We arrived in Hue, in Central Vietnam (just north of DaNang) two days ago. Yesterday we spent touring three tombs of kings of the Nguyen Dynasty, the last dynasty of Vietnamese kings, ruling from the early 1800's to 1945.
The kings would select the spot for their tombs, and often the designer. Two of the three tombs we visited were actually small palace compounds, copies of the larger palace compound in central Hue. One of the kings actually built his "tomb" before he died and used it as a retreat from the city. Only one of the tombs was more like a tomb ediface, in that it functioned solely as a memorial. The other two were set in large, lovely parks, with wide moats that functioned as lakes or canals on which the king would hold parties.
If they load, I'll share a picture of one of the lake settings, and another of one of the gates.
It has been raining here since we arrived in Hue, so we have wet and somewhat muddy feet from our touring. We have yet to see the sun since arriving in Vietnam. I take that back--we saw a little bit of blue sky here and there when we visited Halong Bay. It is getting warmer as we move south--up to about 16-18 degrees (low 60's). Today we move to Hoi An, which is south of the mountain range in mid Vietnam that divides the weather systems, so it will be even warmer - low 70's. But rain still predicted for the next few days. Still enjoying ourselves, though.
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