Zen

Woke up to the same inclement weather today, but decided to take a zen approach to sightseeing and learn from yesterday's mistakes.  I had the hotel receptionist get a quote from a taxi for a trip to two tombs and a pagoda, and happily agreed to the $19 quote.  Most importantly, the hotel had crazy glue which I liberally applied to the sole of my shoe.  The morning rain gave way to a drizzle and the wind was at a minimum.  First stop, tomb of Khai Dinh, the penultimate Nguyen Emperor who died in 1925.  Built on a wooded mountainside, the spring growth was wet with rain.  Only a handful of tourists.  I breathed in tranquility in various shades of gray and green.  At the summit, moss covered stone  gave way to an ornate interior mausoleum housing a bronze bust of the emperor.  Khai Dinh's tomb was modest relative to the thirty acre sepulchre erected in a pine forest for Tu Doc who became emperor in 1838 when he was only twenty.  A staunch Confuctianist who oppressed all foreigners in Vietnam, Tu Doc brought much conflict to his people.  However, he often found solitude and pleasure at his burial place, which he designed and had built nineteen years before he died.  I was unprepared for the breathtaking grounds and understated structures.  I spent over two hours walking in the mist marveling at the architecture.  Possibly one of my best mornings in Vietnam.  Icing on the cake, my taxi driver didn't over charge me AND the sole of my shoe stayed intact.