We had planned on exploring Vietnam’s old capital Hue and its surroundings by ourselves, including on bicycles.
It became too easy when our hotel offered a USD10 (per person) bus tour which included a buffet lunch.
This would cover all the sights we had planned to do over two days … compressed into one day. We didn’t take much convincing as the weather was hot hot hot.
First up was Hue’s Citadel built in the 1800s. This is the imperial city … very much like the Forbidden City in Beijing.
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- The gate to the Forbidden City at Hue’s Imperial Citadel.
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- Part of the wall.
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- Fat carps.
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- Inside the Forbidden City.
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- Inside the Forbidden City.
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- Parts of the Forbidden City are overgrown with grass … much of it was destroyed with the American War, by the French and also by weather.
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- Ceiling of the corridor in the Forbidden City.
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- Inside the Forbidden City.
This was followed by the former home of a Mandarin (emperor’s adviser or high ranking official) and the 21m high Thien Mu pagoda.
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- Thien Mu pagoda.
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- Poster depicting self-immolation of a monk in 1968 to protest discrimination by the Vietnamese President (a Catholic) against Buddhists.
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- Young novices servicing older monks.
After lunch we covered three imperial tombs. Our interest was declining with each as we all got hot and sweaty. First was the tomb of Minh Hang (built in the 1840s), then Khai Dinh (1920s) and lastly Tu Duc (1860s). All three were in different styles … the most unusual was Khai Dinh’s as it was in a Vietnamese /European style.
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- Minh Hang Tomb complex.
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- Minh Hang Tomb complex.
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- Minh Hang Tomb complex.
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- Minh Hang Tomb complex.
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- Minh Hang Tomb complex.
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- Khai Dinh Tomb complex.
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- Khai Dinh Tomb complex.
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- Khai Dinh Tomb complex.
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- Khai Dinh Tomb complex.
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- Coloured sticks waiting for joss to be put on to make joss sticks.
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- Tu Duc Tomb complex.
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- Tu Duc Tomb complex.
The drive between sights was interesting … in places, one side of the road was completely used up by villagers to dry their harvested rice. So traffic in both directions was reduced to just one lane.
We returned to Hue on a tacky dragon barge. It was a barge in more ways than one! When we eventually arrived, the driver (Captain) barged the barge in between other boats … it must be standard practice as the neighbours rushed out to push our boat away so it wouldn’t collide with theirs. With a bit of pushing from both neighbours, our barge managed to park with a tight fit.
The day wasn’t exactly a holiday! At least it meant that we could leave Hue a day earlier so we’d have more time at our next destination, Hoi An.
Dragon barge for the ride back.