Vietnam continued...

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Vietnam is quite the trip...I know this whole SE Asia planet I'm on is entirely a different universe, but there is something about Vietnam which pierces your soul...for some in a good way, for others not so much...some friends of ours are not having the best time in this country, with things being stolen, being ripped off numerous times, and having to always be on guard...but Leann and I seem to bring out the best in people (and in weather), and have been doing just fine!

I left Leann in the morning and after eating in a small cafe, hopped aboard a bus to Hue, a glorious history filled city in central coastal Vietnam...

I'd heard that the pagodas and tombs which line the perfume river in Hue were best seen on a motorcycle tour, and solo women traveler friends of mine assured me that hopping on a moto with a random vietnamese stranger was totally safe, so I checked out a few tombs upon arrival after lunch with some lovely folks I met on the bus...

I couldn't even tell you the name of my moto taxi man on this tour, but he was lovely...spoke decent English and gave me a good rate...he was a few clicks shorter than me as well, so sitting on the back I could see clear over his helmet - an obvious plus!

We headed outside the city limits along the banks of the river and caught a small boat to the other side to see the tomb of the Emperor Gia Long, who founded the Nguyen dynasty in 1802...he had his tomb built in life so he could rest forever in comfort in the afterlife...this is a rarely visited tomb which is why I chose it, and I was the only white person around...I was led into the tomb by a very old security officer who spoke no English...we walked through a small maze of concrete walls after he let me in the metal gates, and my words echoed in the stillness...After observing the 2 concrete buildings where the Emperor and his wife lay, the guard pointed to a small hole in the concrete wall which exposed the brick underlay and made blasting noises..."America..." he half yelled with serious eyes..."boom boom!"

We stopped at a few other tombs and temples along the way, but everyone I met at the gates said the fees were too high and they all looked the same...I didn't think I could replicate an experience like the first, and didn't feel like being a super tourist on such a hot day, but just visiting all of them, even the walls surrounding the tombs, is a peaceful experience in itself...

Within the city itself is a large Citadel city, built in 1687...the dynasty of the Emporer Gia Long began to rule it in 1802, founding the Nguyen dynasty which ruled the country - at least in name - until 1945...Hue was the site of one of the bloodiest battles of the Vietnam was (called the American war here), by North Vietnamese and Viet Cong troops...I won't go into detail, but most of those killed were civilians, of course...

Most of Hue's sights and a chunk of the population live within the 2m thick 10km long walls of the citadel...I was dropped here by my taxi driver and set out to explore...I walked into the emporers residence and main buildings of state of the Imperial Enclosure which houses the main sights and is a citadel within a citadel...it was badly bombed during the French and American wars and restoration is an ongoing project...following tour groups, I wove my way through the enclosure, sitting in ruined gardens once created as birthday presents or for meditation purposes, past deformed dragons and princesses, and along 6meter high walls...as the sun set I sat on the terrace at the entry gates and watched zillions of residents fly kites, drink sugar cane juice, and groove to cell phone beats on the grassy front lawn of the palace...I spotted a few German guys trying to fly a kite and headed over to help...they bought me a juice for my efforts...we headed back into town where I spent the night with a Swedish guy having one expensive drink at a 5 star restaurant on the top floor of a 5 star hotel in the centre of the city ... what a view!

The next day was the best...I slept in and watched a movie to head to my favourite cafe around 10 and be set up with a former interpreter for the US Army...Bill Nuygen is 63 and has quite the personality...after having a coffee with him and hearing about his involvement in the war, questioning him on his driving abilities and knowledge of where he'd take me, we decided to head out on a serious mission to the demilitarized zone which takes about 2 hours by moto going maybe 50 km/hr on highway 1...then there are numerous sites to visit, if you are brave enough...I was keen on heading into the Vinh Moc tunnels and seeing the sites along the way, and so for about $20US, we headed out...

From '54 to '75 the Ben Hai River was the middle point between the North and the South of Vietnam...on either side of the river was an area 5KM wide that was the DMZ...this has become one of the most militarised zones in the world...

We headed out past a zillion rice paddy's with women and met in conical hats bent over in the heat planting rice...Bill began by trying to tell me about things while we were driving, but we decided after a few tries that it was futile...his accent, the blaring horns and traffic made it impossible to hear anything.

We stopped a few times to get gas or drinks and stretch our legs, and once at an old church which was taken over by the Americans...it was here, with bullet lined walls and blasted out holes covered in weeds and flowers, that I realized how serious Bill was about the war...he told me while walking back and forth making hillarious imitations, gestures and dropping many f-bombs, about the time a seargent in his unit tried to make him run errands for him and how he had to get his colonel major involved...throughout the war, he worked in an office building down the street from my hotel, not on the front lines at all, but he was one of the only Vietnamese working in his building...he had a few stories, some which I understood, some which I did not, about his friendships/enemies at work...

The drive was glorious and en route we saw many murals cautioning citizens on the dangers of live mortar rounds and landmines still active in the area...they still kill and maime hundreds of people each year despite the efforts of local groups and other non profits who disarm as many as they can...we also saw large, round craters in the surrounding fields, obvious reminants of bombings, and bomb casings lying about...

I was oh so happy when we stopped...my butt was killing me, and it was so hot! As soon as we got to the tunnels, we sat for a drink and the woman working there told Bill, who told me, that her mother, grandfather and uncle were killed hiding in a bunker which was bombed during the war...her son was a gorgeous little guy who poured water all over me after I got out of the ocean for a dip and helped me try and catch a chicken - no luck...despite the years its been since her family's death, I could see the sadness in her eyes...

