Today we asked Eva to arrange breakfast for us as we have a pick up at 8AM for our tour. She gives us choices, Pho and Vietnamese coffee please, yes we have been here a while now.
We have booked a dragon boat for a tour to the Pagodas and Royal Tombs along the Perfume River. It will take about 2 hours by boat, then a car will meet us at the end to take us to more tombs that aren't on the river, and then we asked for an additional stop at the Garden House on the way back.
Our first stop was at Thiem Mu Pagoda. It was a great start, but oh so many people. The tower was from 1884 and is 7 levels high. The car that the monk drove to Saigon in 1963 to protest against the regime policies against the Buddhists and then set himself on fire is on display here. By what we can figure out it looks like when you book a tour from town this is the pagoda you visit and then return to town, we really didn't any tourist boats on the water after this stop.
Our next stop by the river was at Hon Chem Pagoda. This one we just took some pictures outside and moved on. We were the only 2 tourists there. We had purchased a combination ticket yesterday with the Imperial City and this pagoda was not included on the visit. There were quite a few woman trying to get money from us to set things free for good luck, birds, turtles, and fish. I felt bad for the birds, we did let 2 little birds free, not sure if these birds are trained to go home somewhere, but at least they had a little free flight. This is the first time we have seen this on our trip so far.
Our final stop by boat was Minh Mang Tomb. There were some beautiful Elephant and Horse statues here. There are 40 buildings here, some beautiful courtyards and a nice lake, lots to explore. We said goodbye to our boat driver here. He had a lot of things for sale on his boat, but we passed on that.
Eva's brother is our driver again, he is there waiting for us when we exit the Minh Mang Tomb grounds. We had more laughs at his expense again this morning, again Eva asks if he is a good driver. We said yes, but he was a very slow driver when we were leaving Da Nang, she said police are strict there with speed limit of 40KM, we told her people on bicycles were passing us. He was really slow until we got out of the city, back in his home city of Hue he is much more comfortable.
Our next Tomb we drive to Khai King Tomb, a much more recent tomb from the 1920's. 120 steps to climb, but it is a much smaller place to explore when we get to the top. A very impressive entrance of multi level staircases to get to the top. We both really found this tomb beautiful, lots of porcelain and glassware for decoration.
Our next tomb is Tu Duc Tomb, this area was really large with a nice lake and 50 buildings. By this time we are melting from the heat, it is 34 degrees and the sun is out. We were getting to the point of do we want to walk down this road to see what is there? It still was a good 45 minutes to walk around. They also had costumes for rent here so you could dress in period costume as well take pictures on a throne. We did not participate in this activity. I cannot imagine even trying to change clothes at this point.
On our way to Tu Duc Tomb we saw so many coloured incense shops on the side of the road, we asked our driver to stop for 2 minutes for Andre to take pictures on the way out. It really was beautiful. I looked from the comfort of the air conditioned car while Andre walked around a little. Andre said that it looked like they were purchasing the incense plain and then colouring them here. It was really pretty to see.
Our final stop was at a Garden House. I am not sure that we were where we should have gone. From what we understood this house was inherited by a princess and family that are now living in France and they sold it recently to someone from Hanoi. We paid a 50K entrance fee to come in, a young girl gave us a little introduction and a cup of tea. What is open to tourists is not a huge garden, but there were a lot of fruit trees, including a Jack Fruit tree which we had never seen before. I think there is a lot more to explore in this area of the city, but we were done anyway, time to call tourist stuff for the day.
Back in town and we hit Viettel store right across the street from our Homestay to add another 30 days to our sim card for the next couple of weeks that we will be in Vietnam. Something we could have done in Hanoi, but it is good to get it sorted. It is now 2:30, time for some more food, return to Hanh for some more local food. I try Nem Lui which is BBQ pork on a lemon grass skewer , they give you rice paper, lettuce, and pickled vegetables to make your own wraps and a peanut sauce to dip it in. Very good. Andre had a sampler dish of 5 different things, all were good. 3 beer, 1 sprite and our 2 meals approximately 20Cdn. It will be a light supper tonight.
Back to the room, desperate for showers and to get into some air-conditioning.
Time to move again, it is dark so has to be getting cooler, but we are wrong, it is still hot and humid. Walked along the river front again past the colored bridge and nearly to the next bridge. Not really hungry after such a big lunch, found a restaurant that had everything from Vietnamese to Mexican and Western food. Decided splitting a quesadilla would be perfect along with a mango shake and a couple of beer.
Ladies selling cards come around and I bought a few, they were less expensive here than in Hoi An.
We enjoyed our day so much today, maybe it was spending time on the river, which is always fun, maybe it was moving around to different places instead of just visiting one place like yesterday. A great day.
We got a few drops of rain on the walk home, first time we got rained on this trip so far
Tomorrow is a big moving day, we need to move out of Vietnam as our 30 days Visa is up and we need to leave the country and come back in on a new Visa. Next up Cambodia for a week.
Todays pictures
At the waterfront, many dragon boats waiting for customers
Our boat ride finished here and then our driver took over
Last stop: At a Garden House in Hue
Along the way, many places set up offering tables tonight since it is full moon
you guys are seeing amazing stuff. Rollande
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