Playing Dress Up with the King & Queen

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The Writings on the wall, but you have to visit Lac Thien Restaurant in Hue, Vietnam

This is a great lunch place where the proprietor and most of his siblings are deaf and mute run a successful business. It's a tourist haven as can be seen in the inscribed walls. Additionally he gives free handmade beer bottle openers, which the recipients then take home, have a photo taken holding their openers and send back to Lac, who then puts them in a series of photo albums and proudly passes the albums around to his customers. The restaurant itself is not much to look it, but the food and the attention Lac gives you certainly makes up for it. From here we walk a few blocks to the outer walls of the Citadel of Hue

Once the Capitol of Vietnam, now a city of memories and Citadel

Hue was the capitol of Vietnam, the feudal sovereignty, from 1744 when the Nguyen lords controlled all of southern Vietnam from the city. The dynasty of the Nguyen family lasted (in theory) from 1802, when Nguyen Anh defeated rebels to control the city, until 1945, when the last emperor abdicated. The city was severely damaged in the 1968 Tet offensive during the American war, when house-to-house fighting lasted for weeks, but many architectural gems remain and are well worth a visit.

Hue is divided between the older fortified Citadel, containing almost everything interesting, and the new, smaller sprawl that has developed across the river. The new side contains most of the facilities, the hotels, restaurants, travel agencies, and banks. People come to Hue to see the old Imperial complex, the Citadel and the Forbidden City, the pagodas, and the many tombs of the emperors that lie a few kilometres south of the city. Each tomb is a walled compound containing temples, palaces, and lakes.

Behind the Thai Hoa Palace is a pair of smaller halls used by mandarins to prepare for court ceremonies. The halls form a courtyard, the fourth side of which was once a wall dividing the more public area of the citadel from the emperor's private residence, the "Forbidden Purple City." The name conjures up images of grand palaces like Beijing. Unfortunately, it takes quite a bit of imagination to picture the buildings that once occupied what is now a grassy expanse. What wasn't destroyed by a fire in 1947 was bombed in the 1968 Tet Offensive.

The Thai Binh Lau, or Royal Library.

Off to one side of the central axis of the Forbidden City, about midway, is the Thai Binh Lau or Royal Library. This small building stands in a garden and is fronted by small pond mostly taken up by a mountain-island well-grown with moss and bonsai. You will find similar ponds, fountains or even large bowls of water in many structures all over Vietnam.

Everyone likes to dress up from time to time, but this time it was to be royalty

Tonight’s meal took us on a short walk through the street on Hue; we finally came to a big house on the corner of a quiet street. Once inside the gardens of the house we were walked through a lantern lit walkway to a changing room. The previous day the group had nominated Paul & Allison to be King and Queen for the evening and the rest of the group were a Concubine, Mandarins or a Eunuch.
Thanh our leader took the role of the Eunuch really seriously. Once ready bands marched us into the house, up the ornate stairs and into a private room, were the King and Queen sat on the top table about a foot above us and we sat in front. A band with singers entertained us with traditional music and love songs, whilst a 7 course meal fit for a King and Queen was served.

Motorbike riders through the wet streets and villages of Hue

For one of the first times in my travels l awoke to find that it was raining. After breakfast we were to take a tour around the local villages of Hue. Rain does not stop play, so we kitted ourselves with waterproof poncho's and off we went. We were driven once again by fantastic local drivers and the caravan of 12 bikes roamed through the wet streets and out into the mud track roads towards a small market town. Once here we took time to look around and saw a 'local market for local people'. Across from the market was a small covered bridge, halfway across sat an old lady who would read your palm, so one by one most of the group had their fortune told. We then took to the bikes once again and left to visit a local monastery for lunch. This Monastery was for Nun's this time we were treated to a full Vegan meal, No meat, No Fish, No Eggs. The meal was nice and gave us a chance to look around the building and see where the Nun's lived their lives.

The Perfume River, no it does not smell of Perfume!

We leave once again with our bellies full and are ready for the next stage of our journey around the sights of Hue. This time we are taken to an opening onto the river and board a Dragon Boat on the Perfume River.

The Perfume River (Sông Hương or Hương Giang) is a river that crosses the capital city of Hue, in the central Vietnamese province of Thua Thien Hue. Perfume or Huong River is around 80 kilometres long, and owes its name to the fact that it flows through many forests of aromatic plants before reaching Hue, bringing with it a pure and fresh aroma.

The Perfume River has two sources, both of which begin in the Truong Son Mountain range and meet at Bang Lang Fork. The Ta Trach (Left Tributary) originates in the Truong Dong Mountains and flows northwest towards Bang Lang Fork. The shorter Huu Trach (Right Tributary) flows through the Tuan ferry, landing towards Bang Lang Fork.

Then it flows in south-north direction passing the temples of Hon Chen and Ngoc Tran, and turns north-west, meandering through the Nguyet Bieu and Luong Quan plains. From this, the River then continuously flows in the north-east direction to Hue city, only an echo of Truong Son Mountain, and passes the rest place of the Nguyen Emperors. The river of green water continues its itinerary, passing Hen Islet and various villages, crossing the Sinh junction, which is known as the capital of ancient Chau Hoa, before emptying into the Tam Giang Lagoon.

