The second day in Hue we had cloudy rainy weather once again but it looked like it wasn’t going to pour on us so we piled into a car and went sight seeing at the tombs of former emperors. The tombs ranged in style due to French influence. The first tomb we visited was the tomb of Minh Mang which was the oldest and from around the 1840s, the second tomb we visited was that of Khai Dinh which was from 1925 and the newest we would visit. It had an interesting mix of Vietnamese and French influence. This one may have been the most interesting simply because there are pictures of the Emperor and of his funeral procession. The last one we visited was more of a combination tomb and temple, the emperor Tu Duc built it and used the gardens before being buried there.
After the tombs we visited a pagoda on the Perfume river. The pagoda itself was similar to many we have seen in Asia but it gave everyone a chance to see a buddhist service being performed and see some relics. I found the relics interesting, because one of them was a car from the famous photo of the monk performing self immolation as a protest in Saigon. It was interesting to see a relic that is a relatively modern piece of technology as well as from a recent time period. Usually I think of relics as ancient pieces of wood or crosses not so much a car. The day turned out to be a good one for not having ideal weather.
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| The entrance to the Tomb of Minh Mang. |
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| Looking across the tomb in one direction. Unfortunately the clouds hid the mountains surrounding the tombs. |
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| Caitlin posing at one of the gates. |
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| Caitlin trying to open the emperors door. |
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| Gail and Caitlin imitating the carvings of Ankor. |
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| One of the dragons on the top of the buildings. |
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| The landscaping was impressive and would be amazing in full bloom. |
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| Caitlin and Bill on the bridge. |
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| Then everyone joined in. Notice how everyone has a bluish rain jacket. |
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| Doors that were opened at most of the temples. |
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| Sara posing. |
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| Fun with statues. |
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| More fun. |
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| Hide and seek. |
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| Got some delicious bananas. |
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| More fun with statues at the second tomb. |
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| The tomb of Khai Dinh. |
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| The dragons at the tomb had marble eyes that looked a little bit like goggly eyes. |
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| The view from the tomb. |
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| The building that has the emperor’s bronze statue. On the walls of the building were a engravings of Asian designs next to still lifes. |
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| We stopped at a roadside stand and learned how to make incense. Gail’s incense was not as thin as the other ones. |
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| Caitlin giving it a go. |
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| The bamboo before the incense is applied. |
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| The last tomb, which was a combination tomb/palace. |
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| I loved the doors. |
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| Sara touring around. |
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| Designs on the buildings. |
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| The royal insignia made out of broken china. |
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| The alter at the tomb of the emperor. |
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| Looking throw a broken piece of pottery. |
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| Caitlin and Sara posing. |
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| Gail and bill posing. The mosaic behind them is all broken pottery. |
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| Gail posing with one of the warrior statues. Interestingly these had hair incorporated into the statue. |
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| The car that is a relic. You can see the photo in the background. |
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| Dragon boats that you could take a river cruise on. |
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| This guy was selling dumplings on the back of his moped. Notice the open flame. I love that anything can be done on a moped in Viet Nam. |
From Russia with Love 