Minh Mang

We had a very pleasant morning stroll along the river, enjoying the park with its statuary and ornate Tet decorations. There were lots of Vietnamese families out and about too and the atmosphere was relaxed and convivial. We enjoyed a local handicrafts place and an iced Vietnamese coffee. In the afternoon we’d booked a boat trip down the Perfume River without realising that we’d have a whole dragon boat to ourselves to be ferried about like royalty. It was particularly cool when we were the only boat to moor up at the overgrown steps leading up to the Minh Mang Mausoleum. The Mausoleum itself was pleasingly quiet – larger than the Tu Duc Mausoleum but further out of town and significantly more dilapidated, it had its own charm. On the way we stopped off at the beautiful Thien Mu Pagoda – climbing the steps to the graceful Pagoda itself and enjoying the bonsai garden in the courtyard behind, where an open garage holds the car that the monk Thich Quang Duc drove to Saigon before famously immolating himself - and on the way back we dropped in at the Hon Chen temple, in between we puttered peacefully over the water and Beck bought greetings cards from our hostess and petted the family dog. And as it was our last night in Hue we went back to the previous evening’s restaurant for another go…