Although we do not like to go on organised tours very much – we rather go by ourself, in our own pace and see what we want to see, instead of taken to various tourist traps and being forced to visit souvenir shop – the various sights around Hue are not within walking distance from the town and quite far spread out. So, for once, we opted to go on a tour to see all the tombs in one go.

The Minh Mang tomb was planned by emperor Minh Mang between 1820 and 1840. However it was built by its succecor. At the entrance are three bridges. The middle bridge is reserved for the emperor himself (only used once) so nobody will ever be allowed to use it anymore.

The second tomb we visited, the tomb of Khải Định is located in Chau Chu mountain. The emperor started to built it from 1920, five years before he actually died. He raised the tax by a mere 30% to finance to construction. It took another six year after his death to finish it. The tomb is a blend of Western and Eastern architecture, very different from all the temples we visited until now.

Right before lunch we where treated by a martial arts show. These guys where very good, including the cute little kid that took part in the show.

The tomb of Tu Duc was the final tomb we visited. The emperor built it in 1864 to 1867 and use it as a retreat for a long time until he died in 1883. The emperor was actually buried somewhere else in Hue, but the location remains unknown, as the 200 man who carried out the burial where beheaded to keep it a secret.

After this, the rest of our group was split of to go to the citadel. Sanne and me went with a small boat over the perfume river to a historic house in Hue, where once the daughter of emperor Dong Khanh lived. The owner of the house took us around the house, told us proudly about his ancestor, the princess, and showed us the garden with all kinds of exotic plants. Meanwhile his wife made some tea for us.

Final stop: the Thien Mu pagode.

On the first day in Hue we went to the Citadel. A huge complex, with a wall of 10 kilometer and original 160 buildings with palaces and temples of former emperor Gia Long built from 1804. We didn’t go with a tour and at the sight itself wasn’t any explanation whatsoever, so we just wandered through the maze for hours to be amazed by many beautiful buildings and ruins.

One of the highlights of Vietnam was the boat trip to Ha Long Bay. We had booked a quite luxurious cruise with two nights. Treat Ya Self!

The temple of literature is a temple in Hanoi dedicated to Confusius. It was built in 1070 and hosts the first national university of Vietnam, used to educated noble, royal and the elite. The university remaind open until 1776 [source: Wikipedia].

After two weeks in Laos we went to Vietnam. We had a plane with a propellor and I was a bit sceptical about it but it turned out to be allright after all.

In many countries you need to show that you are in possession of a return ticket, which in some cases like ours is a bit difficult because we don’t know the precise day we might leave the country. So before we begon our trip, Araldo beagled, I mean googled the Internet in search for an answer. And making a fake ticket was the best we could do (if you ever try that, don’t forget not to use the same flight company name as you are using for the inward flight, otherwise they will find out the fraud).

Once we arrived at the airport of Hanoi, we had to pass the visa staff, like usual. Araldo got our visas booked on the Internet, but we didn’t print the paper because it said it would be okay, but it was not! The officer said: “oh, this is not good, you have to print it!”, (but where can you find a bloody printer on a airport!? You might ask…). Well the answer to all problems is MONEY!
He asked us for 20 U.S dollars, slip it discretely in his pocket, took our passports and gave them to his college and told us to wait. There was a waiting room full of people waiting for their visas, I was losing hope and saw myself waiting for hours. After 10 minutes, our guy said :”psst,  psssst, come over here… here are your passport”. Best 20$ ever spent, we just passed in front of everyone 🙂

The driver of our hotel was waiting for us and we had our first exciting drive in Vietnam.

We visited the Temple of the Jade Mountain, the Ngoc son. It is situated on a small island on the Hoan Kiem Lake and connected to the shore with a red bridge. The temple is dedicated to Confucian and Taoist philosophers and the national hero General Tran Hung Dao, who defeated the Mongols back in the XIII century.

http://www.travelingthruhistory.com/turtle-tower/

* Answer to the question: priority? Who cares. Just make it alive.

Already our last day in Laos before flying to Hanoi (instead of taking the bus as we initially had planned. It should be obvious why). Today on the program: a visit to the palace and to watch the sunset from nearby Mount Phousi.

We were really craving a nice pizza, so we headed to the pizza place that got raving reviews on TripAdvisor. Unfortunately it was a little out of the way, like, one hour walking through shabby back streets and as bonus a large bridge with loose planks here and there (in the pitch black / being blinded by oncoming traffic). In the end we made it, but we were both stressed out. Luckily the pizzas were indeed very good. On our way back we opted for the much shorter route. This however, included a canoe ride across the river in the dark.