Danang/Hue/HoiAn 2025 - Hue Day Tour Hue Citadel and Imperial City (7/8)

 

Finally! The main attraction! The big house! You may have read me calling it the big house in all my previous post, and that's because it reminded me of the big house in Chapeltown UK. They looked kinda similar in the sense that they are both elongated and has a super big field in front of them. Our tour guide first took us to the pavilion on the right of the photo. There she brief us on the duration we were allowed inside before we need to meet back at the pavilion, and told us what to view inside the house, and off we went!

Our group going up the steps and into the palace ground. It was a rather hot day so everyone was eager to get inside to some shades. 

Inside the palace, it was decorated like a French palace with all it's richness, from floor to ceiling, with tiles and lightings and decorations on the walls. Everything was very French!

There are dining rooms that were closed up, but we could still peep in. It does reminded me very much of those dining rooms I saw in France when I was last there. But here in Hue, it was slightly scaled down even though this was a royal palace. 

Still, the richness of the colours and the deco was anything but Vietnamese. I wonder why Asians always see the west as luxury and higher class. On this term, I think I like China more when their royal palace are adorned with eastern pieces instead of west, although they do have rooms with western pieces.... At least they were very proud of the Chinese arts. Here in Vietnam, it was very much French influence all around.

As the ground floor was rather crowded with people, we went to the 2nd floor first to look around. 

At the middle of the stairs going, was a picture of the emperor in black and white. This I like. And I wish they would have showed more of this all around the palace instead of just the furniture and decorations.....

Lucky me! A ceramic exhibition on the 2nd floor! And pretty empty too. Besides the pieces being on displayed, we also admire the lovely rooms the exhibition was held in. Very chic!

When we're actually inside the building, it wasn't really that big. You could walk from one end to another in just a few minutes. But from outside, it looked so grand.

One of the exhibition room. Love the wall paper? Or wall paintings that features natural leaves and flowers. The themed seems to be white, red and yellow. And chandelier was hung in almost every room, some with more than one. 

The french windows and door really let in a lot of light, and I love them. They made the space looked so airy and vibrant.

Danang/Hue/HoiAn 2025 - Hue Day Tour Hue Citadel and Imperial City (6/8)

 

Our guide also took us around to see some of the imperial gardens inside the imperial city. Bonsai seems to be a very popular features of the garden, as well as ponds. I think I saw some of the nicest miniature Bonsai garden in Vietnam on this trip, much more than I did in China although I'm sure China should have a better collection somewhere. 

There were also some rock garden and miniature landscaping around. But on the whole, they were rather small in terms of being a garden, and weren't as well kept or as well defined like a Japanese garden. I would even go as far to say that they were rather messy and outgrown without much landscaping done, almost wild. 

There was a huge emerald looking pond at the side with beautiful gigantic trees around it. The pond was rather bare, but it was still lovely to look at the reflection on the water. You could walk all around the square looking pond. 

There was also a section that looked like a pier where you could walked down to the waters, and a boat was parked there. It looked like royalties form long time back could have come and have a boat ride here admiring the pond. It was simple, and calming without much bells and whistle in terms of decorations. 

I actually love the simple boat that was parked there, It looked very royal to me! And I can imagine young royals enjoying a boat ride on it while their servants powered the boat around the small charming ponds. Perhaps there might even be fishes and lovely water lilies in the past, or huge lotus plant and even birds visiting and playing in the pond.

Can't get enough of this one single boat :P

As we moved on, our tour guide took us past the royal library. Yes, a royal library! I was surprised when I reached it too. Maybe cause the books have all been removed to be protected and housed somewhere else. And it looked more like a reading room instead of a functioning library.

But it was still very nicely decorated, with the main tables and chair almost shining in gold. Surrounding it was perhaps the book shelves that once used to house books. It was simple, and I love the open concept of the walls that let in so much lights and air. I would love to read here. It looked more like a great hall though, without those cosy corners for reading which I'm so used to see in western libraries. This was more like a place where war strategy books are being kept and discussed, instead of somewhere to read about stories and let your mind wander.....

Our group, walking along the lovely corridors o the library as we made our way to another part of the palace.

Some of the courtyards we walked past..... it did felt a bit underwhelming considering that we were visiting a palace lol.

Leaving you here with my selfie with the lovely emerald pond and the cute little boat behind me.

Danang/Hue/HoiAn 2025 - Hue Day Tour Hue Citadel and Imperial City (5/8)

Although we could see the big house palace from the entrance, our tour guide took us on a detour to see other parts of the imperial city before she lead us to the main attraction. Through gates and corridors we walked, along empty courtyards. 

Eventually we came to a stopped in front of a grand building at this very courtyard. 

There were multiple entrance that could lead to this courtyard, and we soon learned that we were standing in front of the imperial theatre. Just like in Bejing's Forbidden Palace, there are also interior royal theatre house inside the palace. After all, even the palace people need to be entertained in a time without TV and internet!

