Located on the Ha Khe Hill on the northern bank of the Perfume River is the site where, according to legends, an old lady appeared to the locals and foretold that one day a lord will build a pagoda on this hill that will bring peace to the land. Upon hearing the story, one of the Nguyen Lords fulfilled the prophecy and erected the Thien Mu Pagoda.
This was the second part of my Imperial City tour and one of the highlights of my Vietnam trip. If Eiffel is to Paris, Thien Mu is to Hue. This iconic structure is the unofficial symbol of the city with so much history; it witnessed the fall of the Nguyen Dynasty.
After some time walking around the temple to take picture and bask in history, we then proceeded to the buffet restaurant for lunch before heading to the Nguyen Imperial Tombs.
We visited three tombs starting with the farthest from the city, Emperor Minh Mang's. I don't know much about him other than the fact that he's the Nguyen Emperor who fathered 142 kids and had 500 wives, probably the reason why there are so many Vietnamese Nguyens today hahaha!
It is said that over 10,000 workers helped construct Minh Mang's huge tomb complex. I also learned that only those who died as Emperors can have Imperial Tombs and former Emperors don't have the right to build such. So I guess it's better to die while on the throne than to die after relinquishing the throne? Hahaha!
How extra is this place?! Hahaha!
The tomb of Emperor Khai Dinh was our 2nd stop, the controversial pro-French emperor which explains his Western-inspired tomb.
Records say he loved working with the French government and the people didn't like it. Our guide says he was like the Lady Gaga of Emperors who wore "weird" clothing that had flashy rhinestones on them. He was also not interested in having sex with his wife which made people doubt his sexuality, there's nothing wrong with being gay though! One thing's for sure though, his tomb is fab af.
Lastly, we visited the Tomb of Tu Duc aka the longest reigning monarch of the Nguyen Dynasty who had many wives and concubines but couldn't father a child, no thanks to the smallpox that made him sterile.
His tomb is actually my favorite among the three mainly because of the beautiful temple by the pond. Just like Minh Mang's, this also has multiple sections and probably just as huge. However all of this is just for formality because the Emperor is secretly buried somewhere in the city, I don't know why. It's so secret that the 200 people that buried him were beheaded to keep it that way and even up to this day, no one knows where his hidden grave is.
Do you have to volunteer to bury the emperor and get behead? It sounds more like a volun-told type of thing 😆
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