The day today didn't start off as we had planned last night because Tom had decided to stay out drinking until late into the night and when we tried to wake him in order to go and collect our motor bikes I think he was still drunk. So it looks like it is just Eva and I that will be going out today.

We went off to pick up our bike, Eva got an automatic and I went for a manual again. We agreed on the price of 100,000 Dong (£3.44) and would pay this amount on return of the bikes. As per normal the bikes had no petrol so we headed off to get some first.

After filling up with some gas we headed to our first destination for the day. It was Hue’s Citadel, a former imperial city on the northern bank of the Song Huong which was heavily bombed by the Americans in the Vietnam war. Much of this once magnificent building has been lost due to the bombing and some of the land within the walls is now used for agriculture, some of the buildings are now being restored but the overall grandeur can still be seen.

Within the imperial enclosure is the Forbidden Purple City which was once reserved for the private life of the emperor. The only servants allowed inside were eunuchs, who posed no threat to the royal concubines.

History lesson 1 for today.....

The Imperial City in Huế is a walled fortress and palace in the former capital of Vietnam. The grounds of the Imperial City were surrounded by a wall 2 kilometers by 2 kilometers, and the walls were surrounded by a moat. The water from the moat was taken from the Huong River (Perfume River) that flows through Huế. This structure is called the citadel.

Inside the citadel was the Imperial City, with a perimeter of almost 2.5 kilometers.

Inside the Imperial City was the imperial enclosure called the Purple Forbidden City in Vietnamese, a term that mimics that used by the Chinese for their own Forbidden City. The enclosure was reserved for the Nguyen imperial family.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_City,_Hu%E1%BA%BF

Next stop was one of the most famous structures in Vietnam, the Thien Mu Pagoda, founded in 1601, it was the home pagoda of Thich Quang Duc who publically burned himself to death in 1963 to protest the policies of president Ngo Dinh Diem. Thien Mu is on the banks of the Song Huong, 4km southwest of the citadel.

Lesson number 2.....

Thien Mu Pagoda is a historic temple in the city of Huế in Vietnam. Its pagoda has seven storeys and is the tallest in Vietnam. The temple is often the subject of folk rhymes and ca dao about Huế, such is its iconic status and association with the city. It is regarded as the unofficial symbol of the former imperial capital.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thien_Mu_Pagoda

Heading out from the pagoda to one of the royal tombs in the area, Eva and myself got caught up in a heavy downpour while riding the bikes. We were getting quite wet so we followed the locals into a petrol station to take cover under their canopy until the rain slowed a little. I must say, we were pretty much stared at by all the locals for the whole time that we were there, but at least we stayed fairly dry.

After the rain slowed a little we were first to set off from the petrol station and now I know why the locals stayed a little longer as there was yet another heavy downpour. Oh well we were wet already and although it was raining it was still around 35˚C and we knew we would soon dry out eventhough it felt like I had wet myself for a long time!

We got to the first of our tombs that we were heading to, but I am not 100% sure that it was the one that we initially set out towards as we had a very basic map of the area which was not very accurate and didn’t include all of the roads, so it was a bit of hit and miss on where we turned. The tomb was that of Emperor Khai Dinh (1885-1925) who only ruled Vietnam for 9 years, so I guess he wasn’t that important in comparison to some. I will let the pictures and the history lesson below explain the tomb as it was fairly impressive but not magnificent.

Lesson 3.....

Emperor Khai Dinh (1885-1925) ruled Vietnam for 9 years. His tomb took 11 years to complete. Construction began in 1920 and was completed in 1931. Under Khai Dinh, Western culture and influence began to seep into Vietnam. The king himself visited France in 1922. As a result, his tomb has many elements of Western architecture. In fact, of all the tombs, Khai Dinh's probably least resembles oriental architecture.

Emperor Khai Dinh's tomb is built using concrete, its roof with slates and the gate is made of wrought iron. The builder made use of the lighting rod and electricity is used to light the place. Beyond these modern building materials and designs, the tomb had elements of eastern art mixed with western designs.

Throughout the interior of the tomb, coloured glass and ceramic chips were used to form mosaics of oriental design. The ceilings were hand painted much like the ceilings of western churches, but the designs were of dragons and clouds. In the book, 'Art Vietnamien', Emperor Khai Dinh's tomb was cited as an example of Vietnamese "neo-classicism".

Once we left the tomb, we decided that it would be best to find out where we were before we left looking for the next tomb. We managed to find a coach driver who could point us in the right direction and he even drew us a map on the back of some scrap paper that he had in his cab. This made it really easy to find the next tomb, but on the way an old man and his wife who were both about 80 , riding a motorbike stopped beside us while we where checking the map and asked in English! where we were going and took us some of the way and stopped and said down there 100 meters. That was very kind of them and we were both amazed that they could speak English as we were quite a distance from any main towns or tourists.

This one was the tomb of Emperor Minh Mang as although recommended to us by an American guy at the last tomb, we were both disappointed when we got here. The actual grounds of the tomb were huge and very attractive and had a temple with a Buddha and an area to prey but when we got to the tomb which was a short walk away, we were very surprised to find that it was closed and only opened up once a year!!! What a wasted trip to this one, we could have easily gone to one that was open,, thank you Mr American!

Quickly leaving this tomb we headed back to Hue in a kind of circular route just so that we didn’t pass by the same places on the way back. Coming back along the coastal road that we had picked was a very quite road of about 25km which went through many small villages and every time we passed a child they would all shout "Hello" as we drove past. We must have looked so English! This road was definitely a great choice and we even stopped at a local bar which was full of about 10 Vietnamese lads playing cards very loudly and then the two of us walked in for a Coke and it all went very quiet like in the old western films. They go used to us being there and soon continued with their game.

We returned back to Hue safely and handed our motorbikes back and paid the 100,000 dong fee which I think was very trusting of them as we didn’t have to fill in any forms, pay a deposit or even show a driving licence or passport. They had no idea who we were or where we were staying!