Danang/Hue/HoiAn 2025 - Hue Day Tour Mausoleum of Emperor Minh Mang (3/3)

To reach the 3rd section, we had to cross a bridge. I thought this was so symbolic, and so beautiful. It was like crossing into another world between the living and the dead. I like that concept very much. I also liked it that the other side wasn't something dark and gloomy, but opens up into a garden with pavilion on it.

Our tour guide told us that we could rest here, and those who wanted to go over another bridge to visit the tomb. Some of us choose to proceed, but some choose to remain here and rest.

The pavilion also have chinese characters on them, and it says here this is the "Bright Building", or "Building of Light". Again, it was nice that it shows brightness instead of dark. 

The clouds have cleared up by this time, and it was beautiful to see the blue skies at the back of the red pavilion, as well as the plants around it. From here, it looked just like any Chinese garden.

A look through from one of the doors of the pavilion. I like photos like this too. Is like you could walk through it into another different world.....

Anyway, my friend decided to stay behind while I went to visit the tomb. Making my way towards it, I first have to pass a more forest-y area. I love these tress with their roots or branches coming down. Are these bayan tress? There were other stone monuments here as well. 

Soon I saw the path that lead to the tomb. I forgot to mentioned that our tour guide also told us, that the emperor's tomb is always on a small hill. Perhaps to let them rest at a high ground so that they could look down on their people?

To get to the other side, you have to cross another bridge. But this bridge was slightly different from the previous ones. This one looked much more solemn, voided of all colours, and simpler in design. The usual Vietnamese royal gate sign could be found at the two ends of the bridge.

And at the end of it were stone steps leading up to a metal door. Yeah, you could walk up and peep through the hole if you want, but you can't go inside. The door is closed. No visitors allowed. Beyond the door, lays the emperor in eternal rest.

One of our group member from Australia was the first to go up and take a look. I followed next after he came down. I've come all this way to visit, how could I not pay my respect at the door?

A souvenir shot of me, drenched in rain, but happy, and at peace, standing in front of the tomb. I don't know how to describe it, but I like visiting these type of places. I find peace in such places. There is just something about such places that always draws me to them, no matter which country, which culture.

From the tomb side looking back, this is the view!

To go back to the land of the living...... This was probably the view of the Emperor as he rest in his tomb too. I think its quite a nice view.

Ok, time to walk back to join the others.

As I walked back, I see such a lovely scene, of blue skies opening up :) Yeah, it was a lovely visit here. My heart opens up to this place. Thank you for letting me visit.

Soon I reached the other side and rejoined the team. Together we slowly walked back to the main entrance where our bus/van would pick us up and drive us to the next royal mausoleum.

A lovely portal into a different world, a different vibe. Definitely world a visit! 

Danang/Hue/HoiAn 2025 - Hue Day Tour Mausoleum of Emperor Minh Mang (2/3)

Entering the hall for the Gods with the dark clouds looking gloomy above us. What a great day to visit mausoleums! It does add to the atmosphere. But best of all, there were hardly anyone else at this site, a UNESCO site too! 

Entering the temple-like structure, you are instantly greeted by the altar and the offering table. It was quite a wide area, with smaller altar along it. Clearly someone do upkeep this place, as the flowers were fresh and incense and candles were lighted. I love the tiled floorings. Something about the colour yellow in Vietnam really strikes you, perhaps a reminder of the French?

But as this is a prayer hall, everything was super bright red! Auspicious colour for the Gods and ancesters. 

Here is a different view, showing the multiple section of the altar. Visitors are not permitted to enter the place, but you could get closed enough to look inside.

One of my favourite photo, a local Vietnamese in traditional clothing with a hat stood there praying in front of the altar. The red doors were the entrance where one enters, and it looked so beautiful with the lights shinning in from them, reflecting on to the filed flooring. 

Hmmm, I can't remember if this is the next section, or the previous one.... lol. 

