Day 11 - Hue | Main | Day 13 - Ha Noi
Wet, Wet, Wet
today was ridiculously wet, we got up early and headed out on a tour of the tombs, first by boat, then by car and then by foot. There are 13 tombs around Hue all of them open for viewing by the public, but given the conditions we determined that we should visit the 4 most popular. The first tomb we arrived at was Thien Mu which is recognised by its striking Pagoda which looks over the Perfume River, our boat pulled in alongside 30 other tourist boats and we whipped up the stairs. Thien Mu has a huge bronze bell (cast in 1710) which supposedly can be heard 10km away, the pavilions are home to young monks who tend to the gardens, the temple and the tomb.
We proceeded on to the tomb of Minh Mang which is an impressive complex of beautiful lakes and gardens with a series of temples and pagodas which involve climbing steep steps as you pass over the undulated ground - finally arriving at a walled tomb where the emperor can enjoy the vistas!
We left Minh Mang in the rain and continued to Khai Dinh, which is a lot smaller and is built on hillside rather than in opulent garden surrounds, however what is lost in the gardens is made up for in the amazing temple which has walls covered in illustrations constructed of broken glass and china - a remarkable fresco that covers each wall and the ceiling.
Finally we ended up at the tomb of Tu Duc which is considered to be the most elegant of the tombs, it was also the most slippery, with lethal paths that followed around the expansive gardens, the various temples for his concubines, wives and mother during his life he was said to have preferred the tomb complex to the palace and spent much of his time there even building a theatre complex as grand as the one in the Citadel itself. Later when he died Tu Duc had all those involved in his burial executed to keep his final resting place safe from future desecration (comforting note!).
We returned to La Residence soaking wet and feeling that we had given it everything and not letting the Hue weather get in our way.
Posted by crispin at January 1, 2008 07:28 PM