Our day started off with a bit of an early start in comparison to the usual 8:00 am wake up in Hoi An. Although, as per usual we ate a delicious breakfast with a range of delicacies from Vietnamese fried rice, to Western pancakes. It was really quite a feast. After being fuelled up we were enthusiastic for the bike ride to our first destination which was very Royal; The imperial palace.
We had a wander around the palace, learning about the interesting ways of how the royal family lived. We found it riveting, overwhelmed by the amount of Chinese and Japanese influence. We explored the grounds, finding gold dragon statues, and a very uncomfortable gold plated throne for his majesty. It wasn’t surprising that the King only spent his time in that particular chair for special events and ceremonies! An interesting fact which we learnt today was: The intricate security system made up of thousands of security guards and lock mechanisms, helping the King stay safe from harm. We also learned that the longest ruler was Nguyen IV who ruled for 36 years. We left the royal palace 20 minutes late due to our interest in the information which our great tour guide, Hai, gave us.
We made our way to the Thien Mu pagoda. The bike ride – although long and tiring – was very scenic as we travelled through a village called Kim Long (meaning Golden Dragon, where many of the royal family reside) and rice fields; which gave a large contrast from the scary bike ride along the heavily occupied main roads. When we arrived at the pagoda we were treated with ice cream which helped cool us down and boosted our energy levels for our ride to the next pagoda.
After yet another bike ride we made it to lunch at the pagoda. We ate many vegan dishes ranging from potato curry to tofu soup in effort to respect the lifestyle of the monks. Speaking of monks we went to visit one after our delicious lunch. After translating conversation we learned the guidelines, rules, and regulations which monks had to obey by.
- They had to receive permission from the monk master to go to the supermarket, visit their family, and leave the pagoda
- They are not allowed to lie, steal, get married, have sexual relations, smoke, or drink alcohol
- They pray at 4:00am and 4:00pm every day
- They also must complete an hour of silence every day
- They wake up at 3:00 am and go to bed at 10:30 pm
- They must study Buddhism
We then returned back to our hotel after a short city ride followed by a fun pool session. We then were given time to get ready for dinner, which ranged from Mexican to Italian. We ended the fantastic day with some fun card games. Tomorrow we will farewell Hue as we travel overnight on the Reunification Express to our last stop: Hanoi.
We all look forward to seeing everyone back in Australia! Missing you lots!
Bella, Garrett, and Siobhan