First off, though, there was the approach to the port.

We’d forgotten just how staggeringly beautiful Vietnam is and just how much of an impact it had on us on our first visit. Vietnam is a country that really shouldn’t appeal to us at all because if there’s one thing we don’t deal with very well then it’s humidity. We’re not great with high heat either but when you add in the humidity it gets very uncomfortable for us very quickly. On our first trip to Vietnam back in 2008 we remembered the night before hitting the country and how stepping out from the air conditioned inside of the ship onto the promenade deck was like walking into a sauna; the following day was even more of a shock as we’d found ourselves sweating from every pore within seconds, drenching the clothing we’d been wearing. I’m happy to say that it wasn’t quite that extreme this time around and we seemed to cope better with the Vietnamese environmental conditions. The conditions were very still, very calm, and you could see the humidity before you even felt it in the form of the gorgeous clouds over the verdant landscape of the Asian country partly hidden in an early morning heat haze and evaporating mist of the preceding night.

Chân Mây ranks right up there as one of the smaller ports we’ve ever docked at while cruising around the world. Most ports that we’ve cruised into have been either commercial or dedicated for cruise passengers and it’s been a rare event to hit one whose prime purpose is industrial. A number of piers and wharfs extended out from the Vietnamese shoreline allowing Diamond Princess to come alongside.

With no building ashore for passengers to head through everyone had to wait until immigration officers came aboard and had set up near the exit of the ship in order to get a landing card stamped by the authorities. This didn’t take very long, though, and the process of getting the landing card was a perfunctory one that barely added a few seconds to the departure process for those leaving the ship.

As already mentioned, we had booked a full day’s excursion through Princess Cruises for our first day in Vietnam to visit the city of Huế and a number of historical sites in the area. We got our landing cards and left the coolness of the ship for a walk of around one hundred metres to where the coaches had parked up waiting to take passengers to their destinations.

We were immensely pleased to discover that the coach we were on had air conditioning, something notably missing when we’d taken a trip to the Cu Chi tunnels ten years earlier. We then had the equally welcome pleasure of experiencing a drive through the Vietnamese countryside once more. Blue skies dotted with billowing clouds accompanied our journey first inland then turning northwards towards the city that was our destination. The landscape was overwhelmingly green with large swathes of fields rolling smoothly up the hills both nearby and in the distance.

As we got further away from the port area and closed in on Huế there were far more signs of human life with more buildings, plenty of roadside shrines and temples, cemeteries, and shops.

With restroom facilities being limited at the first place we were scheduled to visit our coach made a brief stop in the city near a jewellery store with public toilets. We had a quick look at the jewellery on offer but the prices were far beyond what we wanted to spend on anything; more than that, the behaviour of the sales staff was not something we were comfortable with. If you’ve never been to this part of the world before then it’s worth noting that how you might like to browse a store – you look around, you find something of interest, you find someone to ask questions about it perhaps – is not how it works out there. Instead, you have to be prepared to have someone shadow you from counter to counter, from shelf to shelf, picking up absolutely anything your eyes glance at and trying to push it onto you. There’s likely to be a commission aspect to this pushiness but we find it off-putting and counterproductive and it’s an area where we’d like to see the cruise companies perhaps approaching these trusted partner shopping stops and maybe suggesting they ease off with the sales tactic a bit.

Escaping from the store we hung around outside to snap a few shots and wait for the rest of our tour group to emerge and get back on the coach.

From that rest stop it was just a very short drive across the Perfume River and to a parking lot within a few hundred metres of the walls of the Imperial City.

In the next post I’ll cover our visit to the Imperial City in Huế.

Even though I’m going to be mostly referring to this Vietnamese historical site as the Imperial City it’s really three structures, one inside another. The outermost structure is the Citadel comprising the thick walls and moat. Inside that and through ornate gateways is the actual Imperial City. Within the city is another, originally walled off area called the Purple Forbidden City, reserved for the Emperor and family.

Unlike its counterpart in Beijing the Imperial City is not aligned to face north-south but rather on a northwest-southeast direction in order to make use of the Perfume River‘s natural course as the first layer of defence. The city has a number of entrances and our tour would take us in through the main one in the centre of the southeast wall. The first thing we saw was the clearly defensive fortifications of the Citadel across the moat fed by sluice gates from the nearby river.

