Rough Guide to Vietnam - Jan Dodd [215]
The central provinces | Hué | Phu Cat |
Dong Ba Market
En route to or from Phu Cat you pass Dong Ba Market, the epicentre of Hué commercial life, a rambling covered market at the southeast corner of the citadel. Fruit, fish and vegetable vendors overflow into the surrounding spaces, while in the downstairs hall you’ll find Hué’s contribution to the world of fashion, the non bai tho, or poem hat. These look just like the normal conical hat but have a stencil, traditionally of a romantic poem, inserted between the palm fronds – and only visible when held up to the light. The market is within walking distance of the centre, but a more enjoyable way to get there is to hop on one of the sampans that shuttle back and forth from beside the Dap Da causeway.
The central provinces | Hué |
The European city
Although the French became the de facto rulers of Vietnam after 1884, they left the emperors in the citadel and built their administrative city across the Perfume River on the south bank. The main artery of the European city was riverside Le Loi where the French Resident’s office stood (now the Le Residence hotel), together with other important buildings such as Quoc Hoc High School and the Frères Morin hotel (now the Saigon Morin). Residential streets spread out south of the river as far as the Phu Cam Canal, and are linked to the citadel by Clemenceau Bridge, renamed Trang Tien Bridge after 1954. Apart from the high school, the only major sight is the Ho Chi Minh Museum, not just the obligatory gesture in this case as Ho did spend much of his childhood in Hué. The extraordinary, tiered spire of the Redemptorist Church dominates the southern horizon with its improbable blend of Gothic and Cubism created by a local architect in the late 1950s. The church caters to some of Hué’s 20,000 Catholics and is interesting to view in passing, though the interior is less striking. Admirers of modern Vietnamese art should call in at the Museum of Contemporary Art, 1 Pham Boi Chau (7.30–11am & 2–5pm; free) – in fact an exhibition of the works of Diem Phung Thi, who was born in Hué in 1920. The old villa provides the perfect setting for her chunky “modules” developed from Chinese calligraphy.
The central provinces | Hué | The European city |
The Ho Chi Minh Museum and Quoc Hoc High School
Ho Chi Minh was born near Vinh in Nghe An Province (see "The life of Ho Chi Minh"), but spent ten years at school in Hué (1895–1901 and 1906–1909) where his father worked as a civil mandarin. The modern Ho Chi Minh Museum at 7 Le Loi (Tues–Sun 7.30–11am & 2–4.30pm; 10,000đ) presents these years in the context of the anti-French struggle and then takes the story on to 1960s’ peace protests in Hué and reunification. The most interesting material consists of family photos and rare glimpses of early twentieth-century Hué. You can still see the house where Ho lived for a time with his father in Duong No Village on the way to Thuan An Beach (see "Thuan An Beach"), but the primary school he attended near Dong Ba Market no longer exists.
Ho Chi Minh was the most famous student to attend Quoc Hoc High School, which stands almost opposite his museum on Le Loi. The school was founded in 1896 as the National College, dedicated to the education of royal princes and future administrators who learnt the history of their European “motherland” – all in French until 1945. Ho studied here for at least a year