Prima Donna

Day 55: Ninh Binh (VN) – Hue (VN). “Bit like a 19th century Maria Carey, then?”, I suggested to Karen, trying to relate to the Prima Donna antics of Emperor Tu Duc. Apparently, it is said that he insisted on 50 dishes to be prepared by 50 cooks and served by 50 servants at every meal. On top of that his tea had to be made from the dew that accumulated on leaves overnight. Not too demanding then!

Travelling by noisy and rather dirty overnight sleeper train from Hanoi (we used our 'anti bed bug sleeper sacks' for the first time tonight!), we had arrived at Hue; the intellectual, cultural and spiritual heart of Vietnam. Serving as the political capital under the 13 emperors of the Nguyen dynasty, its crumbling citadel had achieved Unesco World Heritage status and formed the scene of our afternoon's wanderings.

At the heart of the citadel, the Forbidden Purple City (Tu Cam Thanh) formed the private residence of the emperor, where apart from the man himself, this are was off-limits to all but concubines and eunuchs. Fortunately for Karen and me, things had changed some-what and we were both welcomed with open arms.

Ravished not only by time but from the violence that ensued in the Vietnam war, Tu Cam Thanh is in a state of severe decay. Walking around these peaceful streets and witnessing all of these smiling faces, it was hard to believe that in 1972 these streets saw some of the worst fighting of the war. With the Viet Cong entrenched inside the old citadel, the emperors palace was bombarded by American mortar fire as the city echoed to the rat-a-tat-tat of sub-machine exchanges.