Over the moat and inside the Citadel walls via the Ngan Gate we then stopped by the Holy Cannons. There are nine of these in total set up in two lines of four and five where the group of four (nearest the gate we came in through) represent the seasons and group of five represent the elements (fire, water, earth, wood, and metal). Made of brass and about five metres in length the cannons are ceremonial and have never been fired.

We then walked towards the beautiful Cửa Ngọ Môn (or Noon Gate) to enter the Imperial City. Opposite the gate was the imposing presence of the Flag Tower.

The Trung Dào bridge passed over the Thai Dich lake and took us to the first building, Điện Thái Hoà (the Palace of Supreme Harmony). This palace was built in 1806 for the coronation of Emperor Gia Long and houses the throne that was the seat of power for thirteen emperors in Vietnam.

Beyond the Palace of Supreme Harmony we were effectively in the Purple Forbidden City. A large courtyard area that we first entered was flanked on either side by two buildings called Ta Vu and Huu Vu. While the buildings looked identical from the exterior they both served different purposes with Ta Vu dedicated to art and Huu Vu dedicated to military matters.

We then headed roughly northwards passing through two large courtyard areas known as the Can Chanh and Can Thanh palaces. The Imperial City at Huế attracted a decent number of visitors other than just our tour group but the wide openness of this area lent everything a quiet, peaceful look and feel right up until you looked more closely at the walls and ground where signs of past warfare – bullet holes for the main part – still lingered. It had a transformative effect, taking the tranquility and fashioning it into ghostliness.

It’s also worth noting – although it should be obvious from the photos – but there was very little shade in this area. Whereas we’d been hiding in the shadows of tree canopies or behind walls when we could this clearly wasn’t possible out in the open courtyards when our guide was pointing out interesting buildings he was describing. Just before we’d entered the Citadel at the start of the tour we’d been standing beside our local guide when he pulled out a handkerchief to mop his own brow and turned to us mentioning it was surprisingly hot and humid during our visit on that day. We replied that we’d noticed with a smile but if it’s hot for a local then you know it’s really hot.

Turning roughly westwards we then proceeded down the Long Corridor, a covered walkway in bright red that reminded us of the Temple of Heaven in Beijing, albeit without any singers and musicians.

This brought us to Cung Diên Thọ, a couple of buildings used as residence and dining locations for the Emperor’s mother. Just beyond them was the western moat and the area had some well-tended gardens too. A very attractive spot indeed with some very nice decorative stonework on the buildings and walls. The main building housed some artifacts of historical note and there was also a small souvenir shop located here where we picked up a few bits and pieces. I can’t remember for sure because we had some and didn’t check but it was a small enough location that I think you need local currency here; I might be wrong, though.

After giving everyone time to pick up souvenirs and use the nearby toilets if they had need of them (and hadn’t simply sweated out any bodily fluids already like we had) our guide then led us on a roughly clockwise walk around the northern end of the Imperial City then back down towards the palace courtyards and into another walled-off area just to the southeast of them which was the location of the Royal Theatre. This is the oldest working theatre in Vietnam and was originally just for the Emperor’s family (as you could probably have guessed) though it’s possible these days to watch plays inside. The interior was restored in 2004 to be a faithful reproduction of the original design from 1826. We had enough time to look inside had we wanted to but it was a little crowded in this area and required us to take off our shoes and, quite frankly, we weren’t sure we’d be able to get them back on again thanks to the heat of the day if we’d tried.

This concluded our visit to Huế Imperial City so we left by the nearest exit which was the East Bastion Gateway, a gorgeously ornate piece of architecture as I’m sure you can see from the photos below.

Crossing the moat surrounding the Citadel we turned right and headed back towards the main road roughly to the south of the Imperial City and towards where our coach had parked up to wait for us. One final point of interest along this stretch of road – although we didn’t have any time to take a look at it on this organised excursion – was the Huế Historical Museum, an open air display of military machines: tanks, guns, helicopters, planes. If you’re at all interested in the Vietnam War aspects of history as they apply to Huế then this looked well worth a quick visit although it was possible to see quite a lot of it just from the roadside where we were.

