10th March: Hue, Vietnam to Hanoi, Vietnam

Hue was capital of an approximation of Vietnam from 1802 to 1945, under the Nguyen dynasty. This is seen as an important period in the development of the modern Vietnamese identity. One facet was the solidification of many Chinese ideas such as within the fields of administration and linguistics. Bureaucracy was based upon Qing dynasty ideas and Confucianism became a dominant paradigm through which to make decisions. Along with Chinese occupations totalling more than a thousand years, this helps to explain why Vietnam feels like a middle ground between China and the rest of Southeast Asia.

However, the Nguyen were rarely in a position of absolute power. The initially strong Chinese influence was gradually replaced by effective French control (a ‘protectorate’) from the mid-nineteenth century. The architecture of the Nguyen imperial capital has a strongly Chinese feel. Replace the yellow with red and you could be in Beijing.

We had until mid-afternoon to explore the old capital on the northern banks of the Perfume River, before our sleeper train was due to leave at 16:30. It’s a very impressive place for its sheer scale. The outer moat is crossed before ramparts marked with giant gates (and today an oversized Vietnamese flag). Depending on the direction of entry, you might have had to cross up to four moats before reaching the inner sanctum of the palace.

The details were exquisite, if a little over the top for my tastes. Every part of the exterior walls of the palace were covered in three-dimensional mosaics made from enamelled earthenware. The over-riding colour scheme was the same pastel yellow we’ve seen throughout central Vietnam, but reds and blues were very present too. As with Chinese imperial buildings, dragons sat on walls and on the corners of the roof for protection.

Much of the huge site outside of the (already expansive) renovated palace is now part of the modern lived-in city, with local people having made their homes in the previously royal areas. This feels very apt for Communist Vietnam and should happen in more countries! We walked the streets filled with everyday life until coming across two former temple sites. The moats around these islands have been excavated and refilled with water and are now spaces for recreation.

Back across the river, we had warming curries for lunch on this cloudy, damp day. Vietnamese yellow curry is very interesting in that it tastes nothing like the curries we’ve enjoyed in Thailand, Laos, and Cambodia. It isn’t bad by any means, but kind of tastes as if somebody in the UK tried to make a southeast Asian curry with only a vague understanding of the ingredients using a few Indian spices from the back of the cupboard.

We picked up our bags and took a Grab to the train station, arriving early and just as a persistent smizzle set in outside. In the waiting room, scores of people already sat watching episodes of Mr Bean dubbed into French. Now and again, there would be a widespread chuckle at the slapstick events unfolding on screen!

The train arrived around 30 minutes late. In the mean time, the staff crowded around someone’s phone on the tracks. Making our way to our carriage, we were pleased to see that ours was one of the two newer ones, which according to my prior research had been added to the train around a decade ago. The rest were old, renovated sleeper carriages. In our carriage, one elderly Vietnamese woman had already set up on the opposite bottom bunk. She was very particular about preventing the door from closing for ventilation, using a provided sandal for the purpose, but was friendly. We shared bananas from the garden of our hotel in Hoi An and she gave us some digestive biscuits. Communication was a little tricky, but we gleaned that she was going back home to Hanoi, having been on holiday somewhere further south.

We watched out of the windows as the cloudy and misty afternoon gradually darkened into evening. We ate our banh mis and the woman opposite had a feast of corn, spring rolls, and other snacks. Outside, various cute kids from different carriages were running up and down the corridor. The woman wanted to give them biscuits, but none would stop for long enough to take any! Soon, we all settled down in our own bunks to read or watch things in a lovely peaceful compartment. The final passenger joined around 8pm and was also quiet and polite. He was gone at some point in the night at one of the many stops we’d make between Hue and Hanoi.