Today was a city tour, which was more of a war sites in Hue tour followed by some nature seeing. Our guide was hilarious. We toured with the same company as the day before, but Trung was busy. We had "Matt", a translator for the Marines from 1966-73, and my driver, Boon. We took motor bikes (scooters), which was 99% of the preferred transportation in the city. Drivers obey the stop lights, and that was it. But it was very fun and a fun way to travel :)
The first stop was the Pagoda, a Buddhist monument built in 1601. The people saw a silver haired fairy, with blue pants and a red robe come down from the sky. They were frightened, but the fairy said she was from heaven. They built the pagoda in her memory. There was an old blue car on display. In 1963, one of the Buddhist monks locked himself inside, parked in from of the pagoda, and light the car on fire, killing himself in the name of bringing religious freedom to Vietnam. there were little monks-in-trainings, boys in Blue robes (compared to the light orange ones the older men wore). The monks have shaved heads, however the trainees had all shaved heads but long bangs. They were pouring a trash bag full of fish into bowls. Matt said they would release them into the river in he name of Buddha to bring good luck. Matt went on to tell stories about himself. He was a monk for 5 years during his life, studying at Da Lai.He told us about how he tended jasmine flowers and talked to them, everyone thought he was crazy (he was crazy haha). He then told us that his first wife was a Princess, as her great grandfather was an emperor. More on this later.They divorced after the war because he had no money. He also told us about the time he was seduced by a VC spy, before the engagement to his first wife. Him and a beautiful lady fell in love and decided to wed. He had to first meet her family to make sure they were good. He was having beers with the Sergeant Major who was a part of the MI soldiers he worked for, he showed him a photo of the family in front of their house, as he was going the next morning to meet then and was excited. The Sergeant major said NO, that is a known secret house of the VC, you are being lured into a trap and set to be killed, so he didn't go. He also told us that some of the trees, called yellow trees, came at $5,000 a pop because they came from a famous banzai garden. On our way out, he pointed out an orphanage where lots of American children were living. We asked about American mothers who abandon babies. He said no, they are from Vietnamese working girls who meet American men..
We made a quick stop to a bronze/clay factory. This was the place that the artifacts (pots, cannons, etc) were made for the Citadel (more on that later). The factory isn't around any more, as the bombings took it out. He said something like they had some things restored in Laos and there were very old structures standing, but his accent was very thing so I'm not sure. The oldest artifact they know of bring made here was from 1631.
Next we stopped at the Royal Arena. Every June, and sometimes in between, the King would fight a tiger (King of the jungle who knew Kong fu) versus an elephant (animal of war and fighting). The tiger would be kept tied us, as it broke its chain once while fighting and attacked the crowd. Bill knew a guard, who opened the locked fence and let us walk inside the arena. There were little rooms with the scars of an opening gate where the main tiger and little tigers were kept. The tiger cracked his teeth, but since he knew kong fu, he jumped onto the back of the elephant and cut off his head with his claws. But the tiger eventually died. In 1904, the fights stopped. This was because of the French; They took over from 881-1958, when the Vietnamese finally surrounded the French soldiers at a concrete museum and they surrendered. They were slaves to the French during this period.
Next we stopped at a Buddhist monastery, a large multi-acre area where temples, meditation gardens, and housing was for the monks. I believe the current Living Buddha came from Vietnam, and there were many books and paintings done by him in a gift shop where you could buy his paintings. The paintings were more words of wisdom in beautiful calligraphy in many languages. Phrases such as "You are not a creation, you are a manifestation" and "I know you are there and I am happy". He was nominated for a Nobel peace prize. On the entrance was a blown up letter, with his full contact information including e-mail (which he answers from anyone). If you want to become a real monk/nun, you have to contact him and get his approval. Matt told us that Thich was offered to do a movie, which he accepted for the salary of $50 million. He then gave all the money to the poor people in Vietnam. When we entered the monastery, we had to stop the bikes and shut off the engines at first, there were monks/trainees mingles with believers having a meditation walk around the area. When we made it back to one of the temples, morning prayer was going on so we sat in while the monks and little monks-in-training chanted and banged on gongs and bells, I got a video, it was very beautiful. As our tour guide was a monk for 5 years in the past, he took us around the monastery, telling us what each room and decoration was for. He showed us the "VIP" table, where important people could have sit downs with monks. We saw there they ate lunch, sitting in pillows in silence. We went into a meditation patio area where the shrugs were cut into words: Ten Yac: quietly calm yourself; Tien Lee: Mentally pray. We saw the large graves that were built for past monks. He then told us a story, yet again about a proposal. There was a woman who came to pray with him all the time at his monastery when he was a monk, she was very rich. She invited him over for tea at her house and asked if he could leave the monastery and marry her. He asked what her lunar sign was, she was a tiger. HE declined her offer, as his ex-wife was a tiger. He said is she had been a monkey or horse, he would have left and married her.
Our next destination was a quick stop at an incense making factory. It was pretty much a gift shop, with a single gal at a table rolling incense, sandalwood and Cinnamon. Matt told us that you could get class 1 incense for about $5/kilo, or class 5 for $5000/kilo! Its made my mixing glue with the ground up powder of the scent. Its then rolled into a stick. That's it, too easy. We stopped at lunch next, where we found the previous days van driver. Matt knew the owner, a very friendly older lady. Afterwards, he sent us off to look at the Tu Doc Tomb. This was the emperor that was the great grandfather of his ex-wife. He didn't go in with us. The tomb looked more like a huge garden, surrounded by 30ft tall walls. There were numerous buildings, mostly old and destroyed from the war, but they were slowly being restored. The first was a temple for the minor wives. Matt said he had around 42 wives, with numerous daughters and a couple adopted sons. There were tons on temples for the emperor, his subjects, a lake with a man made island in it, etc. WE finally found the actual tomb. Before you walked in, a large memorial including the headstone was before it. The headstone, a 15ft tall piece of steel, was surrounded by a beautiful arch way building a monuments. The headstone was an autobiography of the emperors life. Behind it was another pond, with more ornate pieced of sculpture and buildings, and finally the actual tomb, just a cement looking casket.
