Hue: The Last Royal City

Yesterday we ventured over to Hue, the former capital of Vietnam and my future ISP location. This means I will be living in Hue for one whole month all on my own– and after spending an afternoon in this city I am absolutely thrilled that this is where I am ending up. Yesterday afternoon we went to the Hue Capital Citadel, constructed in 1805 for the Nguyen Dynasty, the last emperors of Vietnam. The Nguyen Dynasty spanned from 1802-1945 with thirteen different rulers. Enclosed in the citadel is Imperial City and the Forbidden City. There is a lot of rich history behind the Imperial City and the Forbidden City but I am just going to share the facts that I found most interesting. 

–The second king of the Nguyen Dynasty had 500 wives. He was said to sleep with four to five different women every night. He had 140 plus children.

–The Forbidden City was the home for the emperor and family. No men were allowed in the Forbidden City except the emperor and eunuchs (castrated men).

–Thê Mieu is the tallest building in the citadel at 13 meters high. This is where the Nguyen Emperors were honored and worshiped. Women were not allowed to enter, they had to worship the emperors in a different temple.

–There were three different cooking departments for the Nguyen Emperors. Each department consisted of fifty cooks, and each individual cook has their own specialized dish.

–The citadel walls are 21 meters thick.

–9 is a lucky number so there is a lot of objects in sets of 9. Like 9 cannons guard the Citadel.
–The youngest ruler became emperor at the age of 7.
–The Nguyen Dynasty ended in 1945 when the 13th emperor handed the power over to Ho Chi Minh.

 

the detail in the Citadel was unbelievable

singing children at a pagoda

Last night we met a lot of English speaking university students. They took us around Hue on their motorbikes. It was really fun to see a new city from the back of a motorbike. Hue is nowhere near as crazy as HCMC is. Thank goodness! We all went out to dinner to get noodles and then we went and sat by the river and drank coffee for at least an hour and a half. It was really nice to meet a lot of young people– I know I need to be making good connections because I am going to be the only SIT student in Hue for my ISP– I need to make friends so I am not lonely!!!