Hue to Ha Long Bay

The Hue Citadel, constructed in the early 1800's and home to the Emperor and his family. It is a huge construction of which much was sadly destroyed during the Vietnam War.

An incredible place in much need of restoration.

Inside, the true extent of the damage can be seen, as most of the buildings no longer stand.

A Pagoda.

The Thien Mu Pagoda with the historical tower. Each of the seven levels represents a Buddha who has come to earth in human form.

The main sanctuary.

The monks shortly after lunch performing one of the many rituals.

Following our lunch, we visited three of the Emperors' Tombs. First was 'Minh Mangs' Tomb. Carved stone effigies lined the entrance.


This beautiful place seemed to go on and on................

................ behind each layer another more wonderful sight.

Such a peacful place. It was a shame we were rushed through it.

The second was the tomb of 'Khai Dinh'. He ruled for nine years and his tomb took eleven to build. What really amazed me about the tombs was that they were not that old. They looked like ancient structures yet this one was completed in 1931.

The wondefully decorative tomb.

Before heading to the 3rd tomb of the day we stopped off at an incense village. Incredibly, they are all hand made.

The third tomb of 'Tu Duc' is surrounded by this fabulous lake.

The tombs were fantastic. I would have loved to have stayed here longer and enjoyed them more. If this was back home, they would all be owned by English Heritage and have Shakespeare plays outdoors every evening! Pimms anyone?

A trip down the Perfume river back to central Hue.

On the boat - they believe in travelling in style!

That evening we had to catch anyother dreaded night bus to Hanoi! The journey should have taken 14hours but, due to a double puncture, it took us 20hours!!! The tyres were shot, literally, through to the canvas (no minimum tread here - in fact no tread at all!). The tyres were replaced with a second hand one with equally little tread, and was nearly through to the canvas. Best not to think too much about it.

The purpose for our visit to Hanoi was to visit the famous Ha Long Bay.

We booked onto an overnight trip - not a bad way to travel, I think.

So, as I can understand it, the evolution of these limestone karsts has taken around 20 million years. In total there are about 1960 of these little islands.
(Wikipedia is brilliant, isn't it?! - K)

The bay sits along around 120km of coastline and is home to many species of fauna & flora. There is also evidence that ancient man was settled here thousands of years ago.

We spent much of the afternoon kayaking around the bay.

Legend suggests that the limestone islands were created by dragons spitting out jewels at the invading Chinese. The dragons liked it so much that they decided to stay here, hence the name 'Ha Long Bay' which means 'Descending Dragon Bay'.

Whether it was by dragon or by 20 million years of mother earths design, it is one of the most incredible places in the world, not just in Vietnam, and is worth the trip to Asia alone.

Night on the boat.

So peaceful and eerie.

This place cannot be explained - it needs to be visited.

Morning on the boat. What a magical end to our tour of Vietnam.