Do You Know the Way to Hue? - April 15

The Way to Hue

We docked today at Chan May, the port for Da Nang. However, our tour destination was Hue, an hour and a half inland. One of the highlights of the tour, for me, was the bus ride itself. We saw some of the beauty of Vietnam in the rice paddies and mountains. But we also saw some of the distress and dysfunction.

As we drove past fields and houses we saw graves and cemeteries everywhere. Some were just single tombs, some looked abandoned, some looked cared for. Most were in the Chinese style, a few were Christian. Most were above-ground, some were in circular mounds. Some were close to houses, some were in a field. 

We took Highway 1, the main road between Saigon and Hanoi. It was never more than 4 lanes wide, with businesses close to the edge of the road on either side. It reminded me of US 1 on the East Coast as we passed through congested commercial areas.

One difference was that most of the businesses had a house right behind them belonging to the owners of the business. Some houses looked quite nice, and some were shabby, in disrepair, or just one-room shacks. One could be right next to another - it didn't matter. Zoning, platting, land use planning, highway design: who ever heard of these things here? 

We shared the road with lots of motorcycles, bicycles and who knows what. Most of them drove like daredevils. So did our busdriver. So did all vehicles, really.

Linh, our guide, said property right next to the road is more valuable than property away from the road. In general, Linh was an okay guide, but she could have given us much more information, and she really checked out on the trip back to the port and said nothing. It was hard to get her to answer questions.

We passed many, many temples of various sizes and degrees of elaborateness. There seemed to be one every block or two. Even in areas where all the houses were poor, the temple usually looked lavish and well-maintained. Reminded me of Central America and its opulent Catholic churches, supported by hard-working, desperately poor peasants.

A lot of my information in this post is going to be vague or incorrect because 

1) I was almost brain-dead from heatstroke

2) I was overloaded with facts 

3) I couldn't understand Linh

It was brutally hot. The forecast was for 95 and it was probably even hotter when we got inland. And the humidity!

The Happy Room

Eventually we turned off Highway one and drove down some narrow roads towards our (eagerly anticipated) first scheduled stop at the "happy room." Linh told us we were in an incense-making village and would have 15 minutes here to shop and use the restroom. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but surely not a tiny, dusty village with 10 shops and 12 houses. Three or four buses were already there, on the other side of the street. Our bus stopped on the opposite side. I got off and headed across the street to a side street or driveway where tourists were walking around, thinking that must be the direction of the restroom. Then Linh told me to come back across the street. She spoke to someone in the shop next to the bus and led us around behind the shop to the back of the shopwner's house. It was pretty grim back there. A few rags, a broom, some random junk, a chicken coop. The back door was ajar, and I thought it must be the back door to the shop. One woman went in, and soon came out saying she didn't think she would be able to get up again. I thought to myself, "It's now or never" and went through the door. I then realized I was in the family's house. A young woman came rushing up and handed me a box of tissues, so I decided I'd try it. I went into a small room and couldn't close the door all the way. There was an Asian style toilet there. It was a porcelain thing about 6 inches off the floor. You are supposed to squat over it. I think the first woman thought you were supposed to sit on it. (It would have been hard to get up in that case.) I couldn't figure out how to flush it, but I was hearing impatient noise from outside so I just went out and apologized to the next woman in line. Fortunately, I had a bottle of hand sanitizer hanging from my purse. I was just starting to fish out my camera for a few photos of this back door experience when Linh came rushing around from the front telling us the bus was leaving and we all had to go back right away. So much for 15 minutes. More like three.

I felt like I needed to buy something from the homeowner/shop owner as a quid pro quo for using their bathroom. I started to make a deal for a fan but was being rushed to get back on the bus. I had almost reached an agreement for a fan and a package of incense for $4. But I really didn't get to pick out what I wanted. After I got back on the bus it turned out we were still waiting for people so I passed her money through the door and she gave me the merchandise (probably worth no more than $2). But I was ok with that. I would not let a stranger use my bathroom for less than $2. But I got the bait and switch. I got the cheap incense with no color and now smell, and I got the cheap floor model fan. It really didn't even work, and if ever I needed a fan, this was the day. There were some nice paper fans that kicked up quite a breeze, but my fan was made from thin wood slats, decorated with all sorts of holes. The holes significantly reduced the effectiveness of the fan. I am going to throw it away.