In the next post I’ll cover the second historical site we viewed on this cruise excursion, that of the Thien Mu Pagoda (Pagoda of the Celestial Lady).

Steep steps led up to the impressive seven-tier tower that marked the entrance to the pagoda complex but there weren’t too many of them so it should be climbable by most people. Each tier of the octagonal tower is three metres high and dedicated to a different Buddha. The pagoda was originally constructed in 1601 after the governor of the area heard of the prophecy of the Celestial Lady who foretold the building’s construction by a great lord. Over the intervening centuries the pagoda underwent expansion by different rulers but suffered considerable damage during a cyclone in the early years of the twentieth century.

In the area immediately surrounding the tower was a building containing a stone turtle with a stele on its back.

Beyond the tower there was a walled section with another stele out in front and decorated openings allowing people to pass through to the gardens and buddhist temple beyond.

As you’d expect from a place like this the area was very peaceful. The walls and trees obscured any sight of the city beyond and served to muffle any sounds of vehicles.

It was possible to go into the main hall of the temple if shoes were removed and there was a place set outside for the burning of incense, neither of which activity we engaged in; the former because it was a little crowded with everyone jostling for a view and the latter because I don’t do well around incense. I have a history of fainting when I smell it which I’ve always taken to be nature’s way of telling me to step away from the whole religion thing.

We only had a short period of time at the Pagoda Of The Celestial Lady but in fairness there wasn’t a huge amount to see. If you’re in Huế then it’s an easy place to find and visit and it’s free to enter but if you are pressed for time then it doesn’t have the range of things to see that might make you think it’s worthwhile diverting from where you are to take a look around. On the other hand, as a restful spot to seek out your inner calm there’s nothing to fault it at all.

One thing the pagoda also has, though, is some relatively recent historical significance.

From 1955 to 1963 Ngo Dinh Diem declared himself the president of South Vietnam following elections where more people voted than were registered to do so. That would probably get him some support today from political leaders in the UK and USA. He didn’t need to worry about an international backlash as he was a staunch anti-communist so could rely on American aid anyway. Diem was also Catholic and imposed his views on the country banning divorce and abortion, closing brothels, tightening adultery laws – that would probably also get him some support today from political leaders – but he also started to restrict buddhist practices in a country with a long tradition of them and his hard line against anyone who opposed him saw some of his foreign support wane. Weird to think that these days we’ve probably got political leaders who’d look at that sort of religious discrimination and ruthless approach to enemies as something to admire once again. Anyhoo…

Diem’s intransigence to Buddhist demands for equal treatment led to increasing numbers of protests – many in and around Huế – to the extent that anti-communist nationalist members of the ruling body and military began to talk about the need for a coup and stability after clearing with America first that it wouldn’t do anything to interfere or retribute. It still ticked their “Don’t Like The Commies” box so they said yes and another strong reason for that also ties in with the pagoda. In 1963 a protesting Buddhist monk – Thích Quảng Đức – was driven to a busy intersection in Saigon and set himself on fire.

The self-immolation photograph was seen all around the world and had a profound effect on the US president at the time, Kennedy, making the decision to back the coup an easier one to make. Hồ Chí Minh and the North Vietnamese leadership saw the backing of the coup as a further advancement of America’s imperialist desires in the region and, well, we all know what that led to within a few years. You can still see the car that drove Thích Quảng Đức to his symbolic suicide at the Pagoda of the Celestial Temple so if one of the key events leading up to the Vietnam War interests you then it’s worth visiting for that reason alone.

The location for lunch on this Huế excursion was the Hotel Saigon Morin on the southern bank of the Perfume River more-or-less where we’d crossed over to take a tour of the Imperial City earlier in the day. We were greeted by a large hall featuring entertainment from musicians and dancers at one end, lined along the windows with tables conveniently near blessed air conditioning units, and filled in the centre with a huge array of tables laid out for a buffet. The variety and quality of food was superb although with several tour groups arriving at around the same time and the concept of queueing apparently evaporating in the Vietnamese humidity it was a bit of a slog to fill a plate up.

