Hue continued

Wanted to do this last night but fell asleep-tough life. AnyHue (sorry for the Punishment but it will continue) Halong has this been going on? Okay I'll stop Hanoing you for now. So we arrived at our Hotel-Saigon Morrin -very nice , large comfortable rooms but not the comfort we became accustomed to at the Metropole.

View from our window in Hue

Same window now overloooking Perfume river

View of our hotel from Perfume river

Hotel lobby-Do you notice anything unusual here. Not the bust look above. Do I hear copyright infringement?

 

 Hotel was here first maybe I can get them a good lawyer and be in on the settlement

Here's our guide Phuong (Fong)  for you oldsters in the group who watched TV- doesn't he remind you of the detective in Barney Miller? (answer to that is a good trivia question-I don't know it either-Jon?)

He has the best command of english of our guides so far. He said he knew American GIs during the American war (as a child) and seems to have fond memories. His sister lives in Texas and brother-in-law was one of the boat people.
So today was tour day , the plan was boat ride down the Perfume river to a pagoda, disembark, travel by car to the Hue Citadel , check out the tomb of the 4th Nguyen king (emperor?), lunch, then see the tomb of the  penultimate Nguyen king.
So off we go.

The Captain

The crew

The fleet

We were ferried up the Perfume (possibly so named because cinnamon was carried to market downstream to Hue giving it an aroma) river by our captain who lives on the river (called boat people) who also sell tourist items on board- she had a prize catch. People live everywhere in Vietnam and this river was no exception.

There was moderate traffic on the river, other ferries for tourists, but also boats carrying sand to make cement in Hue.

So we arrived at the pagoda ( not a temple-most Vietnamese are buddhists-pagodas alway involve Buddha temples do not). So this was built by the first Nguyen king in the early 1800s -as the legend goes he was told whoever built a pagoda here would become king of Vietnam.-and so it was - the seat of power had been Hanoi but the government lacked a strong army which had allied itself with Nguyen (pronounced Nu-win) so for Hanoi it was a "Nguyen situation" . AnyHue the Nguyen dynasty was located in Hue which then became the imperial city-A Citadel was built by this king and the tombs are of two of the later kings in his line (not direct bloodline as the 4th Nguyen was unable to have children despite having over 100 concubines (you can't find a good women).

Gee it's raining again

These two gods guard the entrance one represents good the other evil guess which is which

Buddha

?Banzai Palmtree

Frangilpani(e)

So the Nguyen dynasty lasted from the early 1800s -1943 early on they were absolute dynasts but the French took power in the 1840s and the influence of the Nguyens wained. However Hue remained an important site for education- the school established here was Ho chi Minhs alumnus as well as other famous Vietnamese. The last Nguyen emperor was 4yrs old when he ascended to the throne he never had any power his mother took the reins. He eventually moved to France.
The Citadel was built by the first Nguyen to house and protect the king and his family. Inside it were several areas where he could meet with the mandarins-civil and military leaders who advised him and took his orders. Further inside was the forbidden city,  entry to it was limited to the royal family and concubines. Unfortunately much of the citadel was destroyed by the two 20th century wars as well as a typhoon although much has been restored.

Entrance to the inner citadel (inside outer walls) only royal family and mandarins could pass-middle door for the king only

The outer walls

Peaceful Goldfish

After fish food added

Moat system

Tile floors -I had to add them

Seal of the King

He was sitting off to the distance -our guide walked by him as if an afterthought

Big Brother is always watching

 So we had lunch at what seemed like a tourist stop-several buses there but it was located in a beautiful setting. We had Pho , springrolls and shrimp -yum

Tomb of the 4th Nguyen king

Tomb of the penultimate Nguyen king

Statues of the mandarins awaiting their king

The king and queen arrive

Okay so I'm having a little trouble downloading photos (I think its something with storage space) but I've bought more but it requires 24 hours -your faithful narrator