Incense for sale

Making incense

Not Your Average Tomb

Tu Duc was the longest reigning emperor of the Nguyen Dynasty. Between 1864 and 1883 his tomb was built along the Perfume River. While alive Tu Duc used it as a retreat. When we arrived I thought the tomb would be inside this building with a yellow roof.

That building turned out to be the entrance to this plaza. I thought maybe the tomb would be inside the building on the far side.

On the other side of that was another plaza and another building (which turned out to be the palace, not the tomb).

The Royal Throne

Not sure what this is, A palanquin? A sedan chair? I really like the parasols.

OK, this one is behind the palace. It must house the tomb, right?

Nope. It just leads through to this ornate tower, where the tomb will be.

Wrong. You have to walk through some gardens and go through this lovely gate.

And finally, here it is! The tomb! 

Only, Tu Duc isn't buried here. Nobody knows where he is buried. It's a secret to prevent grave robbers from grabbing his gold.

Hat Craft Village

Back to the Incense Village, also known as the Hat Craft Village. This time we had official shopping time and the bus dropped us off on the correct side of the street. I assume that is the side where somebody paid somebody so we would be dropped off there.

I have heard that the conical hats can be purchased for between $5 and 50 cents, so someone who makes them can't possibly make very much money. As with everything else, the hats are made entirely by hand.

 

I felt like the least I cold do was to buy something from this side of the street, since I had already bought a fan and incense from the other side of the street. I ended up with a set of placemats. Something I could actually use at home, and something that would travel well.

Upon leaving the village we drove on narrow roads past farmhouses and other small villages for at least half an hour before getting to a highway.

Lunch and the Theft of Air

We had lunch at a hotel called Pomelo. Somehow, all the other buses arrived there at the same time, or so it seemed. I believe there were around 10 buses from our tour and probably 10 from another tour, so they could not have all been there at once. Our buffet lunch was all Vietnamese foods. It was good, but not as good as the lunch we had in Vung Tau. There was Pho, but it was too hot for me to eat a hot soup. There were spring rolls and Vietnamese pancakes, and curries and satays, and lots of fruits and desserts. The local beer was called Huda, and it was light, the way I like it.

Look! Clay ovens on the buffet line!

For some reason our bus was assigned to a part of the restaurant that did not have air conditioning. We were also way on the end and we couldn't see the folkloric dancers and could barely hear the musicians. I was okay with that because I was too hot to care. I was too hot to get up and go see if the other part of the banquet hall really did have air conditioning. I found a seat near a fan and that was all I could manage. I did not adjust the fan. I just sat where it blew as it oscillated. So, of course, someone came along and stole our air. She just walked over and turned the fan around and pointed it at her table without a by-your leave. This is how wars get started. She could have asked if we would share it with her table, and we would have. But the craziest part is that she wore a sweater all day long. Never took it off.

A Little Afternoon Pagoda

After a short ride on our pleasant air-conditioned bus, we were informed that we would have to get off to see a pagoda. There was some resistance to this idea, but nobody wanted to be the first to wimp out.

This was the Thien Mu Pagoda, built in 1601. It was part of a large complex with monks, and big gongs, and gardens, and stone carvings and bonsai gardens. 

I still don't have a good handle on the religions in Vietnam. A pagoda is a Buddhist temple. Buddhists are 20% of the population. In Bali, temples were Hindu. In Vietnam, I think temples are not necessarily Buddhist but more of a combination of different religious beliefs. A lot of people have little tiny temples in front of their houses. They look like big fancy mailboxes.

Are We in China Yet?

The temples look extremely Chinese to my non-expert eyes. They even have Chinese writing on them. The Vietnamese used to use Chinese characters for their writing until 17?? When a missionary "invented" a Latin alphabet for Vietnam. In the Tu Duc Royal Tomb complex, I felt like I was in China. The graves looked Chinese. There were pictures of dragons everywhere. (The upcoming Imperial Citadel would capture even more of the look and feel of China.) 

Dragon boat on the Perfume River

I tried to understand the history and puzzle out whether the Chinese imposed their culture on Vietnam at one time, or whether the Vietnamese wanted to imitate China. Linh did not seem willing or able to answer my questions.

More Later - the last and most spectacular part of the tour - the Imperial Citadel, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

 Home to the imperial family (Nguyen) from early 1800s to 1945

1300 acres

Moat, 3 circles of ramparts

Imperial Citadel - citadel, palace, Forbidden City, until 1945

Champa Kingdom from 2nd to 17th century

UNESCO