After a quick trip to the restroom and a stroll through the beautiful gardens in front of the restaurant, we meet back with Hung to continue on our full day tour. Next, we are heading to the Thien Mu Pagoda, otherwise known as the Celestial Lady (or just Lady) Pagoda. This is an iconic symbol of Hue, some say it is the unofficial symbol of the city,sitting on a rise above the Perfume River, about 4 k from the Citadel and Imperial City. The original site was constructed in the 1600s under the Nguyen Dynasty, and was a much more simply designed. The existing 7 storey pagoda, each story dedicated to a different Buddha that has appeared in human form, was built in 1844. There is some folklore about the origins of the pagoda site, having to do with a lady who came and sat on this hill every day, dressed in red and blue, and prophesized that a lord would come here, erect a Buddhist temple on the hill and pray for the country’s prosperity. After she proclaimed this, she disappeared. When the emperor at the time heard this, he immediately began construction on the “Lady” pagoda.
The pagoda itself has become an important Buddhist center, and as early as the 1600’s was visited by Zen masters. Currently, 50 monks live on the property taking care of the gorgeous grounds, ensuring they are beautifully planted and maintained. A lovely garden like courtyard exists behind the pagoda, with flowering bushes, plants and ponds with water falls and Buddhist deities strewn about. At the far end of the gardens, a stupa in honor of the holy abbot who presided over the reconstruction of the temple complex in the 20th century. Also on the grounds is the Austin car that the monk, Thich Quang Duc, rode in on his way to Saigon where he immolated himself in protest over the 1963 government ban on flying religious flags, which was only selectively applied and basically a ban on the Buddhists.
It is quite a lovely temple area, and a perfect day to be here. It is only marred by the rude Chinese tourists who are loud, obnoxious and push right in front of you no matter where you are or what you are doing. I almost had to shoulder block the 2 that jumped right in front me while I was taking a picture of the monk’s car. Patience is a virtue that is in extremely short supply around the Chinese, I’m sorry to say.
Hung has asked us if we would like to take a boat trip down the Perfume River so that we can see the Citadel and the city, from another perspective. We could then meet the car up river, which sounds good to us. He quotes us another additional price (we really should be negotiating with him!), and while it’s pricey, we agree – what the heck, we couldn’t ask for a better day, and it is the Perfume river after all. So, off we go to the river boat landing to wait for our boat which will be coming for us from up river. Apparently, this is a consolidator deal, because Hung doesn’t know the boat driver, but is looking for a specific number on the boat. We finally see the boat, and carefully make our way down the steep steps to hop on our own private dragon boat.
Off we go, down the river, with a breeze in our face and lovely riverbank scenery out the window. The boat, just like most of the others on the river, appears to be a combination of business and home for the family running it. The driver, a woman and a little girl are all aboard as we sail up the Perfume river. There is also an abundance of souvenirs on the boat, and the woman makes a great show of looking through the purses, bags, keychains and magnets she has available. She never really offers them to us, but just looks at them, and gives magnets to Hung to look at as well. Good teamwork, but we aren’t buying. Literally! They do offer us a beer, which of course we take.
There is a lot of river traffic out here, tons of various sized dragon boats are plying the waters either looking for, or already possessing riders heading to and from the Lady Pagoda. 15 minutes later, we are floating past the Citadel, which you really can’t even see from the water because of the trees. Oh well, that was a little bit of a misleading sales job, but, heck, it’s a boat on a river on a beautiful sunny day – we aren’t complaining.
We dock at this little sandy pullout on the side of the river, no official docks around here (I almost feel like we were sneaking off the boat), pay for our boat ride (beer included), and hoof our way out of the river bank, with Hung stopping at every dragon boat moored here to take our picture. Our car is waiting at the end of the pathway, and we hop in ready to make our last stop of the day, a royal tomb. We have some discussion about which tomb to visit. We had talked a lot about Minh Mang, who was an important emperor in the 1800’s, and I had read about his tomb. Hung gets this stuck in his head, and says we can go there instead of Khai Dinh, which is our original destination. I ask him which is best – but of course, he won’t answer, he says they are both good, it is up to us. Fortunately I can do a quick Google search (thank you Google Fi! Now if you will just work with regular Google to make their coordination with LiveWriter as good as your service, we’ll be very happy campers), and decide that Khai Dinh is the way to go. (Hung actually agrees once we’ve made the decision.)
While most other tombs are fairly plain buildings with some decoration here and there, placed in the middle of a courtyard, Khai Dinh’s tomb is incredibly huge and ornate, and more like a monument than a typical tomb. Built beginning in 1920, the complex took 11 years to complete and is a combination of Eastern and Western architecture (the most heavy influence from the French, because the Emperor worked closely with France during his reign, often to the derision of his subjects who considered him a simple employee of the French government). Apparently he also taxed the peasants pretty heavily in order to finance the tomb, so this in combination with his French allegiance made him a pretty unpopular ruler. The tomb and its buildings are absolutely amazing to look at though, we must admit.
