Hue is an extraordinary royal city, the capital of Vietnam between 1802-1945 and still regarded as ‘somewhat highbrow’ according to the Rough Guide. There are a ton of things to see including a massive, nineteenth-century citadel and Imperial City which we explored yesterday. Today I’ll concentrate on two of the seven royal tombs which lie a little outside the city. Josh has written a great guide if you want to read more about these two and the others.
It was very slippy underfoot so we chose to start with the most visited – and definitely well-restored – Tu Duc, because it was apparently not so bad – though that didn’t stop at least one other visitor falling over on the very skiddy brick paths. As for most visited – well, not when we went!
The royal buildings have wonderful golden-yellow roofs adorned with fine decoration:
It’s a bit odd because there’s a collection of royal buildings in which the king and his entourage lived for sixteen years before he died, and then his tomb is separate. It turns out that the tomb is symbolic and he’s not actually in it – nobody knows where his body is buried.
One great feature of the royal buildings is the drain running where two houses join:
The buildings include some belonging to the mandarins (imperial bureaucrats) – but they weren’t allowed those wonderful golden roofs:
The buildings include a theatre – the oldest in Vietnam – and in case you can’t read the sign, we’ve given you a close-up (and the promise of more signs to come):
The grounds are full of water (the whole thing was arranged by feng shui masters) and we were surprised to see a couple of guys fishing with an unusual technique (there is a fish in the second pciture):
The tomb itself is guarded by mandarins and warriors:
We were then amazingly hot and in need of a rest – so in protest, we sat on the steps of the tomb: (yes, that is sweat on my t-shirt):
After a well-deserved bottle of water, we were driven by An to our second tomb – a much more run-down and romantic – with no tourists at all (not that there were many at the other place). This was Dong Kahn, situated in a wonderful forest of black trees:
The guardians of the tomb were wonderfully mossy and a bit broken down:
And another fabulous sign for you to enjoy – look closely at the first sign:
So, we have another five tombs to explore so we’ll be back before too long, although we may choose to come in February when it’s not raining and it’s not boiling hot!
Well, I’m rather against twig breaking much of anywhere… but that’s just me.
Lovely photos of the two of you!
Completely with you on the twig issue, as well as the bird hunting and writing on heritage. The prohibition on sleeping on the monuments seems a tad harsh though…
Hue looks amazing – even in the rain (referring to yesterdays post). I rather like the command not to lie. I hope you obeyed. Re Sues comment on drying Miriam’s shoes with a hairdryer – I had to do just that on Saturday after my walking boots filled with water. Newspaper stuffing worked as well.
We didn’t lie even a tiny bit. I suggested we buy a newspaper to stuff our shoes with but none was to be found and yes, Hue is really something special.
No ticket to wear royal clothing so you can sit on throne? Tut tut.
I’m sorry Tash – we just let you down every time!
I’m with Tash, was so wanting to see you resplendent in royal clothing
And you know full well it’s never going to happen!
Well I dressed up at the Santa Semana museum for you so I think you owe me one!
The buildings with the golden roofs are very graceful but the grove of black trees is even more so. I expect you were glad of a site with a few indoor bits to escape from the rain! Thank you for the close-up of the sign – a laugh a sentence that one and I did learn a new word ‘thurify’ – to burn incense before an altar or a shrine – who knew?
Not me for sure – I think I’d assumed it was a misprint – thank you so much for looking it up. Using it in an every day sort of context might be a bit of a challenge : ‘ have you thurified the altar darling, I think the incense might have gone out?’
Super photos. Loved seeing you two.
Thinking of borrowing the gutter design…
xxElizabeth
Yes, go for it Elizabeth – a huge gaping fish would look splendid in Gospel Oak….