Hooray for Hue!

Even though Hue (pronounced hoo-eh) is a big city, it has a decidedly different feel from the others that I have visited so far. There are traffic lights, and people pay attention to them! On the whole it seems to be less dense, and navigating my bicycle among the motorbikes was more like riding in a peloton (the name for a group of cyclists riding together), since people were generally going in the direction of traffic at a moderate speed and did not display the erratic behavior so typical of the other places. All of this leads to less sounding of the horns, for which my ears and brain are very grateful.

Taking to the streets in the morning to explore the Imperial City, I was pleasantly surprised by such calm, and the vague, but consistent smell of incense from family altars. The Imperial City was built starting in 1803 by the Nguyen dynasty, with the help of the French, and you can see some of the influence in the outer walls, and some of the interior palaces. Even though the French officially occupied Vietnam starting in 1883, the emperors continued to occupy the Imperial City and its palaces until Bao Dai (the last emperor) was de-throned by Ho Chi Minh’s forces in 1945.

After scouring the grounds (most buildings were destroyed by a fire in 1945, and others later damaged in the 1968 Tet Offensive), I took in Dong Ba Cho (cho means “market”), the central market and pulled up a mini-stool for some snacks at on one of the many street vendors. The best food in Vietnam by far is the street food, but I don’t always know exactly what I am eating.

I was later befriended by a local musician who took me to his mother’s for lunch and after that to a traditional wrestling match, far outside the city center. Apparently, they hold a festival every year during the Tet holidays (which last 10 days) where a wrestling match is featured. This is unique to Hue. Being crammed on bamboo stands with the locals, cheering on the sweaty wrestlers, was something definitely not on the tourist agenda, and I enjoyed it immensely.