We rode the motorbikes up a little hill, covered in perfectly lined trees. We saw lots of this throughout Vietnam, which I assume was the re-planting of trees after the war. On top of the hill were 3 bunkers built by the French in 1901. They were later used by the Americans, one was a TOC (Tactical Operations Center). We went inside, they were very short and plain. On the other side of the hill was a cliff going down to the Perfume River, this was the beautiful picturesque part of the river you see online, it was a beautiful blue green with sampan boats and hills in the background. Matt pointed out various hills and areas where "Eagle" was, a main base of the US. He showed us an LZ for the 101st Airborne during the war. We learned the story about how the perfume river was named; there were two kingdom's in Vietnam a while ago and they decided to combine, the king of one kingdom marrying the princess of the other. As the princess was not from the kingdom in Hue, when they were ion a boat during their honeymoon on the river, she asked her new husband what the river was called. He told her he hadn't named it but she could name it. She looked around and saw the banks filled with beautiful flowers that made the air smell wonderful, so she named it the Perfume River.
Our final stop was to the Ni Tunnel Prison, a prison of the South for holding the VC. On the way to the prison, however, we took some back roads, We were probably 15 miles south of Hue into the country. We went through dirt roads, forests, and up and down the hill backs of the city. We drive through these hilltops that were completely covered in graves. Matt told us they had only been started since 1945. He said in life, you want a big house, in death, you want a big grave. They were everywhere, thousands of them. There is no order, just find a piece of land, buy a couple square meters, and build whatever kind of grave you want. There were probably 15 hilltops in the range COMPLETELY covered in graves, from bottom to top, it was incredible! we saw dogs and people running around through them, even a mountain goat and her little baby and some cows munching on grass.
We went through a small town to the south and into miles and miles of rice paddies. We were told that under the paddies were tunnels the VC used to get into the South. The US found out and napalm-ed every single field to try and smoke them out, destroying the whole food supply for the surrounding areas. There were people out digging around in bare feed with the straw cone hats, Matt said the rice grows faster is it gets messed up. It was beautiful. We stopped quickly at this little museum run by an old lady who was a professional farmer. Inside were various tools and household items of the traditional framer. While Matt translated, she went around showing us all the tools on how to use them and how they processed rice. We also ran into a flood marker, marking floods form the 90's that wer about 10 and 15 ft high above the paddies, all the way from the river which was about 15-miles away!!
We reached the prison, which wasn't very much. On the way up the road, there was a huge memorial and temple built to remember the VC who had died there. We went walking into the words, running across a Vietnamese sign which read (we only read one line out of many) that said "chose to die for the country". The French had used the building on the top of the hill as weapons storage before the South turned them into a prison. We only went unto one building, a small two story structure about 1/2 the size of a house. It had 8 cells lines up on either side, a size of a large pantry with a bench inside. They had mannequins inside representing the small space the prisoners had, including a set-up of 3 Southern soldiers throwing a bleeding, blind folded prisoner into a cell. We left quickly, as Matt said he didn't like to be there too long because it was too sad.
Our day had ended. He dropped us off at the Imperial City and we parted ways. Before he left though, Matt gave us each a DVD he had made. They were about the Vietnam war. He made sure to tell us only to show them to "certain" people, and "You are American, you will watch out for me" before he patted my check and hugged us good bye.
The Imperial City is the "city limits" of the royal emperor and his court. In the complex separated by large walls, were originally 150 buildings built in 1804, finished in 1833. The City had been hurt in 1947 from a Nat'l disaster, and pretty much destroyed in 1968 from the US bombings in Hue. When I mean destroyed, (look on FB For a photo of the destruction), I mean gone. None of the buildings were left standing, only the wall. They had slowly started reconstruction and renovation, but there wer maybe 7 completed structures (out of 150) and the remain of maybe about 10 more. It was very sad, but that is a consequence of war. Save your people or save your people's history. The first building was the Citadel, the most famous building in the whole entire city. It was the throne room, where the emperor sat. The columns inside were all redone, but a piece of an original one with burn marks on it was on display inside. The throne was covered in gold, a small arm chair surrounded by a gold stage and overhang. Compared to anything in Europe royalty, it was very small. There was only one chair, no place for the empress or his children. After the Citadel, you were inside the Forbidden Purple City. This was the residence and prayer and daily living area of the royal family where no outsiders were allowed. Then my camera died :( Besides a UNESCO video showing a digital recreation of the 150 buildings, there were not many more signs around the site, so I didn't learn much else.
I checked out later that day after stopping to shop a bit on the streets. It was my time to get on a plane and head to Saigon for a night. I arrived at the airport, my hotel taxi no where in sight, and picked up a non-English speaking driver who tried to bargain with me the price for 100,000d (d=dong), the currency). I told him yeah right, turn on the meter. 2 miles down the road to my hotel, I had charged up to almost 350,000d!!!!! I literally had NO cash, as I was paying the hotel driver in USD. Lucky, we ran into my hotel taxi driver as he was pulling out (an hour late from my arrival) and he paid for the cab. The night was uneventful after that and so was my 7am wake-up and hope back on the plane to Singapore.
No comments:
Post a Comment