Lonely Planet

overlooking the river, is the complex ofpalaces once occupied by the Nguyen,the country’s last royal dynasty. Hue’sImperial City looks like the citadel of anancient Chinese ruler, but what’s reallyamazing is how modern it all is: it wasbuilt in the 19th century and occupiedright up until 1945, when the 13th andfinal emperor – Bao Dai – abdicated.He clung on as a puppet of the French,but finally died in Paris in 1997.The palace complex suffered badlyduring the Tet Offensive of 1968, whenthe North Vietnamese Army launched asurprise attack against South Vietnam andits American allies. But enough has beenrestored or remains intact to conveya sense of its former magnificence: thegrand throne rooms, huge geometricalcourtyards, shady groves and pools offat carp. Along its columned walkways,photographs recall the last decadent yearsof the feudal rulers: a Chinese-influencedcourt where, even in the 20th century,officials in silk robes kowtowed to amonarch who kept a harem and eunuchs.One of those officials was a man calledPham Ba Pho. He served both Bao Dai andhis predecessor, the flamboyant, French-educated, lipstick-wearing Khai Dinh. Hishouse, a 10-minute ride from the ImperialCity, has been lovingly restored by hisgrandson and is open to visitors.Pham Ba Pho came from a farmingfamily and won his place at court throughthe millennia-year-old system ofcompetitive exams. Today, his homeretains the elegant atmosphere that hemust have cherished. It’s a leafy oasis,built according to the principles of fengshui, combining light, shade and waterto create an atmosphere of serenity.After a day dispensing imperial justice,Pham Ba Pho would pop home to smokeopium from a huge pipe carved out of anelephant’s tusk, hang out with his threewives, play chess, listen to music or drinkand paint. ‘He said people think opium isbad,’ his grandson tells me, ‘but if you justsmoke a little, it gives you long life.’Seen as decadent and unjust, the lastVietnamese emperors sold out to theFrench and lost the support of theirpeople, but the end of the dynasty alsoswept away a centuries’ old tradition ofgraciousness and aesthetic pleasure. Asense of it clings on in the design of PhamBa Pho’s garden house and its interplay ofwater, brick, wood, tiles and beams.The final stretch of railway from Hue toHo Chi Minh City takes 20 hours to travel.Vietnamese friends seem slightly worriedwhen I tell them what I’m doing. ‘It’s long,’they say, with looks of dismay.It’s night when I board and pitch dark aswe make our way through Hai Van Pass,following the sharp contours of thehillsides that overlook the sea. Dawnfinally breaks as we draw in to Nha Trang,a popular coastal resort. There are another12 hours to go and I feel a pang of envytowards the visitors who are disembarkingfor the beach. It’s become hotter as we’vetravelled south. The Annamite Mountains``````rise up steeply on our western side. Outthe window, I watch the landscape rollsedately by: palm-thatched houses likeislands in paddy fields, egrets perchedby irrigation ditches, spiny dragon-fruittrees and coconut palms. In every town,battalions of scooters are penned behindthe gates of level crossings while we pass.Periodically, vendors wheel theirtrolleys through the carriages, makingVietnamese coffee to order from aconcoction in a plastic bottle, sellingbiscuits, instant noodles and boiled earsof corn. I break up the journey with napsand unsteady walks along the length of thetrain. In the cheap, overcrowded carriages,exhausted travellers are dozing in thecorridors, making it hard to pass. Atlunchtime, I visit the dining car fornoodles. On the table beside me, twomembers of the kitchen staff top and tailan enormous pile of green beans.Back in my compartment, I work my waythrough a biography of Ho Chi Minh. Ho- Uncle Ho – is the most important figurein Vietnamese history. The country’s firstpresident and founder of its CommunistParty, he died in 1969, before the war wasconcluded, but his words and portrait arevisible everywhere. He’s even physicallypresent. In Hanoi, outside his vastmausoleum, I’d seen thousands ofVietnamese schoolchildren and visitorsqueuing patiently in the rain for a glimpseof his embalmed body. The train pulls into Ga Saigon just after4pm. More than 20 hours of constantA view towards the beach town of Lang Co fromjust north of Hai Van Pass – in the 15th centurythis marked the southernmost point of Vietnam,and the border with the kingdom of Champa``````October 2017 Lonely Planet Traveller 65VIETNAM BY TRAIN