Southeast Asia Adventure: Day 11- Hue

They didn’t dry. It seems the humidity is a bit higher here, and I’ll hve to let my riding kit dry on me. The wet is kind of nice, keeping me a bit cooler like portable A/C.

We all picked up our bikes at the hotel entrance and did a couple of laps around the fountain in the parking lot to get adjusted. Dave got a Trek knock-off, “Treck”. Brendan, they apparently have no IP laws here! Molly and Suzanne wee thrilled to be seasoned veterans of riding in Vietnam compared to some of our other companions two of whom hadn’t ridden a bike in years.

We first had to ride through town with a fair amount of scooter traffic to contend with (nothing like Saigon, though), then over the Perfume River, passed the Citadel ( more later),

then on to more quiet, back country roads.

We first stopped at a local pagoda (temple) that was built by several families for private prayer. These temples are scattered all over Vietnam.

Across from the pagoda was a small factory making rice candies.

One thing that struck us was that the number of more substantial and fancier homes was much greater than in the Mekong delta. We wrongly assumed that this area was more affluent, but Dat explained that these people were actually much poorer but they were more concerned with keeping up with the Joneses and wanted to show off.

A little more riding brought us to a woodworker’s home wear we watched him carving a tiny Buddha. Anne purchased the Buddha from him after Dat haggled a bit for her. The woodworker claimed it took him two days to carve it . Rick was pretty disappointed that there was only one available (unless he wanted to come back in two days). We did get to see one of his other Buddhas, a “Happy Buddha”, and we all got to rub his fat tummy for luck.

We then came across a small village with a very active market. The markets are all manned by women, and the shoppers are all women. Men do not shop.

There was a women frying some sort of dough that smelled fantastic, and Dat bought a few of these cakes for us (I think he paid about $0.15 for ½ dozen) They were amazing!

Live ducks were checked out by shoppers and bargaining ensued until a deal was struck.

We continued on through rice paddies dotted with mausoleums,

To a Buddhist cemetery.

The dead ancestors are remembered on the anniversary of their deaths and their loved ones bring things to the grave that they might need, like food and money (fake American dollars and Vietnamese dong).

We also saw Vietnamese lawnmowers working their way past the graves and monuments.

As we were about to leave, we saw a group of young monks in training riding their bikes back to the monastery from schools. Orphans or poor boys are “adopted” by the monks who take them in, feed them, pay for school and hope they stick with being a monk as they get older. I rode up next to one, and we had a nice conversation in broken English (his not mine).

The cycling was a bit tame for the cyclists in the group, but Molly and Suzanne enjoyed it way more than our Mekong death ride. Also, more importantly, no injuries.

Our last stop was for a snack and to drop off our bikes. We had fresh coconut milk,

and Dave got a little fresh with his coconuts.

We then stopped at the Thiên Mụ Pagoda, a beautiful seven storey pagoda that is the tallest religious building in Vietnam. It sits on the banks of the Perfume River.

The temple was initially constructed in 1601 and expanded in 1665.

A giant cast bell weighing about 4 tons was cast in 1710 is one of the most
prized cultural relics in Vietnam. It is said that it can be heard as far as 10 km (6 mi).

During the early 1960’s, the Buddhist majority of South Vietnam was being persecuted by the ruling president, Ngo Dinh Diem, a catholic. During a mass protest in Hue in the summer of 1963 nine Buddhists were killed by Diem’s forces. More protests and violence ensued.

On June 11, 1963, Thích Quảng Đức, the head of the monastery at Thiên Mụ Pagoda, drove his car from Hue to Saigon, and at a busy street corner doused himself with gasoline and set himself on fire to protest Diem’s treatment of Buddhists. This act of self-immolation increased international pressure on the Diem government and eventual toppling of the regime.

We actually did quite a bit before lunch. Lunch was at the home of one of the leading families of Hue.

The gentleman who owned the property is the grandson of one of the last Mandarins of the Nguyen dynasty. Mr.-Nguyen was 23^rd in line for inheriting the estate, but his 22 older siblings (his father had 4 wives and 26 male offspring) were either dead or had moved out of Vietnam when the communists took over in 1975. Much of the estate had been destroyed during fighting in and around Hue during the Vietnam War, and a large portion of his land was confiscated by the government. He decided to restore the home to its previous splendor after he found a carving of two turtles in the rubble of the house. He remembered this carving from his grandfather’s house, and thought that since turtles represented long life, he felt that he was being summoned to rebuild the house so that it would stand forever.

Both lunch and the surroundings were exceptional.

On the way back to the hotel we stopped at the “Citadel“ or the Imperial City . The grounds of the Imperial City were surrounded by a wall 2 kilometers by 2 kilometers, and the walls were surrounded by a moat. The water from the moat was taken from the Huong River (Perfume River) that flows through Huế.

The Citadel was built in 1802 by Nguyễn Phúc Ánh who took control of Vietnam and proclaimed himself emperor. The gate is presently under renovation and throughout the complex repairs are underway.