Travel flashback: Hue, ancient capital of Vietnam (October 2010)

This post is a continuation of our Vietnam tour. Click here for our HCMC  / Saigon tour (Day 1 & Day 2, Part 1)


After our 2-day tour of Ho Chi Minh City which made us learn about the US-Vietnam War and observe the fusion of French and Vietnamese cultures, we were bound to Hue for some learnings on Vietnam's ancient history.

Day 2, Part 2: Arrival in Hue

From HCMC, we arrived past 9 PM at Phu Bai International Airport via Vietnam Airlines. It was like a flight from Davao in the south to Cebu in the center.

Phu Bai International Airport, Hue

Our hotel transfer picked us up and the drive took about 30 minutes from the airport to my chosen accommodation, Orchid Hotel. We were welcomed with snacks and refreshing fruit shakes as we waited for a staff member to take us to and explain the features of our Family Room. When we finally got to our room, we all instantly felt luxury at only USD 52 per night!

Family Room at Orchid Hotel

Aside from a balcony, a spacious bathroom with bathtub, and complimentary fruits and drinking water, here are the features of our Family Room based also on Orchid Hotel’s website:

Each hotel room consists: of a flat LCD television equipped with DVD player, a computer with internet connection, speaker systems to listen to sounds from iPod, X-Box 360 for guests who like playing games (sound system with iPod dock. X-Box 360 on request), including modern an air conditioning, a telephone, a room safe, a kettle, a water dispenser for making coffee or tea), a hair dryer, a mirror and scales and so on.  

As what the receptionist had told me when we arrived, it was a pity that we would only be staying for one night while we might had gone tired and stressed out due to our flight’s delayed arrival. And then we would be gone the whole day because of our Hue city tour, which would mean that we wouldn’t have time to splurge in our room. It was indeed a pity for us because the Family Room made me want to live in Orchid Hotel forever!

Day 3: Hue ancient city tour, domestic departure to HCMC and international departure to Manila

The luxurious feeling I had during the night was made even more luxurious when we woke up the next morning. The view from our balcony was peaceful and our breakfast was heavenly!

Good morning, Hue!

Lovely buffet breakfast at Orchid Hotel

After our breakfast, we checked out at the reception area. It broke my heart to know that I would not enter our room again when we get back from our city tour.

Our tour was care of the tour booking service of Orchid Hotel. We paid USD 15 per person for a group bus tour and a dragonboat ride, excluding entrance fees.

Hue, seated at the central region of Vietnam, was the country’s former capital during the reign of the Nguyen Dynasty, until the 1940s when Saigon became the new capital. Because of the many monuments constructed during those times, Hue as a city is marked as a UNESCO World Heritage site.

The first half of our trip would be consisting of three of the many royal tombs in Hue, but first we stopped by a handicraft center.

Something our bus passed by

A handicraft center we stopped by

Our first tomb to visit was Tu Duc Tomb, which our tour guide called “tomb of the impotent king” to make us foreign tourists remember. Our guide told us that Emperor Tu Duc had many wives and concubines but he had no child because of his impotence caused by smallpox. Tu Duc was also the longest-ruling emperor in the Nguyen Dynasty and is said to be the last emperor who ruled independently, without intervention by the French colonizers.

The complex of Tu Duc Tomb

In the Minh Khiem Chamber of the complex, one could have a photo op sitting on the throne only for those who would rent royal costumes. Because I wanted to feel regal for a day, I think we paid VND 25,000 each (about PhP 62.50), excluding Pol.

Inside the Minh Khiem Chamber

The complex of Tu Duc’s tomb was very huge with gardens and lakes. After passing through a lot of the halls around the complex, we finally reached the tomb area and the forecourt.

The tomb proper

The forecourt

Our next tomb was Minh Mang Tomb, where I forgot what what our tour guide had called it. The complex was also huge with gardens and lakes, and over 40 buildings. I liked this one better than Tu Duc’s tomb. I find it somewhat romantic and serene.