There were meat dishes, fish dishes, vegetable dishes, and different types of rice, salads, and fruits to satisfy anybody’s tastes and there were a selection of chocolate and matcha cakes that I felt deserving of some taste-testing too. If you are taking one of the cruise excursions in Huế that includes lunch here then you won’t be disappointed.

Our final historical site for the day would be the Tomb of Emperor Tự Đức which was a fairly short drive from the centre of Huế and gave me a chance to fire off a few photographs through the window of the bus. As anyone who has regularly read any travel posts on this site (counts on fingers… nobody) knows I am not a fan of shooting photos through the window of a moving vehicle because the vibrations and bumps are bad enough but the inevitable problems with dirt and reflections drive me insane. Still, I do try to grab some on occasion just to see if any are half decent enough to warrant posting.

Getting something to eat might depend on the duration of your cruise excursion but one thing that’s almost always guaranteed is a stop at some sort of location for shopping. This is one of those areas where our views over the years have changed somewhat. When we first started cruising and heading ashore on organised trips we found the shopping opportunities something to barely tolerate; they seemed a bit forced, you always wondered if there were kickbacks to the excursion operators, they seemed like they were taking too much time away from the cultural things we wanted to see, and they often had nothing we could afford. To be fair, we’ve mainly cruised with Princess who edge into the more-well-off traveller market as a rule whereas we initially saved just enough for the experiences but had nothing left over for mementoes. As we’ve gained in age and weight we’ve also accrued a little more spending money so while we don’t come anywhere near the average fellow passenger in terms of personal wealth we have come to appreciate the shopping stops more especially as documenting our travel experiences has become the norm for us.

Our shopping stop on this particular excursion was just a few minutes away from our final destination. The trip notes had indicated we would be able to see local people making conical hats and would have the chance to buy one and we’d pictured a little village with a few huts and stalls for some reason. No idea why. The important thing is that was a terrible bit of guesswork on our part as we entered what was pretty much just a reasonably large store by the roadside next to a junction. Directly in front of us was a woman making incense sticks and behind her was another making hats; the remainder of the establishment consisted of pieces of artwork, bookmarks, packets of incense, statues, dolls, slippers, etc.

We would have bought something were it not for two cultural issues: firstly, the pushiness of the sales people. Upon walking in the store there were a number of local women who mobbed us as a group and immediately started asking what we wanted to buy. We wanted to browse first. The problem was the women seemed to work on a commission basis as it became very clear that the first one we said “Just looking, thanks” to insisted we come to her when it was time to buy and pulled away one of her colleagues a few minutes later who’d got close to us while we were looking at something else. The competitiveness was not a friendly one. The second issue was when we looked at some paintings. While the paintings were formulaic and similar in appearance (a temple with a bird and a river, or a boat on a river with the sun over the trees, or a group of women in local clothing and conical hats; that sort of thing) they were at least not mass-produced and so appealed to us as a souvenir of our time in Vietnam. The price we were quoted didn’t appeal, though, so we said no. And then came the “How much do you want to pay?” pestering. I’ve haggled before but this high-pressure pushing from multiple sources being dragged around to stop us from leaving, urging me to pick a price just didn’t make me feel comfortable.

So, not the best shopping experience but we accept what happened as something that occurs when you go somewhere you’re familiar with. All part of the reason to travel. We escaped from the turmoil of the shop and snapped a few photos of the greenery until it was time to board the bus for our visit to the emperor’s tomb.

Our coach parked more-or-less right by the attractive main entrance gateway to the tomb complex and we gathered there as a group while our guide went ahead to purchase tickets for our visit.

The fourth Nguyễn dynasty emperor Tự Đức lived in interesting times, many of them of his own doing. His ascendancy to the throne at his father’s wish immediately caused conflict as by Confucian traditions his elder brother should have inherited the title. This triggered a rebellion in which Tự Đức was victorious but was just one part of the troubles he faced. By continuing and expanding policies that saw Vietnam increasingly shut off from the outside world and intolerant towards foreign influences and non-Confucian religious practitioners (particularly Christians) inner turmoil in the country soon spilled over into the outside world and France stepped in to assert some order. European weaponry and tactics were more than enough to overrun Vietnam and even the Chinese coming to Tự Đức’s aid were only a slowing force. Tự Đức eventually signed away part of southern Vietnam to the French and agreed to become a colonial protectorate, acts that were not well received by others in his country.

