The Indochina Adventure: The Tomb of Khải Định

The last tomb I visited during that day was that of Khải Định. This was an interesting emperor, and he also had an interesting tomb.

Khải Định was the 12th emperor of the Nguyen dynasty. He reigned from 1916 to 1925. Apparently, he was a homosexual, and rarely slept with his wives during his reign. He was unpopular, as he authorised the French to raise taxes on the Vietnamese peasants in order to fund his palatial tomb, the place I visited. Yes, this definitely is palatial.

Unlike the first two tombs I have visited, this one is considerably smaller. However, the setting nevertheless is spectacular, as the whole complex is situated on a mountain. One therefore needs to climb up in order to reach this place.

And the interior definitely is palatial. One can see European influences in the design, as this emperor has visited France, and saw things he liked during his visit. So of course those get incorporated into his tomb.

Eventually, I slowly made my way down. I have seen three tombs in the span of one day, and I figured that was enough. This was the last thing I saw in Huế. After this, I headed back to my hotel, and the next day, I took a car to go to Dong Hoi.