Up the Perfumed River

Wednesday March 3rd

Guide met us at hotel at 08:00 and walked to dragon boat on river. Sailed up Perfumed River to Thien Mu pagoda, a very pretty spot. On the way stopped to watch martial arts display. Amazing how often someone with just a bamboo stick can defeat another armed with two swords. This metaphor set the tone of the day as the guide, who was very knowledgeable and had good English, described most historical events in terms of the superiority of communism over feudalism and by analogy imperialism and capitalism. Weather very hot, about 37 or 38C and quite humid. On to a small temple dedicated to women, then a very nice lunch on board.

After lunch we cruised to the tomb of Minh Mang, an impressive mausoleum complex for a Nguyen dynasty emperor. Here we left the boat and boarded a (thankfully) air conditioned coach which drove to the tomb of Khai Dinh. This was exceptional as all the decoration to this concrete mausoleum was bas-relief mosaics made from fragments of ceramic items (plates, cups, even spoons) carefully cut and ground to shape.

Then onwards via a village where we watched joss sticks and conical hats being made, to the final tomb of Tu Duc. This was a cross between a mausoleum complex and a hunting lodge and quite an atmospheric place. Then back to Hue arriving at about 17:30.