After a while we dock at the Thien Mu Pagoda were we spend about an hour looking around the majestic building which in the mist of the rain looks even more amazing as it appeared from nowhere on the banks of the Perfume River.


Thien Mu Pagoda

This is also known as Linh Mu Pagoda and one of the several most beautiful and ancient architectural structures for religious worship in Hue city. The pagoda is situated on the Ha Khe hillock area on the left bank of the Perfume river. The pagoda was built in the 14th century and is adhere to a legend of a fairy lady in red. Therefore is has the name of Thien Mu (Fairy lady from the heaven). The general structure of the pagoda is not different from that of other pagoda pound in the country. Yet, what is the most striking feature of the pagoda is the Phuoc Duyen Tower. The octagonal tower is 21 meters high and divided into seven storeys. The tower was built by King Thieu Tri in 1844 and has become the unofficial symbol of Hue. Each of the seven storeys is dedicated to a Buddha who appeared in human form (maushi Buddha). Each of the Buddha statue is placed in a small arch door in each storey facing to the southern direction. Especially in the top level three statues of Buddha are placed. Initially the three statues were made of gold. However they had been lost. Now the three new statues are made of bronze copper.

There are just few artefacts kept inside the pagoda. The most precious artefacts still seen today are a stela and a bronze bell. To the right of the tower is a pavilion containing the said stele dating from 1715. It is 2.6 meters high and 1.2 meters wide. It is the set on the back of a massive marble turtle, symbolizing of longevity.

To the left of the tower is another six-sided pavilion sheltering an enormous bell. The bell, called Dai Hong Chung, was cast in 1710. It weighs 2,632 kilograms and is 1.4 meters in circumference. This bell is considered one of the achievements of bronze casting industry in Vietnam in the 18th century.


The Self-Immolation of Thich Quang Duc

On June 11, 1963, Thich Quang Duc, a Buddhist monk from the Linh-Mu Pagoda in Hue, Vietnam, burned himself to death at a busy intersection in downtown Saigon, Vietnam.. Eye witness accounts state that Thich Quang Duc and at least two fellow monks arrived at the intersection by car, Thich Quang Duc got out of the car, assumed the traditional lotus position and the accompanying monks helped him pour gasoline over himself. He ignited the gasoline by lighting a match and burned to death in a matter of minutes. David Halberstam, a reporter for the New York Times covering the war in Vietnam, gave the following account:

"I was to see that sight again, but once was enough. Flames were coming from a human being; his body was slowly withering and shrivelling up, his head blackening and charring. In the air was the smell of burning human flesh; human beings burn surprisingly quickly. Behind me I could hear the sobbing of the Vietnamese who were now gathering. I was too shocked to cry, too confused to take notes or ask questions, too bewildered to even think. As he burned he never moved a muscle, never uttered a sound, his outward composure in sharp contrast to the wailing people around him".

Thich Quang Duc had prepared himself for his self-immolation through several weeks of meditation and had explained his motivation in letters to members of his Buddhist community as well as to the government of South Vietnam in the weeks prior to his self-immolation. In these letters he described his desire to bring attention to the repressive policies of the Catholic Diem regime that controlled the South Vietnamese government at the time. Prior to the self-immolation, the South Vietnamese Buddhists had made the following requests to the Diem regime, asking it to:

-Lift its ban on flying the traditional Buddhist flag;
- Grant Buddhism the same rights as Catholicism;
- Stop detaining Buddhists;
- Give Buddhist monks and nuns the right to practice and spread their religion;
- Pay fair compensations to the victim's families and punish those responsible for their deaths.

When these requests were not addressed by the Deim regime, Thich Quang Duc carried out his self-immolation. Following his death, Thich Quang Duc was cremated and legend has it that his heart would not burn. As a result, his heart is considered Holy and is in the custody of the Reserve Bank of Vietnam.

The social and political impact of Thich Quang Duc's self-immolation was far reaching. It was reported in the New York Times the next day and a copy of the fach Quang Duc in 1963 has been followed by the self-immolation of several monks and by the continued activism of the "rebellious monks of Hue" against the communist government in Vietnam over the past three decades.

Who Was Thich Quang Duc?

Thich Quang Duc was born in 1897 and was 67 at the time of his self-immolation in 1963. He had lived in a Buddhist monastic community since he was seven years old and was ordained as a full Buddhist monk or Bhikku when he was twenty. Thich Quang Duc practiced an extreme ascetic purification way for several years, became a teacher, and spent many years rebuilding Buddhist temples in Vietnam prior to 1943. At the time of his death, he was a member of the Quan the Am temple and Director of rituals for the United Vietnamese Buddhist Congregation. Thich Quang Duc is considered to be a bodhisattva, "an enlightened being - one on the path to awakening who vows to forego complete enlightenment until he or she helps all other beings attain enlightenment."

Another part of History that I have been lucky to be able to learn about

The car was brought back to Thien Mu Pagoda for everyone to see and sit amongst the monastery were young monks are sent to learn and study. Each of the young monks has a large wooden chest that they use to store all their personal items; they then use this to sleep on top of. If they pass all the required exams to become a monk the items are removed and destroyed as they will not longer require them in their future role as a monk.

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Comments

[Marie]

Love reading your stories Geoff, but wish you would put more pictures of yourself in...... that way I can believe you are really there!! xx