DAY TRIPS - Royal Tombs

Before planning your day to the tombs, read TOMB-HOPPING 101.

TU DUC’S TOMB

Tu Duc’s so-called ‘Tomb of Modesty’ is easily Hue’s most impressive – largely because of how grandiose and immodest it is. Set around a lotus-covered lake with pine trees and frangipani, there’s much to see in this gorgeous spot – more than you can fit in the half hour tours tend to allow.

Tu Duc, like all emperors, started working on this tomb well before his days were done – in fact he spent much time living here, writing poems while more-pressing matters were left unattended to.

Walking in to the site, you’ll see Luu Khiem Lake to the right, with a boating pavilion down from the steps and just beyond the creaky-floored Xung Khiem Pavilion, an all-wood building where Tu Duc would write poems. If you’re in a hurry, head up the tall steps to the left to glimpse at Hoa Khiem Temple, where Tu Duc used to sleep on visits.

Most impressive is the area around the tomb itself, which is reached by the heading down the steps and following the end of the lake back (to the north). Here you’ll see the Honor Courtyard, with facing-off statues backed by the tall Stele Pavilion with a mammoth 20-tonne stele supposedly written by Tu Duc. His actual tomb is just behind – past a small pond and surrounded by a wall.

On the far side of the lake – nearly lost in the trees – are tombs for (going in clockwise direction) Empress Hoang Le Thien Anh and Tu Duc’s adopted son Kien Phuc.

Unhappy Times of the Poem King
Tu Duc wasn’t the best emperor of all time. Some even blame the doom of the dynasty on his 36-year (and longest) reign. His father, Emperor Thieu Tri, picked Tu Duc over his older brother to inherit the throne, leading to a couple coup attempts by his brother (Hong Bao), who eventually hanged himself in prison (others say Tu Duc had him offed). While at work on this tomb, overworked soldiers rioted – with the aid of Hong Bao’s son – and nearly toppled Tu Duc’s reign. After its failure, Tu Duc’s nephew was executed.

In general, Tu Duc was more fond of writing poems — he was known as the ‘poem king’ – than attending to actual affairs of Vietnam or global politics.

It’s not known how persistently he tried for offspring – he may have been sterile following smallpox as a child – but he and his 102 wives and concubines never produced a child. Tu Duc did adopt three sons, which didn’t lead to happy reigns either. One son Kien Phuc died after seven months in power. Another, Duc Duc, was thrown into prison after three days in power – the crime censoring the reading of his father’s will, which blasted the son for his ‘bad manners’ and fondness of ‘sexual activities.’ He died after a month in prison.

Basics
The tomb is 5km south of Hue, and the boat dock is 1km away. If coming on a boat trip, a motorcycle taxi herd will greet you to take you for about US$1.

Admission 55,000D, or US$3.50; open 7am-5pm daily

KHAI DINH’S TOMB

Suitably grandiose for a king known as a bit of a dandy, the hilltop tomb of Khai Dinh (1916-25) is a manageable site with a shock-to-the-system tomb that can out-glitter Versailles, as it was intended to. The site is smaller than most, with elephant and mandarin statues, then a covered stele, before the main building four sets of steps above. Inside the highly decorated golden tomb are dizzingly flamboyant mosaics, with walls decorated to reflect the seasons. The next room has an exhibit of silk robes and royal dishes to see. You can walk around the back of the building, where – when I visited in July 2007 – a broken window allowed you to peek into his altar room too. Most people need just 20 or 30 minutes to see the site.

Khai Dinh, who is rumored to wear Christmas lights on his robe, spent his disastrous nine years having fancy palaces built and ignoring the outside world. He only became emperor after the French colonial authorities sought a more submissive leader than his older brothers, Thanh Thai and Duy Tan (both exiled). A year after Khai Dinh’s very elaborate ‘Longetivity Ceremony’ was held (taking up the court’s full annual budget, plus tax money from local peasants to finance), he died at 41, supposedly addicted to drugs. His is the last of the Nguyen Dynasty tombs. The next emperor (and Khai Dinh’s only child), Bao Dai, was the last, who died in exile in France in 1997.

The tomb is in Chau Chu village, 10km south of Hue and a couple kilometers from the boat dock.

Admission 55,000D, or US$3.50; open 6.30am-7.30pm

MINH MANG’S TOMB

Mere mention of ‘Minh Mang’ is a little like saying ‘Viagra’ to an old codger – you usually get a wink or a grin. The infamous second Nguyen – Minh Mang – held the throne from 1820 to 1840, and is known for fathering many great architectural efforts, but also for fathering 142 children from his 33 wives and 107 concubines. His tomb here, near the southern banks of the Perfume River, is a nice complex of pavilions on a lake that takes up 15 hectares. The principal attraction is the red, green and gold Sung An Temple, atop terraced steps. The closed-off tomb hill – where the father of many rests for eternity – is past a second small lake, on which you can sit in the shade and have ice cream. Much has been restored, but it’s easily amongst the top-three tombs.

The tomb is near An Bang village, across the new Hwy 1 bridge, about 12km south of Hue.

Admission 55,000D, or US$3.50; open 7am-7pm daily

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