Hue - Palaces, Tombs, & Pagodas

22 - 23 February 2015

The next morning we decided to sleep in a relax a bit before heading out.  We finally left the hotel around noon to go to the The Citadel and the Imperial Enclosure.  During the 45-minute walk we crossed a bridge that was blown up during the Vietnam War, passed people burning money, and walked through a park with an awesome bonsai tree display.   About the money burning...around Tet, people burn money to send to their dead ancestors...its pretty interesting that they burn US looking $100 bills. 

We finally made it to the Citadel and the Imperial Enclosure.  Back in 1802 during the Nguyen dynasty the emperor moved the capital from Hanoi to Hue.  Over a moat and within the 6.5 foot thick walls is a where the royals of the Nguyen dynasty lived.  We walked around for over 2 hours and just loved the landscape and the Asian architecture.  By the way, this area was heavily bombed and napalmed when the North Vietnamese seized Hue in 1968 during the Vietnam War.

After over 2 hours of walking around in the heat, we were ready to grab a beer and relax.  However, as we were walking back towards the hotel we caught a glimpse of the Hue Military Museum.  I wasn't too excited by it, but we (Tim) couldn't pass it up, so in we went.  First was the outside display of equipment left behind by the US.  As you can see, I was pretty much done:

We then headed to the inside displays that included Vietnam's struggles against the French and the US.  Talk about communist propaganda...I loved this sign that states "Life was difficult for the Thua Thien Hue people because of colonialism and feudalism in the late 19th century and the early 20th century.  A bit more disturbing was a display of ID cards taken from US servicemen during the Vietnam War:

Finally, Tim allowed us to be done and we continued walking back to hotel.  We came across Timmy's shop, and of course we had to stop and try out some new beer brands:

After the beers we grabbed some dinner and returned to the hotel for the night.

The next morning we rented a couple of motorbikes from the hotel and headed out to visit four extravagant mausoleums of the Nguyen dynasty emperors.

The first is the Tomb of Khai Dinh, about 6 miles south of Hue:

Next, is the Tomb of Minh Mang, about a 20 minute ride west of Khai Dihn tomb:

The actual tomb is behind this wall and is only accessible a couple of times a year.

Finally, we rode to the Tomb of Tu Due, about 30 minutes away:

Temple dedicated to emperor's concubines...

Pretty boring, non-descript tomb.

After visiting the tombs it was still early enough to go and visit Thien Mu Pagoda, the symbol of Hue.  The pagoda is impressive and the grounds are beautiful.  Behind the pagoda is a functioning temple and is also the home to the Austin automobile that a monk, in 1963, exited in Saigon and set himself on fire to protest again the Ngo Dinh Diem regime.  This act was caught by a photographer who won the Pulizer Prize for the picture he took (the photograph is hanging up behind the car).

After the pagoda we rode back to the hotel, returned the bikes, and had some dinner.  Tomorrow we take a train to Danang at 6:30 AM, so it is was an early night.