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Standing Guard
Stone Mandarin protecting the tomb of Khai Dinh The area around Hue is home to the tombs of the former rulers of the Nguyen Dynasty; they were designed by and built during the lifetimes of the Emperors that now rest in the extravagantly designed tombs that have been constructed on the banks of the Perfume River. The tombs are spread out over a distance of 2km to 16km south of the City of Hue. We hopped on a hired motorbike to visit two of the impressive sites. The first tomb was the tomb of Tu Duc 5km out of the city, the tomb was constructed between 1864 and 1867, and it was used before his death as a place of relaxation for him and his many concubines. The site houses temples, gardens and a gorgeous pavilion built on a lakeside, the lake also has it’s own small island once used by the Emperor as a place to hunt small game. We were surprised at how few tourists there were around the site - which gave us an excellent opportunity to take loads of photos. After a glorious start to the day the weather turned and we found ourselves running for shelter from a very wet and noisy storm,
Pavillion on the lake
A nice place to chill and cool off from the blistering sun thankfully it lasted for only 25mins so didn’t spoil things too much!! Tu Duc was never actually buried in his tomb, he was afraid of grave robbers so was buried at an alternative secret location and to this day his grave has never been found……that means lots of buried treasure kicking around somewhere out there!!!
After a quick lunch stop of Pho Ga - the northern Vietnamese soup dish containing rice noodles, spring onions and chicken served with a side dish of coriander, mint leaves chilli’s and lime (very tasty and very filling) we headed off to the next tomb on our list of those to explore. Khai Dinh’s tomb is on a much smaller site than the last one we visited and is totally different in that it was built with lots of European influences in it’s design. Khai Dinh ruled from 1916 to 1925 and going by his life size statue he was tiny….in fact he could have been a stand in for Willy Carson!!! The tomb is very ornate and a bit OTT but each to their own. It was interesting to see some of the Emperors actual clothing on display (he really was a tiny little
Keeping a watchful eye
Stone Mandarins keep a watchful eye over the Emperors tomb bloke) and also some of his personal possessions - most of them gifts from heads of state from other countries.
After a day of grandeur and royalty we topped it off with some great food at the mandarin café - delicious golden fried prawns with Nuoc Mam dipping sauce (fermented salty fish in oil with chilli’s) and got ourselves front row seats in a local bar to watch Man U v Chelsea…..pity we were robbed, it put a dampener on an otherwise great day!!!
For our final day in Hue we ventured out into the blistering sunshine to the old citadel. Hue and its citadel has been the site of many battles throughout its history and much of it has been destroyed and restored or re-built. In 1885 the French burnt down the Imperial Library and took everything of value from the palace, in 1968 during the Tet Offensive the communists took over the city for 25 days and approximately 3000 citizens of Hue were killed. Today the citadel is a peaceful, quiet spot that still holds some lovely temples and ornate architecture some of it was a bit dilapidated and didn’t have much of interest but what
Walking the.......Bird???
While driving to the temple we met this young lad out walking his pet bird - how cool!!! does remain intact (or maybe restored) is gorgeous -our favourite was the temple dedicated to the past Emperors.
Our last night in Hue was spent eating, playing pool and packing for the following days journey south to Hoi An.
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Jon Redmond
non-member comment
Tombs give me the creeps!
Hi 2U2! Glad you are enjoying the country, there is certainly a lot to see, (and drink!) You must be getting tired of travelling now? I just came back from a mad weekend in Galway with the boys! You must go there when you are back in Europe (!) Enjoy the rest of your epic travels! All the best! Jonny Red