By Stephanie Lau and Shu Zhen
Chen
Our fellow classmates and we embarked on a three-hour long
journey to Hue from Danang bright and early this morning at 7:30
a.m. Though we were all tired and planned on napping the entire way
to the “Imperial City,” the sights that we witnessed along the way
were too beautiful to miss.
Unlike Hanoi, Danang is a smaller, more laid-back city. The
sights within the city may not be as extravagant as those seen in
Hanoi. However, I could not have expected to see what I saw as
we took the bus to Hue. The bus left the city and made its way
to the countryside, driving its way into the majestic mountains
that we saw from a distance. The view from the top was
absolutely amazing. You could see for miles around. We do
not think we have seen anything like it in our lives. The land
flattened out and we were able to see the true lifestyle of many
Vietnamese who are farmers. The lives of these rural farmers
are so different than the lives of the city-dwelling Vietnamese
that we have encountered in the past few days. It shows that
Vietnam keeps to its agrarian roots.
We arrived in the city of Hue, which is located north of Danang.
Hue was the site of one of the Vietnam Wars’ most destructive
battles. The bus made its way into the center of the city
where the citadel or “Imperial City” was located. Much of this
area was devastated during the war, but many of the historical
structures survived. The city of the Nguyen Dynasty
immediately reminded us of the Forbidden City in China, not only
because of the Chinese-inspired architecture but because, like the
Forbidden City, it was also totally reconstructed. We passed
through the main gate of the citadel, and walked the path that the
Vietnamese emperors walked over a century ago. As we stood on
a balcony overlooking a courtyard, we felt as if we were with the
Emperor viewing his subjects below.
We then re-boarded the bus, had a quick lunch, and then went to
the palace of Emperor Bao Dai, the last emperor of
Vietnam. The bus traveled through some rough terrain that was
what we had always imagined the jungles of Vietnam to look
like. The palace had hundreds of steps leading to the main
building at the top. From there, we were able to look at the
beauty of the surrounding jungle. In contrast to the “Imperial
City,” Emperor Bao Dai’s palace was authentic and reminded us of
the ancient temples we have seen in movies.
Today, we were able to see elements of Vietnam that lasted through
the ages - buildings that have endured nature, war and the test of
time. This is in contrast to what we have seen in the past few
days, where cities like Hanoi are developing into metropolises with
tall buildings, many of which are still under
construction. Our first day traveling around Central Vietnam
has allowed us to see Vietnam’s natural beauty, and we learned that
Vietnam has an extensive history that was being made long before we
came to know Vietnam during the war.