But what you can see inside here are the royal symbols, like the yellow coloured cloth here with two yellow/golden dragon. Just like in China, the colour yellow was reserved for the Emperor. 

Actually, everything looked very Chinese from here. The view of the gardens and the courtyard reflects the influence of the Chinese. 

In my fantasy, I would love to live in a country house with doors like these. Like those traditional Japanese houses where you could looked out, or even sit outside looking out to your garden. I thought it would feel so free and bright instead of having walls. 

And the corridors here were lovely as well. Very Japanese too! I think wood is such a nice building material when its well maintained and shines like this. 

This is actually what it looked like from outside. It looked rather old really. 

Here is another corridor shot. I like lights and darkness kind of photographs. 

Lastly, it was time to move on into the final section, the tomb of the emperor. 

Danang/Hue/HoiAn 2025 - Hue Day Tour Mausoleum of Emperor Minh Mang (1/3)

The clouds slowly started to clear as we drove closer to our destination. And when we finally got off the bus/van, it was just a slight drizzle. The floor was still wet, and the surrounding smells of rain. We were surrounded by greeneries though. There weren't any tourist around either, probably due to the heavy rain that just happened. I guess that's a good thing for us! 

We needed tickets to enter the grounds that lead to the mausoleum of Emperor Minh Mang, so our tour guide went to settle that for us. I think this is my very first time visiting a Vietnamese Emperor's mausoleum, so I wasn't exactly sure what to expect. But so far the walk in and the surrounding was so peaceful and green, it was very refreshing.

We still have to had our umbrella open as drops of water was still falling from the sky, probably from the leaves of the trees all around us. I didn't really minded. 

 

Soon we entered the ground of the mausoleum, and our tour guide told us that traditional tombs for the royals have three sections: the first hall for the ancestors and guardians, the second hall for prayers and the Gods, and the third would be the tomb of the Emperor itself. We were about to enter the first section.

The ground area was larger than I expected. There was a super large pond there as we walked past!

Soon we reached a courtyard, and surround it were stone statues of what looked like generals of the imperial courts. I take it that we were about to enter the first hall.

There was a gate with three doors facing what looked to be just a forest. Perhaps like some religion, doors needed to face a certain direction for the spirit to rest in peace? I really liked the gate, and took a few photos of it. It felt very mysterious and dark and solemn. There was just something spiritual about it, from the walk in through the trees and the wet path, to this courtyard surrounded by forest.

At the center of the courtyard, directly facing the gate, was a building that looked like a hall with stairs leading up to it. This was probably the 1st ancestral hall. 

Here is our group walking up to it, still carrying our umbrella. 

Inside was a giant stone tablet with words carved into it. Kinda like those ancient notice board I saw in Beijing. Perhaps on it were listed all the descendent of the deceased. That was actually basically it. It was an opened hall, so you could looked out from it as you stood there. 

This is the view when you looked back after climbing the stairs. The three door gates and the trees behind it looked so majestic in this weather. I love the ambiance of this place. And on the other side of the hall if you walked straight through it, was the 2nd hall for the Gods. You could tell cause it was red in colour, like a temple. The distance between the two hall was so wide! Perhaps this is to show the richness of the empire such that they could built such a tomb for their emperor?

Between the 1st and 2nd section, I still like the 1st better :)

Danang/Hue/HoiAn 2025 - Hue Day Tour Incense Shop and Hat Shop

 

After lunch, we took a slightly longer drive to our next stop. From the tour itinerary it stated as Incense and Hat village, so I thought we would really be visiting a small village just like when I was tracking in Sapa. Ends up, we were just stopping by a road side shop, probably situated near the village, that was selling hats and incense. I say it's near a village cause inside the shop ground itself I could see graves like those that are around the village I used to play at when I was staying with my aunt in Penang, lol.  Above is our van parked next to the shop. It started the rain while we reached. 

