I warned Thom, after watching the rainy weather forecast for weeks: we were going to get wet. So how did Hue in central Viet Nam--just south of the 17th parallel which divides north from south--end up being one of my top ten travel experiences of all time?
The motorbikes provided by Hue Backroads (highly recommended!) helped. A lot--even though we each had a driver.
I was right about getting wet. From either the drizzle, or the sweat coming off our bodies in these ponchos.
Seap, my gruff but VERY capable driver is on the left; Tang our quai-evangelical guide for the day, on the right. Despite the fact that Viet Nam has been a "unified" country since 1975, Thien and Tang personified the different perspectives of the north and south. Tang, whose father fought against the Communists during the war, refused to espouse the party line. He accused the current government of corruption and called Ho Chi Minh City by its former name, Saigon. He also regretted that his father, who faced serious reprisals from the Viet Cong after their victory, hadn't fled to America with the boat people.
American bombs mostly obliterated Hue's top tourist attraction, now lovingly restored.
In 1789, geomancers advised the emperor of a newly unified Viet Nam to build his Imperial City facing the Perfume River, within a citadel.
I wonder if the Palace looked this good when it was completed in the early 19th century?
A lotus flower lamp.
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