[TRAVELS] Bao Dai Summer Palace @ Dalat City, Vietnam
Earlier in late March this year, Ha and Le brought me to Dalat City as it is a beautiful and cooling city up in the mountains, just like Genting Highlands that many Singaporeans love going to. The day after we arrived at Dalat, Ha brought me to Bao Dai Summer Palace after our breakfast and trip to Lamg Biang Mountain.
Bao Dai Summer Palace / Dinh Bảo Đại Đà Lạt
số, 1 Triệu Việt Vương, Phường 4, Dalat, Lâm Đồng, Vietnam
There are two palaces before King Bao Dai, the last king of the Nguyen dynasty, built the third palace, Bao Dai Summer Palace also known as Dinh III. However, the third palace is King Bao Dai’s favourite retreat since it is in the middle of a pine forest and thus, it is çurrently the most well-preserved for tourist attraction. It was designed by both French and Vietnamese architects. As you can see from the pictures above, the palace is painted in yellow to signify royalty.
Before we entered the palace, we had to put on blue plastic on our legs to further preserve the floors of the palace. The pictures shown above depict the conference room, which is used to organize conferences or banquets for the royal family. In the last picture above, you will be able to see two paintings. Painted by an indigineous artist of DakLak, the first painting portrays the forests and mountains of Western Highland. The second painting was painted by a group of Vietnamese students who studied in France and gave to King Bao Dai during his birthday in 1952. It shows a map of Vietnam seggregated between the north, center and south of Vietnam.
The dining room of the prince and princesses is as shown above. The four chairs surrounding the table is meant for princess Phuong Dung, Phuong Mai, Phuong Lien and prince Bao Thang. The Crown-prince Bao Long had meals with his parents at the main dining room because he was supposed to be the successor to the throne.
At the second storey, there are many bedrooms for the royal family. Princess Phuong Lien and Prince Bao Thang used to live in the room shown above when they were children. However, Queen Nam Phuong brought them to France for further studies in 1949.
Princess Phuong Dung and Phuong Mai used to spend their holidays in the bedroom decorated in elegant tiffany blue as seen above. Just for the record, all three princesses married foreigners.
Since Prince Bao Long was the eldest son of King Bao Dai, he held the inheritable throne and thus, his room is decorated in yellow colour to symbolize that. Prince Bao Long stayed in the palace while studying in AD-RAN school of Dalat at the age of 14. He then went to France to study in the French National Military Academy, where he was appointed as captain and went to Algieria to complete his missions. After King Bao Dai was the Chief of State, prince Bao Long was appointed as the lieutenant-colonel of honour. Prince Bao Long lived until his 70s and died on the 28th of July 2007.
Queen Nam Phuong has a huge room as depicted above. She was borned in 1915 and originated from Go Cong of the Tien Giang province. She is the daughter of a rich landowner named Nguyen Huu Hao. One of her father’s villa was confiscated by the Vietnamese government in 1957 and is now known as Lam Dong Museum, which is another tourist attraction in Dalat as well. During the queen’s younger days, She was Miss Beauty for many consecutive years. Unfortunately, she separated from her husband in 1955 and died in 1963 due to cancer.
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The family living room is where King Bao Dai and his family spent quality time together after dinner. There is a seating arrangement for the royal family though. The sofa is meant for the king and queen to sit on. The two armed chairs are for the two princes, while the three remaining non-armed chairs are for the three princesses. See how males are highly favoured in Asia?
King Bao Dai had the luxury to either have tea or play Chinese chess and cards in his relaxation room. The two silk hammocks are reserved for the King and Queen to relax on as well.
King Bao Dai was the son of King Khai Dinh. He had a room with balcony called the Moon-Watching Balcony to watch the moon with his queen. However, when Queen Nam Phuong moved to France in 1949, he stayed with Concubine Mong Diep in Dalat. After the Geneva Convetion in 1954, he stayed with his French wife in Paris. King Bao Dai had a luxruious life until the age of 85 and died in 1997.
The study and storage room for King Bao Dai is as above. Just look at how antique these items are!
The Vietnamese used the opportunity to input adorable items at the backyard of the palace in order to earn money from tourists who wants to take pictures with these items.
It is a joy to be able to find out a little on the Vietnamese history, how the Frence influenced this royal family and the way they lived.