My idea of taking photos with a field of incense was sadly reduced to just instagram-able corner for photo taking. Initially I was also thinking of buying some incense to support the locals, but it cost around 5sgd a packet, which was kinda high for me! Plus, I couldn't really see the scent that I wanted, which I think was agarwood? So I ended up empty handed. 

They also sold it in such big bags! Maybe it's more for locals? 

The instagram-able corner I was telling you about. They do look nice, but too cheesy for me to take a photo with it. 

I mean, look at all those love pattern!

We couldn't leave the shop as it was a typical Vietnam heavy rain, types that flooded village! But it was really nice standing inside the shop looking out with these lovely lanterns, and the sound of the rain just outside. I was wondering if the rest of the tour would be cancelled cause I knew the last two stops on our tour were opened air area.....  

Here's a video of how heavy the rain was, and the water were actually just flowing along the road! But luckily, it did got slightly lighter, and our tour guide told us to jump into the van so that we can drive off and hope the rain stopped by the time we reached our next stop, which was 30 minutes drive away.

Danang/Hue/HoiAn 2025 - Hue Day Tour Vietnamese Lunch and Foot Massage

After getting back on our bus/van after exploring Dong Ba market, we were taken on a short drive slightly out of town, and into a residential area. Our guide told us that we were going to have lunch at the company's boss house, which also happens to be a homestay. Interesting indeed! There, we were served a three course lunch, and other interesting activities.  The meal of course featured some of Central Vietnam's famous dishes like the steamed rice cake we kept seeing during our hotel breakfast.

So let me start with the first course. The meals are included as part of the tour fees, but drinks are charged additionally if you want to order any. We were served a traditional tray, and slowly the rice cake snacks were placed before us. The difference between these and the ones we got from the hotel was, the ones served here were pipping hot, and that kinda makes all the difference. The rice cakes were also soft instead of those that were hard from the hotel buffet breakfast. I could see after eating them here why the locals would love them. They were pretty nice and savoury. Of course the ones wrapped in banana leaves were the nicest and most fragrant.

Next we were served Vietnamese spring rolls. Before coming to Vietnam, I always thought spring rolls were just like those I ate in my hometown. I thought all spring rolls were Chinese spring rolls except the fillings are different. It was not until I visited Sapa and wondered into local markets that I finally understood that Vietnamese spring rolls are very different. For a start, most were wrapped in rice paper and fried, while some are not. Chinese spring rolls are always fried. And the fillings inside are also different. And the fish dipping sauce that it garlicky and vinegary was so lovely too!

Lastly, we were served the famous Bun Bo Hue along with a pile of raw vegetables each. I finished mine up, but I thought Madam Thu's version was a lot nicer. This one was a lot more local, and the taste was lighter and noodles raw-er.

After we finished eating, a lady came around and offered us in dessert in the most unique way. She carries a bouquet of flowers, and sticks of candied fruits. The fruits are traditional dessert made of mung beans, and we actually got to try our hands at making them later on!

While we were having dessert, the foot bath area was being prepared for us! I was amazed. I mean, when I saw lunch was included in the tour, that was value for money enough for me! But the lunch experience we got here was really over the top!

Yes, we were all given a foot bath. A foot bath here just meant a herbal hot water soak for your feet in a wooden bucket. To be honest I was a bit worried over hygiene of such foot bath. But since nobody seems to care, I also went along with it and hope that my foot skin are strong enough to protect me from whatever germs that might be swimming in those water or bucket! 

While soaking our feet we also got to try making those fruit candies from mung beans, and get to paint them in fruit colours.... I wish the two activies could be done separately, cause I wanted to relax and enjoy my foot bath, but making those candies were kinda stressful! It's like making Japanese wagashi, but easier since we have to finish them before our water gets cold. Lastly we were served a very nice soothing tea before our feet got wipe dry. Just for the experience we got during this lunch hour alone really blew my mind, and i would give a 5 out of 5 star for this tour without a doubt!