appropriate word used to describe Emperor Tu Duc. One of the travel guide books claimed that he had 104 wives but no sons. Therefore he had to write his own "autobiography" on a stele, the largest in Vietnam. Now, the structures on the grounds of Tu Duc's tomb were falling apart. 

Stele Pavilion of Tu Duc

Emperor Tu Duc's tomb

Back to HCM City

I took a 18-hour train ride back to Ho Chi Minh City. The good news was - the train was air-conditioned. The bad news was - nothing went according to plan. I had originally wanted a lower level bed in a 4-berth room on an overnight train. The lady at the train station informed me there were no available beds on the lower level and then without informing me, went on to issue a ticket for the middle level in a 6-berth room on a train that departed at 11am and arrive on 5am the next day. 

I boarded the train to discover that there was someone sleeping on my bed. She grumbled and moved to her bed above mine and that was when I discovered that there were no change in bedsheets and pillow cases every time passengers alight (which then made me wonder how often they change them). There were no seats in the room and the height between my bed and the bed above me was too short - which meant that I could not sit on my bed to look outside the windows.

Corridor outside rooms

I spent the first 2 hours of my trip standing on the narrow corridor outside my room, getting into the way of everyone going to the toilet and staff who were pushing food carts. Some fellow passengers must be seasoned travellers on the train - they brought stools to sit along the corridor. After lunch, I spent a few hours lying on my tummy in my bed (fortunately, from my bed, I was able to look outside the windows; the passenger on the highest level had no views from her bed), had dinner and slept some more.

Views from the train

I had chosen to take the train instead of the plane (the train ticket cost as much as a plane ticket) because it was touted to be one of the most scenic train ride in the world. Had I not went through the Hai Van pass on a motorcycle at my own pace, I would have agreed. Also, if I got a bed, I could not sit. If I got a seat on the train, I would not be able to lie down at night. The train ride did give me some glimpses to the locals' backyard but at night, there was also nothing to see from the windows. On the train, I also remembered why I have always been apprehensive taking a train - going to the public toilet on a moving train (need I elaborate?). Would I embark on another long-distance train ride in Vietnam again? I don't think so!