We started our day with a trip to the Citadel. Hue is considered southern Vietnam as it was south of the demilitarized zone. The weather was overcast. Normally the humidity is very high so there is a lot of moss and mildew on all the buildings.
Hue was the imperial city from 1802 until 1945 during the Nguyen dynasty. As a side note, there were 10 dynasties in Vietnam’s history. Most of the people’s last name is one of the dynasty names because if they worked for the administration they would take the dynasty’s name.
The Imperial City is a walled enclosure within the Citadel of the city of Hue. It contains the palaces that housed the imperial family, as well as shrines, gardens, and villas for mandarins. Constructed in 1803 under Emperor Gia Long as a new capital, it mostly served a ceremonial function during the French colonial period. The Citadel was heavily damaged during the war. The Imperial City was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1993 as part of The Complex of Huế Monuments and is undergoing restoration.
We learned about concubines and eunuches. Eunuches would travel around the country looking for potential concubines. Potential concubines were as young as 15 years old and needed to be a virgin. The eunuch would take a drawing of the girl to the emperor and he would give thumbs up or thumbs down. The girl, once chosen, would be under a lot of pressure to go to the king because if she was choosen the whole village would benefit. If accepted she would live in the palace and be trained by her pimp, oh I mean eunuch. If she gets pregnant and it’s a boy her son could become the next emperor. You can image there was a good deal of palace politics among the young ladies.
The emperor and empress really liked their food. They typically had 50 different dishes at any one meal. The food here in the south tends to be a little spicier than the food in Hanoi.
Here are pictures of the Citadel.
This a a ky lin, a legendary creature that is the combination of 4 mythical animals in Vietnamese culture – unicorn, phoenix, dragon, and turtle. It is supposed to bring good luck, prosperity and good fortune. It was place at entrance of the city and it was considered to have the power to protect the city from bad spirits.
Next we went to a Buddhist nunnery for a “meditation lunch”. Only four nuns live in this nunnery. None of them joined us for the lunch. The nuns are vegetarians so there was no meat for lunch and we needed to be silent, giving thanks for the food that was nourishing our bodies and being thankful for the farmers who grew the food. After lunch we met the nun. She was 51 years old and had been there for 37 years. As a child she wanted to become a nun. Her parents weren’t so sure about her desires, but she came for a trial. After the trial she went back home but ended up running away and going back to the nunnery.
They start their day at 3:15am and end it at 9:30. There are several periods for chanting and meditating. At the end of the visit she chanted for us; it was beautiful.
We went back to the hotel and both of us took a nap. I got up in order to go to the orphaage but Rick stayed and napped, he is still not feeling very well.
The orphanage receives support from the Grand Circle Foundation, a foundation established by our tour company. It is for handicapped individuals. It provides services for 60 people, ages 1 to 60, and is run by catholic nuns, 16 in total. Some of the individuals are truly orphans and some come for day programs and then go home at night. We walked around the classrooms and then talked to the nun. I found the experience to be overwhelming. Many of us had brought presents and we gave them to the nuns. While in Vietnam I had made at sweater for a toddler and gave it to them. Before I left they put it on a 1 year old girl and it fit perfectly.
When I got back to the hotel, Rick had been sleeping. We decided not to join the group for dinner. Mai brought some food back for us.