Having been largely responsible for mass persecutions, contributing to rebellions, angering his own people, and signing away sovereignty it’s subsequently difficult to decide whether the peaceful, sprawling, yet still modest tomb of the emperor came as a surprise or not when we saw it. The tomb, built between 1864 and 1867, was designed by Tự Đức himself and was made to be a place where he could escape from the problems ravaging his country (even the building of it precipitated an attempted coup as it involved forced labour and increased taxation of locals) and wander the grounds in peace with his wife and concubines. Smallpox when younger had left him impotent so despite having over 100 concubines he fathered no children.

Upon entering the grounds of the tomb the first thing we came to was Luu Khiem Lake. As the sign above explains, the lake and its small island were artificially created. The island was regularly populated with small animals and the emperor would take a boat across in order to hunt them. The emperor himself was a small man, standing only 1.5 metres (5 feet) tall.

Along the left hand side of the lake as we walked further into the tomb complex there was a small boat landing area opposite which was the Khiem Cung Gate. This was the entrance to the Ritual Area which had previously been the palace in which the emperor and his concubines would reside when he was visiting. As a sign near the gate explained, the buildings in the palace were a scaled-down version of the Imperial City.

Passing through the gate took us into a courtyard around which were the buildings of Hoa Khiem Palace. These buildings house many of Tự Đức’s possessions, gifts, and furniture.

The two thrones were used by the emperor and empress. Interestingly, the smaller of the two thrones was the one on which Tự Đức sat. As his wife was somewhat taller than him already this arrangement served to further emphasise his small stature, the reason for that not being known.

Continuing through the palace buildings took us to the Minh Khiem Chamber, a theatre in which Vietnamese cultural plays were put on, many of them sponsored by the emperor. It is possible to pay a small fee, dress up as the emperor, and sit on a throne in the theatre and someone duly did just that while we were there.

We came out back through the Hoa Khiem Palace buildings and through the Khiem Cung Gate then turned northwards towards an entrance that ran parallel to the palace buildings.

This took us to the Necropolis, the first part of which was a forecourt lined with an honour guard of statues – elephants, horses, and mandarins – for the emperor. Just like his throne and the man himself, Tự Đức’s statues were smaller than is usual for this type of memorial.

Up a few steps was the Stele Pavilion which houses – as its name implies – a stele containing a biography of the emperor, written by himself. A self-written stele is an unusual thing in Vietnamese traditions with this typically being undertaken by a son but, of course, Tự Đức didn’t have any of those. The stele weighs over 20 tons and it is the largest stele in Vietnam. The emperor’s biography remarks on his childhood illness and admits mistakes he made during his reign although his dying words were allegedly curses against the French (probably quite common) so it’s not clear how much of that modesty and remorse in the inscription was genuine.

A common architectural addition to imperial tombs in Vietnam are towers which are there to represent the power of the emperor.

Beyond the Stele Pavilion was a small lagoon and a wall with a single entrance into the Sepulchre. In deliberate contrast to the ornate designs on the walls and around the gateways everywhere else the actual tomb of Tự Đức was very plain. Importantly, the tomb was a point of respect and worship but the actual remains of Tự Đức and his most favoured treasures are nowhere near it. Indeed, nobody knows where the emperor’s body was buried; the location and honour of burying the emperor was given over to 200 workers who upon completion of their duty were beheaded to ensure it remained a secret. Not the greatest job in the world then.

The views from the Sepulchre back across the lagoon and towards the Stele Pavilion and its flanking towers made for very pleasant ones.

This concluded our visit to Tự Đức’s Tomb on the outskirts of Huế and, indeed, our full day cruise excursion in the Vietnamese city so all that remained was for us to retrace our steps out of the Necropolis, head back past Luu Khiem Lake, and leave via the exit to our waiting coach for the journey back to Diamond Princess.