One noticeable difference in Vietnam to England (and maybe all other countries I’ve visited) is that there seems to be a street dedicated to one kind of product – medical street, plant street, etc. This difference was ever present as we walked through Hue on our first evening. The accommodation was based near the medical universities, and the long street connecting them all was densely packed with shops selling medical supplies, from pharmacies, to shops selling crutches and wheelchairs.
Our destination was one star shaped road junction away, inviting no small amount of terror from my mum as we stepped down from the pavement while a handful of motorbikes weaved their way around us, choosing to view the red light as a guideline rather than a set rule to follow. Aspects of the country that I now see as a typical part of the surroundings was a delight for them, and made me notice many small details anew. Shrines placed at this street corner or that, balanced beautifully between the twisting roots and branches of a tree. The end-of-day school run, where motorbikes crowded the entrance waiting for the young family members to appear, then all aboard (two,three, four or maybe even five!) and on their way they went. We turned down a thin alleyway, the kind that may suggest there is very little to be found, but which I have discovered often hides the best places.
Aside from the Imperial City there was not a whole lot else we had planned for Hue. So, after successfully hitting a Western-Vietnamese fusion place which offered something to please everyone’s palate (so pleasing to my mum’s she requested we return again before leaving the city!) we wandered through the streets until we reached the river. On the opposite side clearly lit in the night sky were the walls of the city. A flagpole proudly displayed a Vietnamese flag, which fluttered gently in the breeze. Along our side of the river, a footpath ran through gardens, different trees and verdure illuminated, some with beautiful subtlety others, I felt, had an excessive unnecessary feel.
The following day we walked around the Imperial City. The immense heat that accompanied us tested our desire to explore to the extreme. Luckily, whoever had designed and built the grand structure had considered these challenges, and so from time to time long, one walled, corridors allowed us some relief from the heat.
One thing I always find a struggle when visiting such amazing places is to try and cast my mind back to the time of its original purpose, to imagine people wandering the grounds that lived or worked there. To envisage the person who had requested or demanded the building, to those who then built it (without the tools we have today). As I wandered along I had to fully focus to not just see the walls and buildings which stood before me now. Impressive as they were no matter how you looked at them, I feel that some of the magnificence is lost without relating them to their origins.
The purpose of our visit to Hue complete, we walked (though with temperatures over 35 degrees it almost felt a stagger!) through the exit, to a Grab taxi and to a well-deserved meal at The Nook (the vegan friendly delight we’d stumbled across the previous evening).
