Vietnam: Hue in Photos

On our Intrepid Great Indochina Loop tour, after our 2 nights in Hanoi and 1 night in Halong Bay, we took the overnight train down to Hue. Hue is the former Imperial city of Vietnam, home to the Forbidding Purple City and some other pretty neat points of Vietnamese history.

Anyway, on to the photos!

One entrance into the Citadel

Entrance into the Forbidden Purple City

Vietnamese Unicorn

A rain downspout between the two roof valleys

Many of the buildings within the Forbidden Purple City were destroyed in bombing runs by the US. There are a few buildings standing, and they are being restored to as much of the original design as possible.

We then went to the Thien Mu Pagoda on the Perfume River. On the 7th floor of the Pagoda houses an emerald buddha. There is only 1 monk who has access to the Pagoda’s interior as well. This was also home to the Bhuddist Monk Thich Quang Duc [wiki], who lit himself on fire in protest for Buddhist equality.

Next we went to visit a tomb of an Emperor who was Emperor for a very short time: Dong Khanh [wiki]. The temple nearby was being restored after being bombed horrendously.  It is also a UNESCO heritage site and because of that status, they are having to rebuild the temple with the materials that were originally used. The tomb area is rarely visited and there is a great sense of peace among the sandstone carvings and reliefs.

Our tour leader mentioned that below this burial place (exact location is unknown to anyone) there is said to be a tunnel that goes from his resting place to the temple complex a few kilometers away to his wife’s burial place. This allowed him to visit his wife in the afterlife.

On the way back to our accommodation we stopped off at one of many stands that were making incense by hand.

Later that night we checked out the night market in Hue’s new city, which was on the west side of the Perfume River.

Eventually, I’ll get around to uploading more of our photos. With over 5,000 from our 2 month trip, I am sure there are some decent ones in there that I have yet to share.