A Second Visit to the Đồng Văn Palace

Group being shown Palace. Chị Vương Thị Chờ (in yellow) is the great granddaughter of a former H'Mong king, who lived here, now she shows visitors around the Đồng Văn Palace Go to another site. Steps to entrance. Shrubs lining the entrance to the Palace This page continues the visit to the Palace which was started a couple of pages previously. Some additional shots of the outer buildings are added and the great-granddaughter of the king, chị Vương Thị Chờ - roughly Mrs Cho Thi Vuong, is introduced. Main door to Palace. The main entrance - a little neglected Wall gate and porch. The main entrance gateway Gate porch roof. A roof covers the main gateway through the wall that surrounds the Palace Wall doors and steps. The doors of the entrance Left plaque on main door. The left-hand plaque Visitors going in the main door. The main doors have a plaque on each side, but sadly I did not make a note of what they say - they appear to be formal declarations written in Chinese rather than the native Nôm Right plaque main door. The right-hand plaque Left-hand door foot. The left-hand door foot Bottom rail of entrance door. Commonly doors in Vietnamese public buildings have a solid lower rails across the base - here supported by two carved blocks Right-hand door foot. The right-hand door foot Vuong Cho and children by steps Mrs Vương introduces a school party to the Palace at the entrance telling them of the way the king lived from the money made in the opium trade,... Vuong Cho and children. ... his ambiguous position vis-a-vie the French occupiers, and his eventual help in the resistance to that occupation. A honed history aimed at healing divisions rather than excavating truth Vuong Cho and photo of grandfather. Photographs of the royal family.

In an inner room of the Palace, Mrs Voung tells us about the photographs of her ancestors. The photograph over her left shoulder shows her grandfather standing behind his mother, the king's second wife. She explains his complex family with his three wives and the various branches of the family that followed from that date.
Grandfather and his parents. Front steps of the main entrance. The main entrance to the Palace The tour of the three small courtyards does not take many minutes, and the history is all very recent, virtually within living memory, but having a member of the family to explain the political niceties of the opium dealing king supported by the French to act as a buffer against China, where he earnt his money, makes it all rather special. Group seen through doorway. Inner courtyard with the family rooms around Middle courtyard. The middle courtyard Plan of buildings. A plan of the buildings Screens at the main courtyard. Screens on the main doorway Roofs and bath in courtyard. One of the king's wife's bath, reputed to be filled for her with goat's milk, although presumably not in the courtyard The queen's bath. The inner courtyard where the bath is displayed Gun room. Gun room Corner tower. Corner tower from the courtyard Guns in gunrack. Gunrack Corner tower and roof. Tower and roof tops Stairs up into the tower. Stair up into the tower Window in the tower. Window in tower Palace rooftops The Palace roofs The next page goes to some very different buildings, those in the High Street of Kirkcudbright, many of which date from the eighteenth century. The Tolbooth. line
Saturday 24th December 2016 Murphy on duty
While travelling these pages are produced using a Microsoft system.
Colour consistency and quality is sadly much diminished until my return to my Mac.

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