Tomb of Minh Mang Hue

We had heard it was still the rainy season but we've been really lucky with the weather so far. However when we arrived at Hué the rain finally caught up to us… It wasn't too bad, just some light showers and not that often.
We arrived early in the morning as usual and had breakfast at the Hué Backpackers Hostel. This hostel is nothing …

After an almost teary goodbye to Hoi An, which we loved so much, we boarded our first sleeper bus of the trip (though we didn't sleep). This was a very surreal experiance. Literally a bus with beds instead of seats! We managed to get two upper bunks together, and settled down for a 4 hour drive to Hue. This was one of the best journeys in the whole …

Salimos finalmente desde Hanoi....hacia el sur, en busca del esquivo sol y el calor. Tomamos el bus cama que compramos en la capital y cuando lo abordamos...la verdad es que sus camas nos dieron mucha risa cuando las vimos: eran de porte similar al de una asiento de clase económica de un avión y reclinadas casi completamente, sin posibilidad de …

First things first: history. Vietnam dynasties, like really all dynasties, are a cyclical cycle of rebellions, usurpation and counter-revolution. Last we left off, I had hit the first capital of the Dinh dynasty at Hoa Lu and then also spent a couple of days in the longest lasting capital, Hanoi, which was under the Ly dynasty rule for 800 years. …

Hello from a VERY rainy Hue!!!

So we arrived after a 12 hour overnight bus...amazing! I ACTUALLY slept! Got a good solid 8 hours on that one! So we arrived at the Backpacker Hostel and this is where we finally managed to meet up with Emily again. We met Emily at the Elephant Nature park so it was like seeing an old friend again! So after …

After 9 hours (at 5am-ish) we had arrived in Hanoi, and had an hour and a half wait to get the train down to Hue.

Hanoi station was pretty quiet, but some people were starting to arrive for early morning trade and trains. I went to find the bathroom, armed with obligatory hand sanitizer, tissues, and in this instance a toothbrush and …

We arrived in Hué in the evening and ignored the now familiar petitioning from the army of taxi and moto drivers to make our own way to our hotel. I always prefer to walk to our accommodation on arrival, at least if it's within 2 or 3 miles, because it allows me to get my bearings and we get an early glimpse of our new temporary home. There were …

So woke up nice and early and had a little breakfast before heading out to the perfume river tour.

the coach took us to the perfume river where all the boats were stationed and we got onto a fairly decent looking one before we set off on our tour.

the boat took us down the river to a number of different sights and with stop offs …

... religion. We then travelled along the river to the Tu Duc and Minh Mang Tombs. Minh Mang was particularly peaceful and scenic. The tomb of Minh Mang is located over a bridge in a gated enclosure which can not be accessed. On the way back to Hue we ...

... and me smiling and talking to her in English, neither understanding the other but it didn't seem to matter! Next the royal tomb of Minh Mang which had very beautiful grounds (as they should have been for the entrance cost) and the hill top tomb of ...

... tour down the scenic Song Huong (Perfume River) and visited a couple of Royal Tombs:  Tomb of Tu Duc and Tomb of Minh Mang.  During the trip we also visited the Thien Mu Pagoda.  An interesting point here is that one of Emperors had 136 ...

... Vietnam and so 7 of Vietnams emporers are buried here and we were off to see the tomb of one of them as our next stop.The Tomb of Minh Mang is set in acres of land just outside of Hue. The emperor is buried in a hill in the centre of the tomb complex ...

... Gods inside. After a quick stop at another temple, lunch and some technical problems with the boat we arrived at the Tomb of Minh Mang. Ming Mang ruled the country from 1820 to 1840 and his tomb complex apparently looks like a body from above. The river ...

... only rice and green beans were free and we had to buy anything else, so we had spring rolls as well, we headed to the tomb of Minh Mang. It was extremely picturesque with a huge lake full of lilies. As we were on a tour we only had ...

... set in very scenic grounds with a lake and greenery, as they were used as residence before the emperor died.  The tomb of Minh Mang was beatufiul, but the grave is hidden to keep it safe from enemies. The third was incredibly majestic, almost ...

... Dong Khanh and Thieu Tri.  At one point, we were crossing through the middle of a rice field! While attempting to find the tomb of Minh Mang, we were stopped by a small boy.  He claimed that the tomb was close.  He kept saying that it was ...

... wasn't going to sit on her posterior like some commoner! Watch your head! In the afternoon we visited the tomb of Minh Mang which  was incredible. After walking through what loked like an orchard we were led into a huge square courtyard. ...

... was magnificent, mainly due to the grandiose buildings which incorporated European elements. Great photos of this one. The last one was the tomb of Minh Mang, which was the oldest but really similar to the first. I didn't spend a lot of time at this one, ...