Today I went down to the railway station to make sure I got my ticket for the train down to Danang, buying the ticket was really easy. After that I took a taxi down to the Thien Mu pagoda, about 3km outside the city on the Perfume river, the taxi cost 40k VND ( aprox. $3 ). The pagoda was Ok, but the surrounding gardens were great; there are monks living there, so I got to see them going about their daily life. There is a buddist temple and the gardens have a really relaxing feel to them. From the pagoda you can see the Perfume river. Within the grounds is the Austin car which Thick Quang Duc, a Buddhist monk drove to Saigon in 1963. On arrival in Saigon, he burned himself to death in protest of the South Vietnamese Presidents policies.
After this I took a taxi back to the forbidden city and spent about 5 hours walking around. I discovered even more "mansions" some restored and some deralict. The Vietnam government is restoring them over time but money is a problem. It was great to be able to just walk around wherever I wanted, although there are some "showcase" buildings which have attendants, for me the best bits were just the kitchen gardens and wandering around the grounds of some of the less restored areas.
In the evening I eat in an Indian restaurant which is listed in Lonely Planet, it was a great meal.