Reached by climbing a steep set of concrete stairs on either side of a flower garden that is now terraced into the middle section of stairs, we enter through huge black wrought iron gates leading to a courtyard with statues of wise men, elephants and what we assume are peasants. The buildings, towers and walls are all concrete that has turned a deep grey, and in many places black, over time, which provides contrasting colors in every type of light. Another flight of stairs leads to the main tomb building, which is decorated with detailed carvings on every surface. But inside, well, that’s another story! There’s gold in them there hills…uh…tomb! Gold statues on the main tomb structure, in the form of the Emperor siting on his throne, of course, which is atop a platform made of gemstones inlayed into marble. There are ornate pillars with bas relief dragons, all bedecked in inlayed gemstones, along with incredible mosaic tiles reaching from floor to ceiling representing the 4 seasons. It is opulent and ornate, and you can see why this guy would not be popular with his people.
It is crazy, over the top, but incredible gorgeous at the same time. We are very glad we chose this tomb to visit. On the way out, we can’t resist taking picture after picture of the buildings and the decorations, especially as the sun is perfectly placed for photo taking, without a cloud in the sky. Wow.
We reconnect with our driver at a little rest stop area across from the tomb where everyone parks. He and Hung want some coffee, so we hang out around the little cafe while they get their caffeine fix and peruse the offerings in the convenience store area, including ramen noodles “Made with Japanese technology.” Hmmmm, wonder what that would be?
Now we begin our long journey home, which Hung figures will take about taking about 3 hours. We settle in, graze a little from our snack bags and watch the world – and the little Vietnamese ladies on bikes laden with huge bags of something - pass us by. After a bit, Hung has the driver stop at a roadside restaurant. He explains that both he and the driver (turns out their are friends) are originally from this area and they want to stop to get a special local Hue food – cassava covered pork, shrimp and spices that are steamed in a banana leaf. Hung is gone for a while, but comes back with only candy (which he shares). Don’t know what the deal was, but the two of them get into some long winded discussion and end up stopping at another restaurant a few minutes up the road. This time Hung is successful and he gets back in the car with a big bag of this special treat which is obviously going home to their families. He also pulls out a small package of the banana leaf wrapped treats for us too. How sweet! We dig right in (even though he says it is stinky, so he opens a window so as not to smell up the car – oops!) – and it is weirdly delicious. The texture is totally weird, this rubbery sort of gel that has coalesced over the pork and the shrimp, almost cementing it into the gel. Don’t know, but it is mighty tasty! We end up sharing 1 and saving the other 1 for a later snack.
Further along, we retrace our steps through the mountains and then past Ca Long and up onto the long entry ramp to the new Hai Van tunnel. Opened in 2005, it is the longest tunnel in SE Asia at 6km and cuts the commute from Hue to Da Nang by an hour or more. Interestingly enough, the tunnel is for automobiles only. Currently it is only one two lane tunnel tube, with traffic flowing both ways. For this reason, scooters and motorcycles are not allowed. There are little “bus” stations at each end of the tunnel where scooter drivers wait for a truck upon which to load their scooter and then a bus to take them through the tunnel. They are currently building another tunnel tube, and once complete, each tunnel will carry traffic in one direction, which will allow scooters and motorcycles to drive through the tunnel.
We are treated to a great view over Da Nang city as we exit the tunnel and make our way down the mountain to sea level, passing the unpopulated bay area, then taking a detour through empty streets, past a huge empty lot where little street food type restaurants are setting up tables and chairs, then into the more busy city district so Hung can take us by this “guy’s” coffee shop – “you must know him,” he says. He keeps saying a name, but we I can’t understand him, so we just go along, until we see what he is taking about: it is a placed called Trump Coffee! Peals of laughter from the front seat, as we giggle and guffaw in the back as well. Such a comedian Hung is turning out to be.
On the other side of the road, we pass a Buddhist temple with an absolutely monstrous Buddha statue and a gorgeous 11 or 12 storey pagoda – a much more interesting sight for us! And of course, as always, the scooters and the people flowing around us keep our attention throughout the drive. There is this one family who just fascinates us, a mom, a dad and 2 kids. The dad is driving and the mom looks like she is barely even holding on, half sitting on the back of the scooter with a kid in her arms. I try to get some pictures, but nothing works right, which bums me out. Then, 5 minutes later, here they are again, just as we are crossing the bridge over the Song Cau river. Perfect shot! Yes! And still amazing how she stays on that scooter.
We’re getting close to Hoi An now, and the traffic is picking up – both automotive and pedestrian. OMG! We can not believe the sheer number of people out on the streets. Hoi An is jam packed, I don’t know how anyone is even walking on the sidewalks it is so busy and crazy. We had already sort of decided to stay at the hotel for dinner tonight, something we hardly ever do, but let me tell you – we are so glad that we drove through town on the way back because it totally made the decision to stay at the hotel easy. No way we are going out into that melee. Ugh.
Hung dropped us off in the lobby, with a fond farewell, he has been absolutely fantastic and we’re ever so glad he “traded” for us on our Hue tour! While he collects his receipts (or payments or whatever he does with reception), we head to our rooms to freshen up a bit, then go to The Temple for a light dinner. They’ve got fantastic food here both at the Red Bean (the traditional restaurant that is always within the top 5 restaurants here and in Hanoi) and The Temple restaurant (which is the Elegance Hotel Group’s newest restaurant without as many reviews). We’ve never been disappointed and tonight is no different. We snack on a shared appetizer of seared scallops, Ed has broccoli and camembert cheese soup, while I splurge on goat cheese mushroom ravioli. A perfectly light meal to finish off a very long and fruitful day. Once again we, head to our balcony to finish off our evening in the cooling night air.
Glad we drove thru town on way home, it was super crazy! Made our decision to stay at hotel for dinner easy.
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