Huế, Vietnam –
The emperor looked angry.
He wasn’t looking at me, and I couldn’t tell at whom his anger was directed.
Suddenly, as he momentarily glanced in my direction, his mood shifted.
He smiled.
The thoughts raced through my head.
Was he smiling at me? Was he smiling because he was pleased with whatever fate he had decided to inflict?
What pronouncement would he utter, and what effect would it have? Would I be dragged away by guards, or left to go on my way unharmed?
A bright flash grabbed my attention, and the emperor stepped down off the dais, heading towards the source. A person with a camera was showing the emperor the image they had just taken, as another emperor stepped up to sit on the throne.
In fact, the entire room was swarming with would-be emperors, along with other assorted royalty.
An attendant approached me to see if I wanted to join in, adorning the dress of the Vietnamese royalty from a time well past, to have my picture taken as well. I declined and left the room to continue wandering the grounds on my own.
The Forbidden City, also known as the Citadel, was the home of the imperial family, much the same as the one in Beijing. It is a collection of buildings, some semi-public, where the business of ruling over Vietnam was performed, and private, where the various members of the imperial family had individual residences.
There are a lot of architectural and decorative styles that hint at a significant dose of influence from their Chinese neighbors to the north. Not being familiar with the full breadth of Vietnamese history, I can only wonder about the where’s and why’s.
I’m guessing that their northerly neighbor is also where the idea of the Forbidden City came from, when the first emperor united the rest of the country into a single domain. The remains of this empire are what we now know as Vietnam.
It is a strange mixture of old and decaying side by side with new and shiny. There are several buildings that are shells of their former selves, marked by ages of mold and ruin, including a couple that were little more than a foundation. Then there are others that have been recently restored, or are in the process, all shiny and brand-new. Some buildings were so recent and unfinished looking, I wondered if visitors were even allowed in yet.
Not that it stopped me.
Upon first entering the complex, while in the area of the royal court, I found myself among lots of other visitors. Judging from their interactions with each other, it was probably several tour groups, all milling about in the entry courtyard and surrounding buildings.
There was a large crowd in the building where you could dress up in robes to look like royalty and get your photo taken. There were even a few wandering out of the building in costume.
But as I wandered away from the courtyard area, the crowds quickly dwindled. To almost none. I almost felt as if I had the place to myself, only occasionally having to share an area with other visitors.
Over in the southeastern corner, there was a set of buildings that seemed to be a school and theater for performing arts. Another seemed to be a nursery for the various plants that were used in landscaping the grounds.
There was an administrative building in the northeastern corner. Directly across in the northwestern corner were what looked like housing for the workers that were restoring and maintaining the place, complete with a couple of tennis courts. I assumed that the tennis courts were not original.
Other than those few buildings, the only structure that was truly off-limits was the library. It was also the only un-restored building that seemed to be in fairly complete shape (other than being in significant disrepair). Considering that the Citadel grounds had been the location of some of the fiercest fighting in two separate wars, both in the twentieth century, this one building seemed to have escaped unharmed, only to fall victim to entropy and time. Still, sitting next to a large man-made pond, it made for an intriguing site.
I wanted to hop the fence and take a look around, but from what I could see, it might not be safe to do so. It looked like just touching the door to get in might make the whole place collapse.
Eventually, I found the private homes of the various members of the royal family (the Emperor’s wife, mother, son, etc.) Some had been rebuilt, while others were still falling apart. There were other lots that had little more than a brick column or two among the grass and trees.
By the time I had explored most of the complex, I was starting to get hungry. All that walking had built up an appetite. So I sat down at a food stall just outside the main courtyard and ordered some lunch. While leaving something to be desired, the food was much better than what I had had the night before at a sidewalk street vendor just outside of my hotel.
Feeling satiated, I wandered some more of the grounds, looking for anything that I had not already explored. Once I felt that I had seen just about all that there was to see, I took my leave.
Exiting through the front gate, I found the bicycle taxi driver that had talked me into letting him take me to the Citadel. Waiting for me.
I had been hoping that he would have gotten tired of waiting and gone in search of another fare. I guess once you hook a live one, you don’t give up until you’ve rung every last Dong you can from his wallet…
For photos from the Forbidden City, click here.
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