Thanks Sprock - have just undertaken a bit of research on the Hue Tet Offensive of 1968 - a bloody battle indeed for the Citadel precinct, 50% casualty rate!

It is blinding down with rain outside but still warm, so were going to get some umbrellas and head off for the Citadel shortly.

The G&T's will be awaiting us when we return tonight

Cheers, SB

 

Day 19 Hue Walked about 10 kms

Very wet day, dodged showers all day and made it back to the hotel just as a torrential downpour started - so we went for a swim..............

Visited the Hue Citadel, a place of Government and the Imperial City - known as the Purple Forbidden City - as part the Nguyen Dynasty until 1945. Damaged in 1947 and again, severely during the 1968 Tet offensive it is partially restored now.

On the way, we came across another museum full of US war materiel.



Carrier based warbird.



The ubiquitous UH-1 'Huey' Iroquois helicopter - the cavalry of the air for the Vietnam war.



An increasingly hairy 'SB with Mrs SB at the moat of the Purple Forbidden City.



Four of the 25 very large bronze canon that were located on the flag tower.



The entrance to the city under the Emperor's viewing building.



The Emperor's Palace - and presumably the cupboards contained his new clothes. It's actually called the Hall of Highest harmony. We did try the sticky rice wine as I think they did when they named the buildings.



He had a nice pet dragon



And a pretty throne on a palanquin.



The dragon theme is everwhere - this is a mosaic statue on the roof.



The Emperor's maids and valets. Smiling was not optional!



Elephants kneeling at the gate.



The young Emperor and his sedan chair - again needed a lot after the sticky rice wine



The Emperor in a citrus grove (with four Mandarins - geddit? )


A lovely rotunda - one of a matched pair



The last building built in the forbidden city - the Treaasury Building - and I just love its decrepitude.



One of the 11 gates to the city. The total length of the wall surrounding the city is 11 kilometers, it is 6 metres in height and has 11 gates and 24 towers.



I left my grenades at the main gate.



For those with a non-entomological bent, these are mealybugs - very big mealybugs.



These weren't goldfish, they were goldsharks. A feeding frenzy with very big Koi.



Like everything else in Vietnam, if you can't buy it on the roadside - it doesn't exist. Small, calm fish in aquaria.

And then it rained......................................
And we swam............................................
And had dinner on the roadside - with a reasonable interpretation of a steak consumed.......................................... ......
And then had G&Ts..................................

Still in Hue tomorrow, but probably going to look at some tombs and go for a boat ride.

Cheers, The Travelling 'Bears

 

FWIW bear, your grenades wont get you banned from here...

Amazing history there.
Was the US military stuff donated to them, or did the restore downed aircraft?

 

Great photos, SB! Love the architecture! Those Koi are crazy.

Demon, I'm sure they had plenty of specimens to choose from as we left a lot equipment there for the South Vietnamese when we quit the war....

 

I'm sure we did. Looks like a pretty good restoration job.
I also see the nose of another plane thats not ours, a MIG perhaps... Any idea what it's is SB?

 

Matts right Demon, the aircraft usually have captured at this or that airport when overrun by our glorious comrades of XX peoples army etc.

The other aircraft peeking out is a Mig 21s I think. These too are dotted around most war/military museum and promoted as the jets that shot down B52s

You have to remember that to the Vietnamese, the USA leaving the country was seen as a huge victory - and it is celebrated everywhere!

Actually saw a guy selling war 'memorabilia' today on the sidewalk in Hue. He gets villagers near some of the major battle sites to use metal detectors to go over the battlefields and then sell him the stuff they find. All sorts of stuff from uniforms, dogtags, etc etc from all three armies, north and south Vietnamese and US military. Quite disturbing actually.

Cheers, SB

 

Yep, demon, that's a MiG21.

On another note, I got a hand delivered postcard from SB today. The postman got a kick out of it! I'm actually kinda surprised it made it, considering the past relations between the USA and Vietnam. Thanks SB! Might not seem like much, but it's one of the coolest things I've ever got (I know, I'm easily entertained lol)

 

Simply spectacular Seb - thx man.

 

My pleasure Matt

And I'm glad both you and your Posty got a kick out of it!

Cheers, SB

 

OK, so picture this, it has been absolutely pi##ing down rain all morning and Mrs SB and I are planning the last part of our journey, Da Nang, Hoi An and then a few days on the Ho Chi Minh trail heading north before hightailing it back to Ha Noi.

So let me set the scene for a competition I am proposing for CBR Forum members.

We got into Saigon at 9 PM local time after 21 hours travel and both were a little tired. On all my overseas trips I traditionally buy a watch in the country I am touring, so had to go out to the local markets, despite our brain dead state to look for a watch

For the grand total of $100,000 VND ($5 USD) I purchased a non-precision, non-exquisite timepiece that despite being digital manages to gain about 15 minutes a day. It makes it fantastic for timing those jobs you don't want to do, or for making the week go faster . In fact this watch is less accurate than one that is stopped if you think enough about it! It has all the mod-cons including multi-coloured back lighting that flashes in way that is increadibly annoying. This is the watch you need.



Still Watch with flower. It says 10.00 AM but in reality it is 9.40 AM It also says Adidas and I don't think it is genuine.

The competition winner will be the person who comes up with the funniest caption for this picture.



??

Mrs SB will be the judge. All entries in by the first of November, submit all entries to this thread. The funniest will have the choice of having the watch mailed to him/herself or a CBR Forum member of his/her choice!

No correspondence will be entered into and the judges choice is final.

Go to it! And good luck.............................

Cheers, SB

PS: Does it show that I'm easily bored??