HUE TO DA NANG
(Vietnam
Vacation Part 6)
Hue is a major stop on any tourist circuit of Vietnam. A
whole section of the town is devoted to hotels, restaurants, travel agencies
and other businesses for tourists. This big tourist city had a number of "firsts" in store for us. We started hearing the
refrain, “You, buy something from me”. It provided a great contrast to the semi
off the beaten track towns we had visited earlier. Our first bathroom with a shower curtain. Finally, we could shower without
getting the entire bathroom floor wet! Our first pay parking lot for bicycles (500 dong/5¢ each). The first time we have ever seen someone in a band play the teacups! . Read on for a couple more "firsts".
Hue was Vietnam’s
capital from 1802 to 1945 under the Nguyen Dynasty. Emperor Gia
Long (ruled 1802-1820) built a huge walled citadel, inside of which was the Imperial City,
modeled after the Forbidden City in Beijing.
Unfortunately, fire, termites, time and the American (Vietnam) War have reduced the grandness of the Imperial City. We saw eleven buildings, with more
being restored. They were large, simple, elegant, spacious, wooden
structures surrounded by formerly grand gardens. The
decorations and adornments of the buildings were their outstanding feature. Most of the buildings had large,
colorful mosaics running along the roof ridges. The mosaics were made from pieces
of porcelain dishes. They must have broken a lot of dishes!
Seven of
the thirteen Nguyen dynasty emperors had Royal Mausoleums built. We set out on
bicycles hoping to check out a couple tombs and a few other sites. As we were
biking out of Hue,
a woman on a moto slowed down and started talking to
us. She invited us to her house for tea, saying it was on our way. We decided not
to instinctively say no, but go along and see what happened. A minor mistake,
but not a tragedy…
At her
house, the woman gave us fresh pineapple and tea and her daughter came out. She
spoke excellent English and told us she was studying to be a translator. We
talked about jobs, the economy, the school system, etc. Most of
what she said confirmed what we had been told elsewhere. Jobs are hard to find
and don’t pay well, unless you work for an international company. After
graduating college, she expects it to take a year to find a job. Primary school
education is free but students must buy their own books, supplies and school
uniform. After primary school, families have to pay all costs, including
tuition of about $3 per month. This may not seem like a lot, but to a
subsistence rice farmer, it can be a significant portion of their cash income.
Pretty
soon, the reason her mom wanted us to visit became clear. The daughter said her
university fees were about $60 a month, she had a payment due and her mother
didn’t have enough money. We were told anything we could do to help would be
appreciated. While we felt sympathy for her situation, we resented being
befriended and diverted under false pretences and we wondered if her story was
true. In Vietnam,
as in other poor countries, Westerners are viewed as wildly wealthy potential
sources of cash and scams are common. We gave her 20,000 Dong ($1.25), wished
her well and returned to our now abbreviated mausoleum tour.
Minh Mang, the second emperor in the Nguyen dynasty ruled from
1820 to 1840. His mausoleum took ten thousand workmen three years to build. It
included Sung An Temple for worshipping him and his
queen and a large stone stele recording his accomplishments. An impressive
honor guard of stone military mandarins, civilian mandarins, horses and
elephants lined the courtyard. Basically, it was a very large, nice looking
cemetery!
We biked
from Ming Mang’s towards Tu
Duc’s mausoleum looking for a place to eat lunch. We
were about eight miles outside of Hue
and our prospects looked pretty bleak until Lois spotted something hopeful. The
lunch turned out to be average, but the setting was great. Built over a pond
were a number of private dining areas, connected by bamboo walkways. After
lunch, we passed another interesting spot, a village where they made and sold
incense.
Tu Duc, the fourth emperor in the
Nguyen dynasty ruled from 1848 to 1883 and built his mausoleum between 1864 and
1867. It was a beautiful, thirty acre park with towering pine trees, lakes
throughout, a simple yet attractive meditation
pavilion overlooking the water, palaces and temples. He needed to spend a lot
of time resting since he had one hundred and four wives! Unfortunately, most of
the buildings were in major need of renovation. We hoped that our admission
fees went to that purpose.
The next
day, we took a bike ride to Thien Mu
Pagoda. It is most well known as the residence of the Venerable Thich Quang Doc, the monk who
drove to Saigon in 1963 and set himself on
fire to protest the South Vietnamese government’s excesses and President Diem’s
regime. Built on a hill, overlooking the Perfume River,
was a seven story, seventy foot high stupa, followed
by a gate and two pagodas. There were twelve very colorful Gods in one of the
pagodas. Behind that was a Buddhist monastery with well tended gardens. It
seemed to us to be a great place for meditation and study. We contemplated
going to our next destination.
From Hue, we took a first class train to Da Nang. It was air
conditioned, with cushioned seats, sort of like an airplane but with much more
leg room. All the seats faced the same way which gave it a less gregarious
atmosphere than the second class train. The pretty ride followed tracks which
hugged the mountains along the coast and went through long tunnels. A lunch
of rice, mustard greens and meat was included.
Our main
reason for stopping in Da Nang
was the Cham Museum. The Champa Kingdom existed to varying degrees from
the second to the seventeenth century. They controlled parts of what is today Central and Southern Vietnam and Cambodia. The Cham museum houses
most of the Cham artwork that remains in Vietnam. We saw stunning stonework,
mostly religious in nature. The Hindu deities were reminiscent of the sandstone
carving we saw at Ankor Wat
in Cambodia
(see Khmer Tales our 2002 trip).
From Da Nang,
we took a local bus for the thirty five kilometer ride to Hoi An. The ticket
taker gave us the front seats, next to the driver. He thought it was their
lucky day, with two tourists in tow. He guessed wrong, because a minute later,
the police pulled them over. They apparently got a ticket which meant that they
were now behind schedule and losing money on the trip. The fare was 7,000 Dong
(50¢), but when it came time to charge us, he wanted 100,000 Dong!
On bus
trips, we would determine the fare by asking locals beforehand. When someone
collected our fare, Paul would give them exact change. That worked about half
the time. The other half of the time, a negotiation began. Typically they asked
for double the fare. Paul would just smile and say “too much”. They would
insist it was correct and that they charged Vietnamese the same. We would hold
fast and they would quote a new price, again insisting that was what Vietnamese
paid. Usually, we stuck to our guns and paid what people had told us was the
correct fare. Once, someone threatened to throw us off the bus, the driver
stopped the bus, but the door didn’t open. We called their bluff and ended up
paying the right fare.
This lengthy
discussion started with a bus from Da Nang to Hoi An
where the ticket taker asked for 100,000 Dong and Paul offered 7,000 Dong. The
next request was 50,000 Dong and then 25,000 Dong. Maybe Paul shouldn’t have
laughed so hard at these requests. The next thing we knew, the bus stopped and
we were told to get off. Thrown off our first bus in Vietnam; the indignity of it all!
We waited five minutes, got on the next bus, were charged 7,000 Dong and
proceeded to Hoi An without any further blows to our
pride.
Our trip
is just about over now. We are currently in Hong Kong
before heading home. There will be one or two more travelogues to go, covering
Hoi An, Nha Trang, Saigon and Hong Kong.
Paul
& Lois
Hong Kong
February 21, 2007
All content is copyright © Paul
Schneider, 2007.