Hue

We hopped off the train in Hue (pronounced hway) and headed to the hotel for some wifi and coffee while waiting to check in. I took the opportunity to try an egg coffee. This is an egg coffee. It's espresso, sweetened condensed milk, and a foamed egg white. They made it during the Vietnam war when dairy was impossible to come by. It sort of tastes like egg nog with coffee. Yum!

With some time for a much needed shower, we were loaded on a bus or an afternoon of sightseeing. 

Hue served as the capital of unified Vietnam from 1802 when construction of the Citadel began until 1945 when the last royal family of Vietnam was forced to abdicate the thrown and exiled to Hong Kong in the wake of WWII and success of Ho Chi Minh's unification efforts. 

The Citadel housed the homes of the king and his family as well as served as the central government hub for the kingdom during the 17th and 18th centuries. Our local guide for the day, Von, told us all about the design of the complex and the colour system. The king's buildings had yellow roofs and the officials had different colours. The walls are red to bring happiness. 

My roof totally needs more dragons.

The imperial complex included the king's chambers, his wives' houses (up to 500!), his mother's house and where his children lived. Most of the buildings, up to 70%, were destroyed in the Vietnam war. There were agreements on either side not to bomb or fight is historic Hue, but these faltered as war raged on. 

I am a fierce unicorn dragon lion thingy.

Ang is a derpy unicorn dragon lion thingy.

One very interesting display detailed daily food rituals. Read on for the extravagant (and wasteful) but royal affair. 

Wandering the grounds at a snail's pace, we concluded our tour of citadel in the theatre. 

We were certainly dragon our heels.

You guys, in the theatre I found VIETNAMESE DEADPOOL!!!

What's Vietnamese for chimichangas?

My life is complete. 

But the tour headed over to the Thien Mu Pagoda anyways. It was constructed in 1844 and contains 7 storeys like all pagodas. 

Here we learned a horrible and fascinating story of a monk, Thich Quang Duc, who died in protest of laws discriminating against Buddhists introduced by the south Vietnam leader, Ngo Dinh Diem. On June 11, 1963, the most venerable Thich Quang Duc drove from Hue to Saigon, got out of his car, sat in lotus position to meditate and burnt himself to death in protest. 

The car he drove to Saigon in.

Our local guide chatted a little about the decline of religion in south Vietnam and shared some of his personal struggles with his family's differing religions. We watched a little snippet of the monks chanting in the temple. 

Our guide helping a local family.

After the pagoda we headed to the tomb of emperor Tu Duc - a large outdoor complex built between 1864 and 1867 for the emperor's enjoyment in this life and the next. He had more than 100 wives and hundreds of concubines but no children as smallpox left him sterile. 

The modest and plain tomb on display did not actually inter the remains of the emperor and his riches. The location of his remains is still unknown and all 200 servants that buried the king were beheaded. 

In an effort to save our necks, we did not go snooping around for buried treasure but headed back to the hotel for a shower. Which turned out to be moot as the skies opened up and poured rain like I've never seen. 

Early morning treated us to a great loud crashing thunderstorm. 

Oh and there was a horrifying blob of bees at the mausoleum I forgot about. Aaaah! Swarming solid mass of giant bees!