Thien Mu Temple, Hué (Vietnam)

From my diary (June 2010)

Hué has about it the air of a town in a French province that has been moved to the Tropics: wide, tree-lined avenues everywhere, and gardens along the wide Song Huong, the Perfume River, in addition to sundry French-style buildings. Only the Citadel, on the northern side of the river, has a more Vietnamese look, even though the walls surrounding it could well be those of a mediaeval European town. However, the temples and the Forbidden Purple City within the Citadel are in a clear Chinese–Vietnamese style. As mentioned earlier, while the strongest historical and cultural influence on most Southeast Asian nations is Indian, the thousand-odd years of the Chinese occupation of Vietnam created a culture that patently bears its marks, closely resembling Chinese culture. It is no accident that the school of Buddhism prevalent in Myanmar, Thailand, Laos and Cambodia is Theravada, while the one prevalent in Vietnam is Mahayana, as is the case in China.

I mention the ‘Forbidden Purple City’, but ought really to qualify that by describing it as ‘what is left of the Forbidden Purple City’, because the Americans did not spare this site, either, bombing it heavily during the Vietnam War. In spite of this, the Forbidden Purple City is on the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites today.

Hué is a relaxed and relaxing town, with a bonhomie among its people that endears both them and the place to outsiders almost immediately; their smiles, of a piece with that experienced in Thailand or Laos. Planning at first to spend just three days here, I end up staying an extra day.

I have another chance encounter here. As soon as I reach my guesthouse, I run into Laurence and Kristof, a Flemish couple who had travelled with me from Nha Trang to Hoi An, and whom I had seen again in Hoi An two days before leaving. They will keep me company for the next three evenings, and then once more in Hanoi...

Thien Mu Temple (The Temple of the Celestial Lady)

Thien Mu pagoda

The Temple from the Perfume River