mausoleum | World's heritage travel

My trip in vietnam in 2009 started out in Hanoi, continued to Ha Long Bay and then to Hue by the Parfume River. Many world heritages in one trip. After Hue we went to Hoi An. I’ve described some of these places, some are still to come. But now it’s time for Hue. The trip in Vietnam was about culture, history, people and food.

Street life with real people, Hanoi

We stayed at pretty good places, but we also longed for the real life. for eating in the tiny street corner plces with small tables and even smaller cgairs, where people were sitting with knees by their ears. Our guide promised to take me and a girl on the trip to a real Vietnamese restaurant for the people. Well, he took us to a really good place, perfect for the tourists, where politicians were vommon visitors and were you would not be surprised if you saw a movie star. Oh, well. We had to find this tiny place on out own and we were not disappointed. Sitting in the tiny chair, way too small for our European butts, eating noodle soup that was perfectly flavored, we were in heaven. OK, white clothes on the table may be nice, but it’s even nicer to see real every day life.

Tiny chairs in a small Vietnamese place in Hanoi

It can be difficult to see people and everyday life and talk to people and get honest answers back. Sometimes it would br cool to have an invisible hat that makes the owner invisible, so you can walk around and observe without intervening. Now we talked to people but they want to show the good sides of life, make us happy. Some people opened a little and sometimes mentioned thengs that could get better, very secretly. But most people seemed happy, they wanted to please and please themselves at the same time.

Citadel in Hue, great monument, that they should be proud of, and they are

Another great view from the citadel area

Beautifil detail

An old man taking care of the are, or just watching tourists

We arrived in Hue after a few days in Vietnam. We started out the first day with visiting the Imperial Citadel. It was interesting. We saw a few school trips, kids playing around the area. The guide told us about this places history. We watched, we listened and we walked around the place. There were new parts and very old parts. The whole place was mysterios and impossible to see and understand in such a short time.

Three doors, the middle one for the emperor

Beautiful eastern architecture

The three doors again, many places had this solution

Then we moved on. Too much to see, too little time. Vietnam is a beautiful place and you need plenty of time to see just a little part of it. We went to another very old place and we visited the Thien Mu Pagoda, a buddist temple. The Pagoda was built in 1601 by the Parfume River and the name means Heavenly Lady. It’s a beautiful and peaceful place. We left it in the evening taking a boat on the river back to our hotel. It was a nice cruise.

Nice place

The Pagoda

Cruise on the Parfume River

The following day we visited two mausoleums, The first was the Tu Duc Mausoleum with beautiful gardens where a huge moth landed on my neck. The place was beautiful and peacefull. There were some people, but not many. You could walk around and imagine the ancuent times.

Littlr girl selling bananas

The huge moth

The huge moth on my neck

Beautiful place

One more passage to an unknown world

The second mausoleum was emperors Kai Dinhs mausoleum, where we witnessed a practice for a theatre play. I and my friend, another photographer, wandered off and almost got lost. The others were not happy, but who cares. We saw a beautiful world.