Hué Forts and Palaces

As the former capital and seat of government for Vietnam, Hué has an impressive array of forts and palaces befitting the 14 kings they had up until the end of French colonial rule in the mid 1950’s.

The Imperial Palace:

Our tour guide Phou and chief photographer:

Some people were having fun:

For dinner that evening we went to a restaurant which was part of a Buddhist temple, so it was all vegetarian food but quite delicious, and they sold beer.

There were still some interesting items on the menu, like “Fried Bumps” for $1 which turned out to be stir fried “Vegerables”:

And “Twelve Predestined Affinity” plain or “Unseparated”, both $2, but we never discovered what they were:

Still we had a good evening out, again, the food is really good in Vietnam. Veggies cooked at our table:

Early the next morning (to avoid the tourists!) we were whisked off to visit the Summer Palace, and had a leisurely dragon boat trip back to the city centre.

The Perfume River in Hué:

The Imperial Throne:

The Imperial Car Port:

The Kings Tomb, although since it was the custom to bury huge wads of cash and other valuables with the king’s body, they exact location of the burial plot was kept secret to avoid looting.

It certainly wasn’t here, it could have been anywhere on the hundreds of acres of palace land, and to maintain the silence, the 4 burial workers were executed as well. However being Buddhists, they alledgedly didn’t mind since they believed in reincarnation.

Impressive displays of coloured incense sticks at a local souvenir stall:

Inside the Summer Palace:

This blue Austin car has a terrible story to tell.

In 1963, a monk protesting against the discrimination and persecution of Buddhists in Vietnam, drove this car into the centre of Ho Chi Minh City and set himself on fire in an act of self immolation.

As a monk, this would have been a very extreme act since the Buddhist teachings say that you will not achieve reincarnation after suicide:

But the palace gardens are now a beautiful and peaceful place and Vietnam now has a policy of religious tolerance with mosques, Hindu temples and Catholic churches commonly found amongst Buddhist shrines.

Back the hotel, I summoned the lift and as the doors opened I found it full of chairs. As the door opened further, Mark was sitting on one. Weird or what?