The monk, who was the venerable Thich Quang Duc, was based in this monastery and the car he used to drive himself into town to perform this awful protest can be seen in the background. That car, an Austin, is preserved as a relic to this day...
We spotted this mini-monk (probably about 10 or 12 years old) and it was explained to us that he is at the lowest level of six, and as he progresses up the ladder more of his hair will be shaved off until he is bald.
We then came across some monks preparing food in their kitchen...
...and one of them, who had really good English, came across and started chatting with us, asking us where we were from and how long we would be in Vietnam. We wish we could have spent more time talking with him, but for some reason our guide seemed keen to get away, so the conversation was cut short.
Leaving the monastery, we were driven to the citadel, which is an amazing walled city in the centre of Hue. We were lucky, because preparations are under way here for a major festival of arts, especially music and theatre, and the citadel is decked out with flags, lanterns and other decorations. The outer city walls are completely lined with brightly-coloured flags, as you can see...
Although a few buildings within the walls of the citadel are still standing, this is one more sad story about how Vietnam has been thoroughly abused by foreign invaders, and it was explained to us that in 1947, two years after Ho Chi Minh declared Vietnam independent of its French imperialist masters, the French air force paid Hue a visit and bombed the city heavily, causing huge destruction inside the citadel walls. Major reconstruction is under way, but they are desperately short of money, so progress is slow. The last king who lived here (he was deposed in 1945 by Ho Chi Minh) had 500 concubines, but the harem was one of the buildings destroyed by the French. Nowadays, tourism is an important source of money for the renovations, although we were not comfortable with every method being used to raise it. This elephant, with half of one tusk left, is 60 years old, and the poor blighter looked it as he trundled around carrying excited Chinese tourists...
One of the most startling examples of renovation was this golden dragon (only gold paint these days, as opposed to the pure gold of the original, slightly smaller dragon, which was probably scarfed off by the French, along with many other valuables from historic sites all over this country, according to our guide).
We finished our tour of Hue with a half-an-hour or so cyclo tour, which dropped us off at our hotel in time for a relaxing afternoon by the pool. We are at this moment waiting for a thunderstorm to blow over before we wander off into town to find refreshment! Off to Hanoi on an 8.40am flight tomorrow, so it's another 6am start!
Jen's bit: Our guide told us we would feel like a king and queen being pushed around the city in the cyclos (pic above), but it didn't really have that effect as I felt so sorry for the poor fellows pedalling for all they were worth. They seemed cheered by the tip though. Jx
Funny thing is that these days you can get a cycle 'rickshaw' in London, as well.
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