Is this Beijing? No way-- it's Hué!

  Hué, Vietnam
Thursday, June 8, 2006

We stumbled onto Hué (pronounciation: hway) at just the right time.

Hué is the ancient capital of Vietnam, and as such the entire city has been designated as a World Heritage Site by the UN agency UNESCO.

As Eva had previously visited to the Forbidden City in China, she was quite interested to compare Hué's Imperial past with China's. What we discovered was more than we anticipated.

Every few years during the summer, Hué sponsors a huge ten-day Imperial festival, filled with parades, performances, fireworks and a special "Royal Feast" inside the Forbidden Purple City at night.



"I can't believe it-- Vietnam preserves China's culture better than China does." Eva was to repeat this to me several times throughout our visit. I'm not entirely sure what she means by that, but I am sure that will make more sense to me after we visit China, and after I come back and read tis entry months later.

Enjoy the Festival Hue 2006!