Vietnam - visiting ancient city Part 1

Trip pertama dengan kawan2 skolah menengah saya, Syila dan Syahid. :)
it was fun. Walaupon dulu time skolah memang tak penah sembang dengan si Syahid ni padahal kami 4 tahun duk dalam kelas yang sama. Syila ni pulak memang rapat gila dengan Syahid. 
Satu hari, secara tetiba Syahid approach kat FB tanya saya kut2 nak ikut menjelajah kota2 lama Vietnam ni. Memandang tiket memang murah, terus la setuju.
Plan asal nak terus sampai ke Ho Chi Minh, tapi masa tak banyak sebab Syila tak boleh cuti lama, so kami menjelajah 3 tempat ni je lah.

Date : 20 - 23 January 2012

it was 7.40 am. from KL to Danang

Ga Danang - Danang Train Station. looking for train ticket from Danang to Hue

Time kami p ni, nak dekat Chinese New Year, so orang memang banyak gila kat train station. sampai ja kat Danang, kami terus ke Train Station Danang. nak cari tiket ke Hue. Memandangkan dah nak raya Cina, semua tiket train untuk hari tu sold out. Jadi kami naik van ja ke Hue. Sampai Hue lebih kurang pukul 3p.m. Terus check in kat Binh Doung hotel (around USD30 per nite)

Binh Doung hotel

Kalau ke Hue, try la makan dekat Mandarin Cafe. Owner dia, Mr Cu merupakan Photographer. Banyak gambar2 yang dia snap tegantung kat wall restoran. Jangan lupa try Banana pancake dia. Memang ramai org cakap sedap.

Good Morning Hue. ala2 autumn pulak. 

Esoknya, awal2 dah bangun. nak pusing bandar Hue. Kami jalan merentasi jambatan di Perfume River untuk ke Hue Emperial City atau dikenali sebagai Citadel yang ala2 Forbidden city yang kat Beijing tu.

" The grounds of the Imperial City were surrounded by a wall 2 kilometers by 2 kilometers, and the walls were surrounded by a moat. The water from the moat was taken from the Huong River (Perfume River) that flows through Huế. This structure is called the citadel. Inside the citadel was the Imperial City, with a perimeter of almost 2.5 kilometers. Inside the Imperial City was the imperial enclosure called the Purple Forbidden City in Vietnamese, a term similar to the Forbidden City in Beijing. The enclosure was reserved for the Nguyễn imperial family.

The citadel was oriented to face the Huong River to the east. This was different from the Forbidden City in Beijing, which faces south. The Emperor's palace is on the east side of the citadel, nearest the river. A second set of walls and a second moat was constructed around the Emperor's palace. Many more palaces and gates and courtyards and gardens were subsequently added. The rule of the last Vietnamese Emperor lasted until the mid-1900s. At the time, the Purple Forbidden City had many buildings and hundreds of rooms. It suffered from termite and cyclone damage, but was still very impressive. Many bullet holes left over from the war can be observed on the stone walls.In June 1802 Nguyễn Phúc Ánh took control of Vietnam and proclaimed himself Emperor Gia Long. His rule was recognized by China in 1804. Gia Long confided with geomancers to decide which was the best place for a new palace and citadel to be built. After the geomancers had decided on a suitable site in Huế, building began in 1804. Thousands of workers were ordered to produce a wall and moat, 10 kilometers long. Initially the walls were earthen, but later these earthen walls were replaced by stone walls, 2 meters thick. "  source from wikipedia

To be continue....