D13:

Another flight today and it was delayed about two hours. Good thing Hanoi is a nice airport where we had the best Pho we've ever had during said delay. So good. So much flavor. Delicious chili sauce. Almost worth a delay at the airport.

We arrived in Hue mid afternoon and checked into our hotel, after being greeted by our guide, Tuan. He's nice so far but it will be hard to live up to Giang. (Mom and Dad cried when we said goodbye to Giang).

Hue, a charming historical town in central Vietnam, was the capital of the country from 1802-1945, and also a site of one of the bloodiest battles in the Vietnam War. It is quite the change of pace from busy Hanoi. It's quiet, serene, and full of parks around the river.

After we checked into our hotel Tuan**** us to a beautiful spot for lunch with a gorgeous view of the Huong River (aka the Perfume River, called so because foliage from orchards fall into the river giving it a perfume aroma (which is a nice change from 3rd world sewage smell)). For lunch, I had the most exotic flavored green mango salad with squid. Mom doesn't even like squid and she loved the salad. Dad had a lemongrass chili duck that was really delicious as well. Jason had a spaghetti carbonara, which I didn't try because it looked exactly like what you would expect from a local Vietnamese restaurant serving Italian pasta…like cheese soup with spaghetti.

As I said, Hue was a major site of battle during the Vietnam War. The Hue Massacre, part of the Tet Offensive, took place in January 1968. Almost 6000 civilian and POWs died. The entire city was destroyed at that time, including the citadel (this has been rebuilt over the years thanks to Hue becoming a UNESCO World Heritage Site). FYI the Tet Offensive refers to battles that took place around the time of the Vietnamese (Tet) New Year (Jan-Feb) during the Vietnam War. The North and South had agreed to halt fighting for the New Year but the North lied and attacked during Tet.

The main attraction in Hue is the citadel, which housed the Imperial City and Forbidden City in the 1800s. The emperor lived in the Forbidden City, inside the Imperial Palace, inside the citadel. A city within a city within a city. There's a moat going around the Imperial Palace and a moat separating it from the Forbidden City.

The emperor had over 300 concubines who lived with him inside the Forbidden City. The only other males who lived within the walls of the Forbidden City were eunuchs. Anyone not know what a eunuch is? Embarrassingly I was the only one of our group. It is a castrated male. Boys age 7-25 could become a eunuch either by choice or at the order of their family, and enter into servitude in the Forbidden City. Poor families outside the walls would often sacrifice their son to get him (and them) a better life.

Children born to the concubines could live within the walls of the city but males had to move out at age 13. Dad made some joke about being a precocious adolescent and what he would have done from age 11-12. In another conversation Jason and Dad we're discussing how beautiful the women are here...

This was back in the Confucius days where men told women what to do and they served. Oh the many jokes between dad and Jason over the last day (and I suspect over the next few) of what a great time that must have been. Tuan talked about how the Queen did not get jealous of all these women given they all practiced Confucianism. I probably would have castrated the Emperor's testicles myself (and added the penis for good measure) if he shacked up with that many women.

Touring the Forbidden City, Tuan pointed out luscious gardens with Bonsai trees, mentioning the University arts scene is very vibrant and that is who designs the grounds. We observed the architecture and he pointed out the emblems of Unicorns on many buildings. Yes, unicorns. But not the unicorn we would ever recognize. The Vietnamese unicorn is a mix of a dragon, a lion, and a dog. Weird looking (think scary pitbull face with scales and a long tail).

Tuan also told us of how they shaped the feet of the concubines, molding them into shapes of small lotus buds. They did this because they found it beautiful and they walked like moving flowers (and consequently couldn't run away). Let's be honest, I would not have survived the days of Confucianism.

We again retired early to our beautiful hotel.