Imperial City & Cooking Class (not like I needed one...)
- Emily Graves
- Dec 28, 2018
- 6 min read
GOOOOD MORNING VIETNAM! We woke up around 7:30am and ate some breakfast at the hotel and then left to go to the Imperial City aka The Citadel. The Citadel is where the Battle of Hué was fought in the Vietnam War. It was actually one of the longest and bloodiest fights of the war. The city of Hué was pretty much destroyed during the war and over 5,000 civilians were killed. What was left of the Citadel was preserved for people to walk through and look at, so that is where we were headed this morning!
We walked about 45 minutes to get there, passing more shops and restaurants that were cool to look at and browse through! They have fish stores. But when I say fish stores I mean like tanks upon tanks just FILLED to the rim with fish. And you just get a net and literally fish out (pun intended) the ones you want, bag 'em, and then put them on your motorbike and head on home! Unlike America, none of the fish were dead and floating upside down, so we are obviously doing something wrong over here.
The streets and roads are prettttyyy crazy here, although I wouldn't say they compare to the busy roads in Africa. Here they mostly transport using motorbikes, although there are a few cars and taxis on the roads. They honk their horns 24/7. They use them to say hey, to let you know they are beside you, behind you, in front of you, to let you know they are probably going to pass you...it's just a continuous parade of horns. You'll also see 3 people piled onto one motorbike, and if it's raining, which it normally was, they would have these HUGE ponchos that covered all 3 of them plus their entire motorbike. It was impressive. It was also very normal to see women wearing like three inch heels and stilettos driving their motorbikes or riding on them side saddle #girlpower. One time I saw a girl lose her flip flop in a massive puddle though and she caused a huge pile up because she had to get off her motorbike and go retrieve the lost sandal. I related to her very much so. They do have red lights, but I am still unsure if they actually use them or not.. Oh, and to cross the street you just have to say a quick prayer and play the best game of Frogger you have ever played in your life. Commitment is the key, you can't be indecisive. One time I think it took Cindy like 15 minutes to cross not even a main road, but a side street, because she was waiting for a "gap" in the traffic. That doesn't exist. And they also have dogs as pets here! So that was cute to see. The dogs could definitely navigate the streets better than we could.
Once we got across this tiny little tunnel that we had to scale because there was no crosswalk, we could see these huge structures with the Vietnamese flag hanging off of them. Aka, we made it! We chose not to do the guided tour since having Patty there was basically like doing our own tour anyways. It was really awesome to see all the history that the grounds held.
They kept a lot of the original structures from the war, so you could see some of the destruction from the bombs and gunfire. Once you get right inside the gate, you see the "Nine Deities Canons" which were large bronze canons meant to symbolize the five elements of Taoism. Now it was time to go in!
Well, we THOUGHT we were ready to start exploring everything until we realized that we could feed the koi in front of the entrance. So that distracted us for a solid 20 minutes. But look how many there were!! Silly Americans.
Moving on. We first went and saw the Throne Palace, because that is what is directly inside the city. You were not allowed to take pictures inside most of the structures once inside the city in order to respect the history and importance of the structures, so you'll just have to believe me when I say they are incredible. We also were able to walk through temples inside the City, which is where they worship their ancestors.
There was a place inside called the Forbidden Purple (Go 'Dins!) City, and it was a 25 acre city within the city that no one was allowed to enter except the emperor himself and a few servants. If anyone else stepped foot inside the Purple City, they would have been condemned to death. No big deal. But now, it's almost entirely empty because it was wiped out by American bombs, and since there were no blueprints, no one has any idea what it looked like or how to rebuild it, so they decided they probably shouldn't touch it. Rational. A Reading Room was the only room in the entire Forbidden City that actually survived. Therefore letting everyone know that you should always read books!!!
Side note: there were way more buildings and structures inside the Citadel then we actually saw, so what I'm mentioning are just the ones that we got to see or hear about!
Next we went to the To Mieu Temple. This temple was first of all, gorgeous, and secondly was built to honor the deceased Nguyen emperors of the imperial era. In front of the temple was a place to leave an offering for the Nguyen rulers if you want to. Although the Nguyen rulers are mostly perceived as kind of terrible people and rulers who exploited the poor, Vietnamese traditions believe that, regardless of how someone lived on earth, once they die, their spirit can still affect the world in either a positive or negative way. So hoping that they affect the world in a positive rather than negative way, I left an offering. Just in case.
Across from the Temple was a Pavilion with The 9 Dynastic Urns, each used to honor Nguyen emperors. They were very large. And bronze. Tall, dark, and handsome, if you will.
Thanks for coming on this grand tour with me! That's all I can remember of names and things. I wasn't much of a gal who could retain history facts, even though I tried really hard. Thank goodness for plaques with explanations, am I right? But here are a few extra pictures of some structures and other things inside the Citadel!
On our way out we stopped by a gift shop where they made lanterns and hats. It was really pretty because they had the lantern and hats hanging, and it was cool to watch them actually make them right in front of you! We made the trek back home and hung out for about 45 minutes until it was time to head to our cooking class! Patty also informed us that we walked about 7 miles and it wasn't 2 pm yet. So whoever thinks I didn't exercise on this trip was wrong. Just working on my winter body.
After our little break to rest our feet, we headed back out to take a dragon boat about 30-40 minutes out to the place where we had our cooking class. It was right on the water, and it was just a little small building connected to a house where the owner lived. The owner, who also knew Patty and Cindy (classic), was super nice and had a really cool story. She was originally from Vietnam, but her husband is from Australia, so she lived there for a long time. She spoke English extremely well and she actually had more of an Australian accent than anything else. Mainly I was just jealous because I really want to have an Australian accent. Her mom and aunt worked at the cooking class with her and helped us during the whole process (thank the Lord). We started the cooking class and I must admit I was a little nervous. 1) I don't like being bad at things. 2) I especially don't like being bad at things in front of people. If you know me AT ALL, you know that both of those things were bound to happen in a cooking class. But thankfully they walked you through every single step and I must say it all turned out to be DELICIOUS. We made spring rolls, a pork dish, a chicken dish, morning glory salad, and lots of sauces. They have a peanut sauce there that is life changing. Also, notice by how I said "pork dish" & "chicken dish" instead of like "a pork shoulder glazed with fish sauce and garlic cloves...etc." that I had no idea what I was doing in there. I do know that it was really fun and that we had LOTS of food to devour, and we didn't do too shabby at that part. We all got to sit around a dinner table and enjoy all the foods we just made. They definitely aren't a wasteful culture, though, so we felt very pressured to eat everything in front of us. But that is the kind of peer pressure I need in my life. Thank goodness we walked 7 miles earlier...
It was pouring down rain when it was time to go home on the boat, so naturally we all got soaking wet and then took the 30-40 minute boat ride home. It was about 6pm when we got back to the hotel and I hopped in the shower and then do not remember passing out at all. A grand day, indeed.
Next: Clinic Day 1!!!
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