Vietnam Day 9 - Hue

Second last day in Hue.

We managed to finish work a little faster and so I finally had an afternoon off! My first real off-time since coming to Vietnam. So, I took the opportunity to visit two emperor tombs and the citadel, kinda like Vietnam's version of China's Forbidden City.

The first one I visited was Emperor Khai Dinh's tomb. Not very big site. Just a few buildings. But the tomb was quite grand, had cermaic and glass tiles all over the main burial building. However, Khai Dinh was supposed to be a little 'off' in that he tried to mix western and vietnamese culture together. So the tomb is supposed to be a bit of a joke... not pure.

Next was Emperor Tu Duc's tomb. This place is much larger, also contained his first wife's and one of his foster son's tomb. According to my guide, Tu Duc was a good man, but a poor leader. Under him, he apparently gave away 6 provinces to the French. He also didn't have any sons (despite having over 100 wives!) so his foster children took over after his death.

After the two tombs, I visited the Citadel. Huge place but sadly left to ruin. The government is trying to restore it, but it's a huge task which I don't think they will be able to accomplish (not in my lifetime at least). Some really beautiful buildings inside. Of worthy mention is the temple where they placed pictures and tablets of the nine emperors of the 'Mui' dynasty. Really awesome. There were these nine huge urns, one for each of the emperors.

Pictures can be seen in my album. Please click on the left for the link if you are interested.

We'll be flying off to Ho Chi Minh tomorrow evening for the last leg of the trip. Looking forward to home sweet home!