 

The royal theatre here was a lot more modern, with a building itself that houses a stage, a main audience sitting area, and balcony seatings on the second floor as well. It was very well maintained, with it's red themed seats and elaborated decorations all over the walls and ceilings.

It was part Asian, part French in the way of it being a theatre. The red reminded me more of the old theatre in France than it did of China's outdoor courtyard style opera stages. It looked very grand and rich and could probably housed hundreds of people. 

The chairs were made of wood and carved with designs. Dragons are also found almost everywhere in the decorations around the theatre. The interior looked like it was all made of wood, and their reflection shinning out when lighted up by the lights around the theatre. 

Very pretty to look at! 

And at the front center of the building was the stage with it's two floors, and another huge dragon at the center stage. Again, everything was just red and gold here, with a hint of yellow here and there. It actually looked like still a very functional theatre. 

There were some exhibition around the side of the theatre as well as on the side and back of the stage. Mainly it features the masked used in the plays and performances. They looked very much like the mask used in Chinese performances. 

Here showing some collection of masked at one corner of the theatre. 

Danang/Hue/HoiAn 2025 - Hue Day Tour Hue Citadel and Imperial City (4/8)

 

Into the inner grounds of the imperial city of Hue, we found greeneries and spacious courtyard. Most that remained were ruins. The royal family has already fled the city long time back and now resides in France. It was interesting to learn the history, seeing how rich the royal families were, and how the common people were farmers. I always find such contrast interesting. 

I enjoyed the walk with my friends at the empty courtyard in some section of the palace. It was peaceful and quiet here as most people were more interested in the main attraction, which was the grand palace further in.

But before our group proceed to the grand palace, we had some time to wander around the gardens filled with lotus flowers and greeneries. 

There were also corridors where more people were seen either resting under the shades, taking photographs, or just enjoying the walk along it. They have put up photos of the royal families on the wall here, and you could see and read the description about them as you walk along these corridors. 

Here is a view of it, and as you see, the green grass of Vietnam filled one side of the area with its striking colours! They looked so fresh!

The red open doors let in the breeze, and it was quite windy to walk or stand around this area. The view was very much oriental, very much like China. I know most of these places like Vietnam, Korea, and Japan have their own culture, religion and country, but yet many things are similar and references back to old China. 

From the red corridor, you could see a glimpse of the grand palace behind. You can tell it's the grand palace because it's architecture and colours stood out from the rest of the surrounding scene. Here was the jewel of Hue, and it looked nothing like Vietnam-related at all. In fact, it looked very very French!

The grounds in front were also littered with ruins. But once you go up the stairs and into the palace ground, a different vibe wraps around you. It was filled with richness and European classic design and colours. 

Above, one of the emperor of Vietnam who once ruled this area and reside here. He was so young. And his richness followed him all the way to his tomb, which was one of the sight I've actually come to Hue to see.....

But before we venture into the grand palace, here are some more photos of the gardens around it. 

It's so beautiful here with all the detailed carving, yet not many people were interested in these. 

Perhaps there were the living quarters of the servants that used to work in the palace. And these were their grounds where they grew their vegetables and had their life here with their families?

Danang/Hue/HoiAn 2025 - Hue Day Tour Hue Citadel and Imperial City (3/8)

The very Vietnamese style gate at the Hue Imperial City. It looked almost Chinese, yet uniquely Vietnamese. A marker to divide the different section of the palace ground as you enter from one section to another. The vibrant colours of yellow and blue a permanent feature on the gates, which I wonder why. In China, usually the colour yellow represent royalty, but what about blue? Does blue represent the heavens? 

Another gate, or perhaps the same one but from a different side. The wordings on top of the gate is always different. The first gate above has the word 'moon' on it, while this second one has the word "sun" on it. Told you it was related to the heavens!

 

Inside the older palace area, there was a section with red doors and red walls, and adorned with gol pains in the design. It looked rich and luxurious, yet very Chinese. Many tourist walked through this room and hall slowly to admire the decorations so there's a sort of bottleneck when you reached this part. 

Hue is part of a UNESCO site, so they do try to maintain the heritage buildings as much as possible. 

But overall, everything is rather casual. There are exhibition and photos displayed at the courtyard. Someone probably have to move them in and out daily depending on the weather. It wasn't a permanent fixture. 

The other corridors looked like like any old house or temple, bare, and without much information. It was very much an empty space, perhaps not significant enough to do much about it.

The lanterns that hung on the ceilings were ancient as well, like those found in ancient China with elaborated motives and decorations. I bet they looked pretty when it's lighted up at night. I wonder if the palace ground is opened to the public at night. Perhaps on special occasions?

In a country where the city and roads are often jammed packed with young Vietnamese, it was such a peaceful experience to be here in Hue with it's wide spaces and greeneries and very European architecture as you will soon see as we reached the big house, Vietnam's very own Forbidden City Palace.