I went for dinner last night and decided to book a motorbike tour with someone based at the restaurant. It cost me $7 US for pretty much an all day tour - gotta be happy with that.
It must have been quite a sight to see me on the back of a 110cc scooter. The temples and Pagoda all started to look the same after a while but it was a great day nonetheless.
There is some real history here, the Pagoda mentioned below was built over 400 years ago.
Here are some pics..
Citadel
The citadel was the residence of a number of emperor's and their families. They must have lived quite luxurious lives in their times. The citadel is surrounded by a 10km perimeter wall and is something to see.
The tallest flag tower in Vietnam (37m). Hue' was taken over by the Vietcong for 3 weeks or so during the American war and flew their flag from the tower.
There were thousands of these Koi fish in the lake at the citadel - quite amazing to watch.
Thien Mu Pagoda
View from just outside the Pagoda.
Van Thanh Mandarin Temple
Not a very popular tourist spot. The driver stopped here on the way to the pagoda - I was the only person there.
Each tombstone here has a turtle at the bottom - a good luck sign for the Chinese.
Minh Mang Tomb
Minh Mang was the 2nd emperor of Vietnam. From memory, this is Hue's first tomb. When I die, they can bury me in the Minh Coord tomb.
Khai Dinh Tomb
This place was awesome. Quite gothic looking.
View of the tomb from a few hundred meters away.
Tu Duc Tomb
Probably the most lavish tomb that I visited. Quite an incredible place - absolutely huge. The real burial place of Tu Duc is a secret because they buried him with lots of treasure. So much so, that they apparently beheaded the 200 people that helped to bury him. A bit rough if you ask me. I think he was Minh Mang's grandson.
