Day 7 The Royal Tombs
At dinner a couple of nights ago we got chatting to our
lovely little waitress and ultimately organised for her to be our ‘tour guide’
for a visit to the Royal Tombs. Linh
organised a driver and met us in the lobby at 8.30am.
First stop was the Thien Mu Pagoda, situated on the edge of
the Perfume River. Housed at the back of
the pagoda is the little blue Austin car that Thich Quang Duc drove to Saigon
in 1963. The wold will remember Thich as
the monk who self-immolated in protest at the pro –US policies of then
President Diem.
After this we headed to check out an incense and conical hat
village. We had basically let Linh work
out an itinerary and I guess she followed a fairly standard tourist route. Seeing the incense and hats being made was
interesting but I would not have really felt we’d missed anything if we’d nit
stopped here.
A short ride round the corner brought us to the tomb of Tu
Duc .. emperor of the Nguyen Dynasty who reigned from 1848-1883. The tomb complex itself was built between
1864-1867 and was used both during his
lifetime and as his final resting place.
It has beautifully landscaped grounds centring round a lake with a small
island in the middle. Apparently the
Emperor used to row his little boat round in the afternoons to get away from
the affairs of state. I suspect it was
more likely he was trying to get away from his 101 wives!
Final stop was the tomb of Khai Dinh. Each emperor determined the location of his
tomb and once you climb the 179 stairs I can see why he chose this spot –
stunning views greet you from the top.
Khai Dinh ruled from 1916-1925 and his tomb was completed 6 years after
his death. At first it looks quite cold
& boring – even though the architecture is quite ornate, it’s just grey –stone
& concrete.
This absolutely belies
what greets you when you step into the actual main building. Separated into 3 rooms with the Emperors tomb
in the central one, it is completely covered, floor to ceiling with ceramic mosaics
– stunningly beautiful! There is a sign
that says ‘no photography’ but after seeing about half the other visitors
ignore these signs, I did too… just once!
Tomorrow is the start of the Hue Festival … what a bugger I
did not know about this before we settled on our itinerary. The city looks like it is about to bust ..
flags, banners, lights, the bridge lit up at night and a sense of excitement
everywhere. We’re going to miss all the
excitement – we head for Hanoi tomorrow morning. We’ve loved Hue.
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