Mar 252017
 

I think every staircase, and there are many of them, in the Chinese emperors’ Forbidden Purple City in the heart of Hue, Vietnam is flanked by dragon’s like this one. In fact, if you look into the background of this picture, and squint a bit, you’ll see four more examples in the building across the way.

twin dragons on either side of stairs in front of a metal caldron tripod with three feet in forbidden purple city hue long buildig in background with blue partly cloudy sky

Mar 132017
 

This impressive archway leads the way to Tu Duc’s tomb just outside of Hue Vietnam. His mausoleum is actually more like a large park. There’s a number of similar mausoleums dotted about the countryside in this area.

tu-duc-mausoleum-arch-hue-vietnam-antiquity-ancient

Nov 252015
 

This temple is located in the Forbidden Purple City in Hue, Vietnam. You weren’t supposed to take photos inside the buildings.  I bent the rules a bit by setting up my tripod just outside the door. I had a scary moment when, after deciding the doors needed to be symmetrical, I closed one slightly and felt like it was about to come off in my hand!

I keep thinking that I need to go back to Vietnam. I may need to make a return trip next year.

inside-temple-in-hue-forbidden-purple-city-vietnam

 

Jan 102015
 

This is a giant replica of one of the emperor’s seals. It’s on display in the Forbidden Purple City in Hue. They had a number of regular sized replicas on display in a side room. I didn’t feel as compelled to photograph them.

giant replica of the emperors golden seal on display in the forbidden purple city

 

Jan 032015
 

So I mentioned that I’d been to Vietnam last year but didn’t say much more about it. It was an amazing trip and I already want to go back. We started our trip down South in Ho Chi Minh City (formally, and still to some extent, Saigon). From there we spent a couple of nights in the Mekong Delta, before heading North towards Hanoi. On the way there we stopped off in Hoi An for the full moon festival, Hue for the imperial city, and Phong Nha for the caves and national park. Up in the North we split our time between Hanoi, Cat Ba Island and Sa Pa. As a result, I have a lot of photos to get through and share with you.

Today’s photo is from the Purple Forbidden City, which is located inside the imperial city in Hue. It’s a huge complex modeled on the Chinese Forbidden City.

panorama view of the gardens and dragon statues of the forbidden purple city in Hue, Vietnam.