Stepping Back in Time To Meet The Emporers in Hue
Trip Start
Dec 28, 2010
1
6
28
Trip End
Mar 31, 2011
Where I stayed
Hue Backpackers Hostel
Hue, Vietnam
Sunday, January 9, 2011
The Hue Citadel was our first stop and as soon as we arrived it reminded me of the Forbidden Palace in Beijing although on a lot smaller a scale. There were lots of ornate gates and different sectioned off areas once used to separate the emperors ladies and concubines from his Mandarins (his equivalent of an MP).Unfortunately in the Tet Offensive of 1968 the Viet Cong fled to the citadel to hideout from the Americans and so a lot of it has been damaged or destroyed by the bombing or subsequent fire. The parts that remain though were definitely worth a visit and are today the home to a big collection of buddhist monks. It's still raining.
Next stop was the Thien Mu Pagoda, the tallest pagoda in Vietnam. It's an impressive sight standing at the edge of the Perfume River but we didn't stay here too long as we needed to move onto our next sight. Hue used to be the capital of Vietnam and so 7 of Vietnams emporers are buried here and we were off to see the tomb of one of them as our next stop.The Tomb of Minh Mang is set in acres of land just outside of Hue. The emperor is buried in a hill in the centre of the tomb complex but no-one knows his exact whereabouts to protect him and his treasure from grave robbers. There were about 3 buildings to move through before you reached the tomb and each was bigger and more ornate than the last. The buildings housed different artefacts that the emperor owned or shrines to him and during his reign would have housed some of his 142 children.The tomb itself was exactly as described; A plain hill surrounded by a moat with two giant gates. Withought digging up the hill there is no way of knowing where he is buried as it is now densely covered with trees and bushes...Oh and it's still raining.
Our last tomb to visit is said to be the most impressive and elaborate tombs of all the emporeres buried in Hue; The Tomb of Khai Dinh. As you walk into the tomb complex the statues and buildings are grey and bland but when you step inside the buildings the room is filled with every colour imaginable. The emporeres commisioned the building of thei tombs while they were alive and Khai Dinh was a particularly flamboyant emporer with plenty of lavish gold and ornate tiling across every inch of the inside of his tomb. It was quite a striking sight and I don't think the pictures do all the colours justice.
At this point it was around 3:45 and it hadn't stopped raining all day. We had the choice to visit another tomb and to see a conical hat making village but we still had the ride on the Perfume River to come so we skipped the last two and jumped aboard the Dragon Boat. This wasn't spectaular at all, in fact it was more just a way to get from A to B but it finished off the day nicely and we headed in to start the mammoth task of trying to dry out our clothes. We managed to get a snapshot of Hue and do the main sights but the weather got the better of us and we definately all gave up towards the end. Off to Hoi An tomorrow and hopefully down south the weather will be better.
