We had only a few hours in the morning to get some sight seeing done so time was of the essence. This meant an early wake up. 8:00 we boarded the bus. Some of the group decided they wanted a sleep in instead. Fair enough but it was time to see the City.
The first port of call was The Royal Mausoleums. It was located about 20 minutes outside of Hue in a forest. We Walked in a temple and viewed across a pond full of beautiful water lilies. The whole place had a royal feeling to it. The location of these Mausoleums takes a great deal of time as it needs to represent everything that the King stood. The Mausoleum contains the remains of Khai Dinh and his wife. The Mausoleum was built in 1920-1931.
Emperor Khai Dinh ruled Vietnam for 9 years. 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. It contains a large slab stone stele which records details of his reign. It is a kind of an old fashioned autobiography. An amazing thing also was that the Emperor and his Queen are located so far away from one an other. When the Emperor died and his men Buried treasure all his 100 had to be beheaded so none of them would steal it.
The next port of call was the Citadel. This has officially been recognized by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. The site is made up of over 148 building but unfortunately currently only 20 have survived. The whole complex is covered by a wall and used to protect the imperial city. The place is currently under construction but some of these building require you to use your imagination to see how it was like many years ago. The sheer size of it just shows how important these Emperors were. On view in one of the rooms was the Kings Chair and entertainment center. The King was had a team of 100 to look after him. He could even go to the toilet on the chair as it had a funnel and one of his team would clean up afterwards. The King also had a large Chariot that his team would carry him on between rooms. Walking was clearly too difficult for him.
The first port of call was The Royal Mausoleums. It was located about 20 minutes outside of Hue in a forest. We Walked in a temple and viewed across a pond full of beautiful water lilies. The whole place had a royal feeling to it. The location of these Mausoleums takes a great deal of time as it needs to represent everything that the King stood. The Mausoleum contains the remains of Khai Dinh and his wife. The Mausoleum was built in 1920-1931.
Emperor Khai Dinh ruled Vietnam for 9 years. 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. It contains a large slab stone stele which records details of his reign. It is a kind of an old fashioned autobiography. An amazing thing also was that the Emperor and his Queen are located so far away from one an other. When the Emperor died and his men Buried treasure all his 100 had to be beheaded so none of them would steal it.
The next port of call was the Citadel. This has officially been recognized by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. The site is made up of over 148 building but unfortunately currently only 20 have survived. The whole complex is covered by a wall and used to protect the imperial city. The place is currently under construction but some of these building require you to use your imagination to see how it was like many years ago. The sheer size of it just shows how important these Emperors were. On view in one of the rooms was the Kings Chair and entertainment center. The King was had a team of 100 to look after him. He could even go to the toilet on the chair as it had a funnel and one of his team would clean up afterwards. The King also had a large Chariot that his team would carry him on between rooms. Walking was clearly too difficult for him.
After all this hard work we headed back to the Hotel. We quickly had showers and headed to the local restaurant for some lunch. I enjoy eating different food in all of these restaurants just to experience something different every time. Gary and Mike tend to go for the Western option generally or something simple. The food was good and the Chocolate Milkshakes were awesome.
Next item on the agenda was a 14 Hour Journey train and then a 4 hour bus trip SWEET !!!!!
We got our treats and lunch before we boarded just to make sure we could make the trip more enjoyable. We were all a bit worried it would be as bad as the last trip but thankfully it was first class. We all cheered enjoyment with no rats or cockroaches.
Half way through the journey we stopped in a random location and bargained with the local at the side of the train. We bought some wine off them for like $ 2US. It was drinkable and helped cheer us all up a bit. We had some good chats and then decided to play a game of "Guess Who (20 Questions). We wrote celebrities names on each others heads and had to guess who we were. It was good fun. Rachael got hers quickest. Bruce Forsyth was hers. Then everyone else got theirs and it was down to me and Priya. This was an hour or so later. Lot of hints but it did not help. Frank Bruno was mine and hers was Donald Duck. With that we ended the night and went to sleep.
Next item on the agenda was a 14 Hour Journey train and then a 4 hour bus trip SWEET !!!!!
We got our treats and lunch before we boarded just to make sure we could make the trip more enjoyable. We were all a bit worried it would be as bad as the last trip but thankfully it was first class. We all cheered enjoyment with no rats or cockroaches.
Half way through the journey we stopped in a random location and bargained with the local at the side of the train. We bought some wine off them for like $ 2US. It was drinkable and helped cheer us all up a bit. We had some good chats and then decided to play a game of "Guess Who (20 Questions). We wrote celebrities names on each others heads and had to guess who we were. It was good fun. Rachael got hers quickest. Bruce Forsyth was hers. Then everyone else got theirs and it was down to me and Priya. This was an hour or so later. Lot of hints but it did not help. Frank Bruno was mine and hers was Donald Duck. With that we ended the night and went to sleep.
Choo Chooo Conor
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