The complex of Minh Mang Tomb

Finally, my most awaited tomb was the Khai Dinh Tomb, or “tomb of the homosexual king” as called by our tour guide. Emperor Khai Dinh was rumored to be homosexual because of his feminine physical features, and that he only had a few wives and concubines that were not as many as all the other emperors. Khai Dinh was also said to be unpopular because of his collaboration with the French colonizers, and our tour guide said it came to a point where the emperor even got his regular salary from the French because of his granting of so much power to them.

Khai Dinh Tomb

Inside the main hall of Khai Dinh Tomb

Inside the main hall of Khai Dinh Tomb

Although Khai Dinh’s tomb was the smallest and most upfront where you would only need to climb over a hundred steps to get to the main tomb, it is my favorite because of its architecture that mixes European, Asian, ancient and modern styles. But such mixture of styles was said to symbolize the decline of Vietnamese culture as Khai Dinh had let the French colonizers greatly intervene with his reign.

There are a lot of other royal tombs in Hue, but those three were the only ones included in most organized tours. After our tomb exploration, we had buffet lunch which was of Western cuisine. I remember I kept coming back to the buffet table for the potatoes! I wish I took photos.

After our lunch, it was time for the highlight of our tour, the Imperial Citadel. It was ‘a city within a city’, a walled fortress of the Nguyen Dynasty and had the same concept as China’s Forbidden City. During the time of our visit to the Citadel, we could only count a few remaining original structures as most of them had been damaged by the Vietnam War in the sixties. There were also a lot of reconstructions going on, but were still largely in progress. The Citadel is yet to be enjoyed by tourists in the very far future, and I hope I could come back to see it again completely restored. But meanwhile, we watched an animated 3D presentation of the original structure of the Citadel.

The entrance and front part of the Imperial Citadel

Inside the Imperial Citadel where most parts are under reconstruction

The scale model of the original Imperial Citadel

Our last spot to visit was the Thien Mu Pagoda, built by the Nguyen rulers, and the tallest pagoda in Vietnam.

The Thien Mu Pagoda

Instead of going back to the city by tour bus, we cruised along the Perfume River by ‘dragonboat’.

Our dragonboat ride along Perfume River

From our docking site, we walked back to Orchid Hotel with the help of a map provided by the hotel’s staff. We were tempted to hire a cyclo, but I felt that the three of us would be too heavy for the old cyclo drivers to bear.

Cute purple cyclos

When we got back to our hotel, we were told that we could take a shower in their ground floor’s shower room. Wow! We had already checked out earlier in the morning and we were still offered use of their facilities! We however politely refused (because we Filipinos have a folk belief that we must not give our tired exhausted bodies a bath right away as it may cause pasma or spasm).

We had dinner along Chu Van An St., the street of our hotel. It was a shame for me to not take photos and even remember the name of the restaurant. I remember they had Vietnamese style pizza as one of their specialties, which we ordered.

Back to our hotel, our airport transfer was ready. For that night, it was a sad goodbye to our beloved Orchid Hotel and to the beautiful ancient city of Hue.

Upon our return to the domestic terminal of Tan Son Nhat International Airport, we just had to pass through a guided walkway from the domestic terminal to the international terminal. In just a few hours we would be back to Manila by sunrise.

At this time of writing, Vietnam is still my favorite Southeast Asian country next to the Philippines. I have only explored Saigon in the South and Hue in the central region, and I’m still about to explore the rest of those regions, as well as the north preferably on a winter season with my family when my future kids grow up. I had actually booked a one-way flight to HCMC for this month, March 2012, as our gateway to Hanoi and Siem Reap (during my time of booking in August 2011, there were no Cebu Pacific flights yet to Hanoi and Siem Reap). But at this time of writing, I am now 33 weeks pregnant and apparently wouldn’t be able to travel like how I used to. I guess it’s time for me to let my future kids join me in my future adventures!


Click here for our HCMC  / Saigon tour (Day 1 & Day 2, Part 1)