sunshine in rainy hue for a bit of pagoda viewing

dragon face, ancient citadel gate
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Hue is supposed to be really rainy at this time of year.  We were very lucky, just a couple of showers, and otherwise pretty sunny.

As an old capital city Hue promised lots of old buildings, and we had an enjoyable couple of days cycling about looking at the ancient citadel, which is in the centre of town and enormous (although only the central section is still in any kind of condition).  And a few of the pagodas and Royal Mausoleums outside town.

The citadel was tackled first, it is in the process of being restored, my guess is that it will take another 20-30 years, as there is quite a lot of it, but this area was where the royal leaders lived until the end of the second world war, when Vietnam got rid of the royals.  Mostly because the more recent kings had been puppets of the French.  The buildings were all worth a look around, but I'm not sure if dressing up as an emperor and having your photo taken (which seemed to be the most popular activity) was worth the money, I don't think they'd have had a costume in my size anyway.  As you can see from the poster in the photo it was possible to pay extra for mandarins and princesses to join you in your photo.

uncle ho welcomes you to hue
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The 7-tiered pagoda which is probably the most famous landmark in Hue was not as big as it looks on the postcards, but pretty nice nonetheless, but my favourite bit of Hue was the mausoleums.  Built to house the bodies of dead kings it seems that the kings liked to design them quite early on in life.  One even had 15 years to sit around at his mausoleum looking at the lake and writing poetry before he died.

Kiah Dinh (apologies if I've spelt that wrong) was the last king to get a mausoleum, and he designed it in a modern European style.  This means a lot of concrete with bits of what looked like broken china and beer bottles stuck on.  He also had some concrete elephants and mandarins made up to stand in the courtyard to look over him.  From the pictures inside he looked like a proper dandy and I can see why the first leader of an independent Vietnam (Ho Chi Minh) was glad to be rid of him.

there are a lot of options for dressing up here. vietnamese tourists love dressing up
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Had some nice pastries in Hue thanks to a French charity that teaches street kids to bake lemon tarts and baguettes.  It seems that some of the kids have moved on from the original bakery to work in other restaurants, very tasty.