Hue, Vietnam
March 25th – 26th 2011
Former home of the Nguyen emperors. Sounded tempting so I had to stop by Hue. It was wet and rainy as usual so that always dampens a trip. Took a boat trip on the first day to visit several tombs of Nguyen emperors (Minh Mang, Khai Dinh, and To Duc. Minh Mang’ had a massive and beautifully landscaped compound, Khai Dinh’s was a feat of interior design that was jaw-dropping, but To Duc’s wasn’t quite as eye-catching.
On another rainy day, I went to visit Vietnam’s version of the Forbidden City. It was a citadel, enclosed by high walls and moats. But sadly, a lot of the place was bombed during the Vietnam war so there wasn’t much else that remained of the emperor’s residence. There was an animated video that showed what it may have looked like based on old pictures and architectural research. A lot of it looks Chinese and so did all the letters engraved all over the citadel.