“I have to see everything, because if I don’t see everything I might as well go home and my life is a failure and I should just end it.”
– Me
At this point I was in a state of FOMO-panic so when I read about Hue’s old imperial city I decided I had to go see it.
HUE IMPERIAL CITY
The Imperial City is a walled palace within the citadel of the city of Huế, the former imperial capital of Vietnam. It was started by the Nguyen-family of emperors and building began in 1804. It costs $6.5 to get in and that’s about all the info I managed to glean from my excursion.
I guess I have to face the fact that I am a bit strange about these things. I love old places, ruins and temples, and sometimes they catch my interest so much I read up and know all about them, but a lot of the time I just actually love having some appropriate music (or not so appropriate, Taylor Swift started blasting on my iPod during this visit. Not completely planned, but hey, shake it off, right?) in the ears and walking around trying to imagine what it was like “way back when”. This is where stories are made, for me… I like atmosphere. I like imagining things, picturing old life and stories and places like this one is perfect for that.
The imperial city in Hue didn’t disappoint, it’s kept very well and you can clearly see what it looked like in the olden days. Even the paint jobs are well done so you don’t miss out on the splendid Asian colour schemes, the corridors where spectacular in their red and yellow – keeping it vibrant and fresh, kind of like the temples in Seoul, South-Korea.
HUE WAR MUSEUM
I’m a sucker for war history… I saw the planes displayed on the lawn when my taxi sped towards my hotel upon arrival and I thought “Heeeeey! Wat dis??” Old tanks and helicopters. I had to go see. Of course I had to go see. Especially since the entry fee was $1.5 😉
What I remember the most from this museum was maneuvering myself into a tank, trying not to cut myself on the metal shards, glass splinters or rusty old whatever-the-hell-that-is, getting some dude from another Asian country to take a picture of me in said tank so I could show my brother (thanks for all the war movies growing up, Thomas!) and that guy desperately trying to get into the Huey helicopter. (Yeah… they’re actually called Hueys). It was a good day.
Also, this seemed an opportune place for the guy who had all the little, motorized cars for kids to set up shop at museum closing time. Because nothing says “Toddlers having fun” like a war museum right next to a busy road… I guess…
This picture deserves special place. He went around the chopper like this trying every window and door for like five minutes *lol*
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