King Dinh and King Le Temples

We are on our way to the Ninh Binh Province which will take about 2 hours in the bus.

Ninh Binh Province is located in northern Vietnam, about 100km south of Hanoi. It has hundreds of limestone cliffs emerging from the ground scattered across the rice fields giving the nickname of “Halong Bay inland”.

First we visited the King Dinh and Ling Le temples.

King Dinh Temple was built in the shape of a Chinese character. Through the first entrance called Ngo Mon, there is a stone royal bed with Nghe standing on both sides. Inside the temple is Khai Thanh in worship of Emperor Dinh's parents.The temple consists of three parts Bai Duong for the community, Thien Huong in honour of mandarins, and Chinh Cung where Dinh Tien Hoang's statue is located.

On his left is the statue of his eldest son Dinh Lien, and on his right are those of Dinh Hang Lang and Dinh Toan. On each side of the altar, there is one stone dragon similar to the ones placed near the royal bed.

King Le Temple is almost the same as Dinh Temple in term of architectural design, except for some details. Le's Temple also consists of three parts Bai Duong used for the community, Thien Huong, in memory of the royal mandarins of King Le, and finally, the altar in memory of the King. The Le Hoan Statue is at the centre, on the left is the statue of Queen Duong Van Nga and on his right is that of Le Ngoa Trieu, his fifth son and the third King of the Pre Le Dynasty.

It is a shame that it was raining as the area is very pretty and warranted a walk around to take in the gardens and the ponds scattered in and around the Temples.Read more