I had booked a flight from Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) to Da Nang, a city midway up the coast of Vietnam because we wanted to visit a couple of historic towns near there, Hué and Hoi An. We had decided to go to Hué first. When we got to the airport and checked into our flight, I noticed we could have flown directly to Hué, which we weren’t aware of the possibility when we first booked our flight. Hué is a couple hours away from Da Nang by car and would be a rather long and expensive taxi ride, but it was too late to change our flight. So as we waited to board our plane, I googled transportation options, and I found a 3-hour train ride that went from Da Nang to Hué, for only $7 per ticket! So I quickly booked 2 tickets before boarding our flight.
Once we boarded, our plane was delayed a couple times, making our chance of catching the train slimmer and slimmer. We have a policy when we travel of being “easy breezy” and having “no regrets,” so we just went with the flow. When we landed, Sophie got her suitcase right away. Mine took forever as the minutes ticked by. Finally we got it and I booked a Grab (like Uber) to get to the train station which was just seven minutes away. The train was scheduled to leave in eight minutes. Our Grab driver was very friendly and calm. He seemed to think we would make it just fine. He dropped us off in the front of the small train station, and we bolted to the platform. The train was still there, and we were the last ones to get on. A minute later it departed.
Whew, we made it! Now we started to look at our surroundings. The train left the station running very slowly on train tracks built during the French colonial times (and now restored). It looked like mostly tourists on the train. We went through a tunnel, then noticed we were hugging a jungle-ridden mountain side with the sea and beaches far below. The views were amazing as the train maneuvered slowly around each cliff face and occasionally through a tunnel.
About thirty minutes in, some other tourists said “don’t miss the performance in the dining car”. What? There is a dining car and a performance? Sure enough, there was a decorated dining car with small stools and benches on each side. At the far end, a lady was belting out pretty Vietnamese songs. Turns out this train is rated as one of the most beautiful train rides in the world! We ate our supper on the train while listening to music and watching the spectacular views go by. It was truly fortunate we didn’t know about the Hué airport!
The historic little Hué train station was just across a bridge from our hotel – a five minute walk. It was lightly raining when we arrived, and about 20F degrees cooler than Saigon, which we loved! We stayed at the Silk Path Grand Hué, a hotel with a fancy lobby, restaurant, gardens and pool. It had a large breakfast buffet, and since I am an Expedia VIP member, we even got a special high tea for free during our stay, and of course a welcome drink – always a very nice touch when arriving at an hotel in Southeast Asia! The welcome drink was blue butterfly pea tea (from a local flower) and it makes you sleep really well, as the receptionist phrased it. And we did fall asleep pretty fast that night…
Hué was the capital of Vietnam during the Nguyen Dynasty. There were 13 emperors during their reign from 1802 until 1945. They lived in the Imperial City, a walled fortress within a larger fortified Citadel built following the French Vauban 17th century fortification design, with 10 entrances topped with watch towers and 21 meter thick walls.
The Imperial City was protected by a moat and 7 to 10 meter thick outer walls. It housed numerous palaces, temples and residences for the emperor, his court and his wives and concubines. The city was divided into several walled enclosures, with the innermost one being the Forbidden Purple City where the emperor and his closest family lived. It was modeled after the Forbidden Palace in Beijing. The site enclosed eight villages and it took over 20,000 men to construct the walls alone.
Hué became a UNESCO world heritage site in 1999 and since then, lots of buildings have been restored but there are still some in need of repairs. We spent most of the day wandering through the Imperial City. We had lunch on site in a little pavilion overlooking the moat. It was truly fascinating to see all the different beautiful palaces, gardens, walls and gates that separated and connected all of them. A few of our favorites were the Palace of Supreme Harmony, the Royal Reading Pavilion and the Royal Theater. In some buildings, you could admire palanquins, thrones, opulent furniture and more – just like in the movies.
The first Nguyen emperor accepted help from the French to consolidate his rule. However, the French imposed increasing control on Vietnam through the 19th century as it became a strategic asset to French colonial ambitions. The emperors became little more than figureheads under French rule. The last emperor, Bao Dai, was educated in France and became emperor in 1926 at the young age of 13. He abdicated the throne in 1945 when the Vietnamese Nationalist Movement declared independence from France. He lived much of his later life in France and Monaco (he had the largest yacht in Monte Carlo) until his death in 1997.
It was so fascinating to learn about this history and see all the impressive buildings, rooflines, courtyards and roads. On our way back to the hotel, we walked through the local market and a craft center.
The market had many fruits, vegetables, herbs, spices and seeds that we didn’t recognize. One thing that caught our eye were large bags of what looked like white beads strung together. We found out later that these were special lotus flower seeds that are only grown in the Tinh Tam lake inside the Hué imperial city. Apparently, they make a healing soup and are renowned across Vietnam. If we would have known that before, we for sure would have tried them. Sophie bought a couple woven bamboo fans from a woman who was making them in front of us. She used a large knife to make small strips out of the bamboo cane, then weaved them to make the fans.
We had a great time visiting Hué and discovering another side of Vietnam 🇻🇳
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