Bill and I toured a small museum and investigated fake guns and pictures of rice paddies dotted with circles - holes from bombs - and a layout of the tunnels - there are a few tunnels in Vietnam which were created to hide citizens and soldiers from the enemy...some were discovered and bombed or gassed and abandoned, but others remain as they were...the Vinh Moc tunnels are the real thing and unadulterated for viewing by tourists...the only thing I noticed were electric lights in a few places, and some cheesy fake models of families hiding in the rooms (which looked more like caves)...I made Bill assure me that he knew which ways to go, and he told me the chicken catching son was the one who taught him to navigate the tunnels in the first place...I figured he had a good coach so off we went...

The tunnels were freezing, some up to 12 meters underground...thank god Bill had a flashlight...Bill, though not as short as my previous moto driver, did not have to duck to walk through, but I had to stoop a bit...the walls were clay and got stuck under my nails...I had to fight not to panic as the silence and the darnkess set in when he would turn a corner and I would be behind him in the dark...we stopped at a few of the relics of tunnel life (families sitting on bamboo mats, mannequins depicting the delivery of a baby...), and then turned into darkness...we stopped at a few of the air holes, which looking up at them, felt like I was in a 9m deep well...we shouted up as loud as we could for fun, trying to get someone to look over and think we were actually lost...but no one came...

Finally we turned off and jogged up the stairs to a spectacular ocean view...after a quick dip and a goodbye, we were off...

Bill took me to a few in memorial statues and we came across a buddhist ceremony held by families of those MIA in the war...Bill used to be a monk and assured me that getting off our bikes and watching the ceremony was OK! I just felt bad the whole time staring and not being able to pray with them, looking like some random tourist in my thai pants and tank top with Bill's button up shirt covering my shoulders from the sun...

When we finally made it back to Hue after a glorious sunset, Bill invited me out to dinner to meet one of this friends who was a photographer/videographer during the war...we parked and walked into a streetside restaurant, consisting of about 40 Vietnamese men on plastic chairs eating and drinking beer, all who stared at me during the entire meal...we enjoyed frogs legs and pork soup whose bones we fed to the dogs...The man showed me huge thick rolled up black and white pictures of him in the war, photos which almost brought me to tears...I recognized this man immediately, the same eyes and big smile, and although he spoke no English, I could sense his pride at having served, documented, and survived the great war...

I'm currently reading a book about women in the Mekong Delta in southern Vietnam who organized resistances and saved their communities during the war while their men were off fighting in the DMZ and abroad...these people are truly courageous, having endured the worst of torture, Western war tactics and machinery, and the takover of their culture and way of life...Bill was so proud of all he had done in the war, and so passionate about sharing it with me...I'm not very good with war history, but I did my best with my lonely planet and knowledge of the war to piece together who was battling who and for what and why and how throughout the day...

Bill gave me his card and has written me already to thank me for such a lovely day...what a great guy!

I took a bus the next day back to meet with Leann and some of our friends from Laos, to Hoi An...this is the place you are supposed to go if you need clothes made...well, I started off with just a few things on my wish list but ended up getting quite a few things made and sent home...the Miss Universe pagent is also underway here in Vietnam, and the ladies made an appearance while we were there! We hung out on the streets as they paraded by, we did our best to holler at Miss Canada, but she didn't even look our way! We spent the night in a bar across the river watching the event on TV as it was too far away to see comfortably and the streets were lined with Vietnamese itching to get a glimpse of the ladies...we saw traditional dancing and a few speeches as each girl sent a floating paper lotus with a tealight inside into the river...the night was filled with thunder and we could see lightning in the distance...pretty much immediately after the ladies had left the stage and were walking under the cover of the famous Japanese bridge, the sky opened up and it rained so hard the bar was instantly packed with police officers, tourists, children and others' alike waiting for a reprieve from the rain to jump back on the moto and head home...

We spent a few glorious days at the beach, just 3 km away, heading back into town for fittings, and practially became part of a family by eating at their amazing cafe so much...I also paid a few bucks to take a cooking class as the mother of the family taught me to cook shrimp and vegetable stir fry, grilled fish in banana leaf, fried spinach and garlic, and an amazing wonton soup...

After a realxing few days in Hoi An, Leann and I took an over night sleeper bus here, to Na Trang...we arrived at 7, showered and had breakfast and rented a moto...I have been trying to convince Leann that this it the way to go, and that there were a few things I really wanted to in Na Trahg...I wanted to go scuba diving, go to the mud baths and hot springs, check out the Long song pagoda, the 2 massive buddhas, and the Cham towers...Leann brags to everyone about my driving skills, I tossed her on the back of our rented semi automatic motorbike and off we went to the mud baths, the buddhas and the towers all in one day! Now I am a Vietnam driving expert and have glorious skin from the mud baths to boot...

We went diving today and went on a boat cruise yesterday...the diving was great, it was so nice not to have to show someone any skills for once like we had to constantly during our open water certification (clear your mask, demonstrate neutral bouyancy, use your spare regulator, take off and put on your BCD, blah blah blah)... and have so much freedom underwater...we dove with some Canadians, and met some others from the UK who we are meeting tonight...

Leann leaves in 11 days and I am devastated...we have had such a great time together, sharing laughs and meeting heaps of people...we have similar personalities, and we get a kick out of eachother...she doesn't snore, steal my clothes, make a mess, or make me sad...as I've said before, traveling on your own rocks...mostly because of the people you meet...

The next moves on this journey of mine are unkonwn...we may head to Dalat, or we may plod on to Saigon, where I will be staying with a friend who is a University professor...only time will tell...

I haven't had time to re-read this sucker, so when you read it I hope it makes sense...
More later, Jow dum beeat!
Erin

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