We started with An Hien Garden House.
Every traditional Vietnamese house used to have a wall at the front, a body of water/or a mirror, and pictures of their ancestors in the front door. This was so bad spirits knew they were in the wrong place. Of course only men were allowed to walk in the main door, and women had to use a side door to enter their house. Vietnamese converted from Buddhism to Communism in 1975 (over 80% communist) but it is part of Vietnamese culture to still believe the circle of life, which believes you go from human to animal to spirit round and round until you reach nirvana. (picture of circle of life at the end of this post)
Emperor Tu Duc
22 September 1829 – 17 July 1883 was the fourth emperor of the Nguyễn Dynasty of Vietnam and reigned from 1847–1883.
His tomb was constructed from 1864 – 1867. He was known as a poetic man. It is called the tomb of poetry, but locals call it the tomb of blood, as 4000 died making the tomb (Mandarins wanted it finished quicker than expected so enforced harsh work conditions). We were told this Emperor did 3 things wrong – after 104 wives he still had no children - 4000 died making the tomb – he ceded South Vietnam to the French instead of losing his authority. He is buried somewhere on the many hectare area, but no-one knows where, so the tomb could not be desecrated.
He adopted 3 sons/nephews, Nguyen Duc Duc, Dong Khanh and Kien Phuc,
- - -from wikipedia) Duc Duc became the next Emperor, but when he died (wikipedia agrees with the local guide that he was accused of crimes and put in jail and starved to death) rather than one of the younger heirs of Tu Duc, the regents decided on the 37-year-old Emperor Hiep Hoa, by most accounts an upright man Regents trumped up charges, the outcome of his "trial" was never in question and the following day Emperor Hiep Hoa was forced to commit suicide by swallowing poison after reigning 3 months. In one year, Emperor Tu Duc had died, Emperor Duc Duc was removed after three days and later assassinated; Emperor Hiep Hoa was deposed after 3 months on the throne and forced to kill himself and the young Emperor Kien Phuc finished out the year and reigned 9 months before also, in all probability, being assassinated.
- - -from local guide) When Emperor Tu Duc died the first son was Emperor for 3days before being convicted of adultery with his fathers wife, he spent 10 days in jail with no food or water and died, his second son lasted 8 months before being poisoned by a Mandarin, the 3rd son was known as the puppet emperor who died (after escaping and living in France) in 1997, his son died 11 years before him.
Emperor Khai Dinh
8 October 1885 – 6 November 1925 was the 12th Emperor of the Nguyễn Dynasty in Vietnam. He was the son of Emperor Đồng Khánh, but he did not succeed him immediately. He reigned only nine years: 1916–1925.
This Emperor had 14 wives, and only had 1 son. Apparently he was homosexual and the child was not actually his. He died at 40 due to heavy opium abuse. His tomb is called ‘awesome tomb’ the mosaics are amazing!!! It should though it took 11 years to complete. His is the only tomb to have 2 rows of mandarin soldiers – because of the French he hoped if he put more soldier statues, when he came back in the next life he would have an army to beat France.
These last 3 photos are off google as our camera went funny, the first one is of the roof, which took 3 years to paint, and was painted by feet not hands so the artist could get the perspective right. He was buried under 15m of concrete so no-one could dig up his body.
Emperor Minh Mang
14 February 1791 – 20 January 1841 was the second emperor of the Nguyễn Dynasty of Vietnam, reigning from 14 February 1820 (his 29th birthday) until his death.
His tomb was constructed from 1840 –1843 on 28 hectares surrounded by an oval wall 285m long and 3m high. The actual gate to his tomb (underground palace) only opens once a year on the anniversary of his death, and not for sight seeing! When his body was brought to the underground palace they brought it through an underground channel that was then permanently closed.
Then we got on a dragon boat to sail down ‘perfume river’ go to another pagoda.
Thien Mu Pagoda
It is an amazing pagoda with beautiful bonsai and carvings, sadly our camera ran out of battery. Third picture is the Vietnamese circle of life.
These pictures are from google, but they were the ones we really wanted to take!
The car in the photo is the famous car from 1963, where a monk sat in lotus position and set himself on fire, reporters say he did not move a muscle the entire time. When his body was take away, they cremated it again, but his heart never burnt, so that is now in a glass box in Ho Chi Min City (Andre can’t wait to see it!)
Now some random photos we thought were cool, incense sticks, a lotus flower, and a massive cricket!
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