War And Peace

---

Back on the road, and it feels good. So much to tell you all, it's certainly been busy for us. I had almost forgot how exciting it was to see a brand new place every few days, after spending so long at Lovell's in Mui Ne. First stop - Hanoi.

Up in the north the weather was noticeably cooler at night time, although still very warm in the sun. It was about 20 degrees but felt a little cold, that's acclimatisation for you I guess. Back in the city and back to being hassled by people to stay in their accommodation, but now they have started lying to us about the prices, very naughty. Suddenly the price has doubled after we have looked at the room, what a waste of time. We finally found somewhere, although Chivo had to stay on a mattress on the floor for the first night until a triple became available, but it was cheaper than elsewhere!
We explored the old quarter town quite thoroughly. It was a really nice place to walk around, albeit a little hectic with all the motorbikes and cars speedily driving through the narrow roads. Saw one collision between a motorcyclist and a bicyclist, where a sack of flour and a few green skinned oranges became fatalities. Other than that, everyone seemed to swerve in and out without error. Now I have become accustomed to the hecticness of crossing roads, I fear I may get run over at home when the English motorists do not behave in the same manner, we shall see! Sure I will be fine! Getting back to the streets, this place is a shoppers heaven, not just for the excellent selection of interesting artifacts, but for the ease of finding what you want. Each road is named after what is sold in it, and essentially, each shop on the same road sells the same thing. There is a shoe street that sells such a large variety of shoe that you are spoilt for choice. Sweet street sells a colourful selection of treats, although still cannot find sour chewy sweets, such as Haribo, anywhere in the world other than at home. There is an instrument street that sells typical and traditional musical devices. Also there is a street for blacksmiths, silk, hats, tobacco, leather and even decorations for Christmas and other celebrations, among many other streets. Such an interesting place to look at stuff, and if we had the money, I could have spent a lot of it there. As well as shops there are street sellers, where you can always buy a bargain, however, they do hassle you when you do not want it. Along goes for the guys that stand outside of the restaurants telling you want to eat at their establishment, same, same!
We visited Hao Lo Prison, a historical vestige site. This was the prison where uprising Communists were held by the French during their occupation at the beginning of the last century, and was subsequently reversed when the Communists overturned the French and took power. Later during the American war (known to us as the Vietnam war in the 60s and 70s), the captured American pilots were held as prisoners here. It housed many political figures and pays tribute to them in the section of the building that still stands.
We realised that we have developed an addiction to buying cheap copied DVDs here, as many shops line the streets to do so. This has resulted in a new hobby of trying to find a DVD player to rent and a room with a TV that is within our budget. Hours of entertainment for us. They are all really good copies to, sweet!
Another of our favourite past times, whilst in the city, was to sit on the corner at Bai Hoi Junction drinking the cheapest beer in the world. It costs 2000 dong for a decent sized glass, which is less than 5p. Doesn't taste too bad either, I have certainly drank a lot worse than that. The reason that it is sold so cheap is that it has to be drank within 24 hours of being brewed, so they need to get rid of it as quick as they can. It was a very busy junction, with stands on every corner, and part of the way of leading streets. We sat on the most miniature red plastic chairs and chatted to random travellers who had the same idea as us. A very enjoyable moment in time.

After feeling that we have fully soaked the atmosphere of the capital city, we headed off on a 3 day trip of Halong Bay, one of Vietnam's most proud and beautiful National Park sites. It was very beautiful, reminded me a lot of the sights of New Zealand. Halong Bay consists of over 3000 islands of various sizes, rising out from the emerald waters of the Gulf of Tonkin. The fiords of limestone islets were dotted with white sandy beaches, caves and forestry slopes.
The first section of the trip was a boat cruise around some of the islands. Once you had seen some, they all seemed pretty similar, but the setting was just gorgeous to be in. We had a buffet seafood lunch on the boat as we sailed around, and shortly after visited some caves. The caves had only recently been discovered, but quickly enough had been decorated with a rainbow of coloured lights to show off the amazing stalactites and stalagmites that protruded from the edges of the cave. It was possible to see shapes of animals and faces within the surroundings, like looking at a sky of fluffy white clouds, although mostly all I could see where images of jellyfish. Despite the thousands (slight exaggeration) of people viewing the caves, and like wise on other boats, the views were not spoilt.
After a buffet dinner of seafood and tofu, we spent several hours playing cards and then spent that night in a private cabin on the boat, so cool. Had the most comfortable bed and pillow, although we were in darkness from about 10pm when the generator was turned off, needed an early night anyway.
The boat dropped us at Catba Island the next morning where we spent 2 hours trekking around the Catba National Park forest. Supposedly it is the island of monkeys, although the only monkey I saw was Adam (aahhhh (the Chinese year he was born in)). We spent most of the time clambering over rocks, which made me feel as if I was trekking like a monkey, perhaps that is where the name came from?! There were some amazing views of the jungle and the Halong Bay Islands, as we encountered a view mountain goats that wanted to take the path we were on.
After subjection to another buffet lunch of seafood, and without the watermelon dessert that other tables appeared to have, we set off on a smaller boat around the southern part of the island taking us to a kayaking hot spot. Sailing past floating villages in the water, where people have spent their whole lives living, we saw many dogs also living on the tiny platforms. It then became clear that they were not pets, but kept to be eaten, fattened up without room for exercise. Not a very pleasant thought. We spent just under an hour kayaking through some really still waters, like carving through glass at some points, it was so still. Chivo's first time in a kayak, entertaining it was. Shortly after we saw some vicious monkeys on a nearby beach, best to keep a distance. Apparently, one of the locals was saying that there aren't that many monkeys around anymore, as a result of being captured and sold to China for food! How mean, poor monkeys.
We had yet another buffet dinner of seafood, then got on the beers and explored the island's nightlife. We found a Kiwi bar playing the Pompey match, and played numerous games of jenga and connect four, beer in the other hand. All the town needed was a funfair and it would have been Blackpool. Bright lights glistened the streets that were otherwise lined with hotels and karaoke bars.
Nursing a mild hangover the next day we sailed back to the mainland and then back to Hanoi on the minibus, but not after another lunch of seafood. I like seafood, especially when it is free (or included in a trip) and you get a wide selection of it, but I was definatly fed up of eating it by that point, I craved meat. Back in Hanoi we had pizza and pasta, very tasty (think I should go to Italy).

Three hours in Hanoi, then travelling again. We caught the overnight sleeper bus to Hue. Although 1.85 meters in length, the beds were very narrow, and being in the middle row on the bus, I thought I would fall out. All was good though, as soon as they turned off that awful music. Twelve hours later we arrived in Hue, raring to go.

Setting off for a stroll, we walked across the bridge to the other side of the river, where the older part of town appeared to be. We decided to explore the Citadel, sort of like a town within a 10km perimeter wall, belonging to a former emperor and built in 1803. Currently, it is now much the same as the town outside, but housed several sites of historical interest. The main place was the Imperial Enclosure, where all the emperor's functions were held, a citadel within a citadel, er say. There is a high platform where he gave his speeches to the locals, opposite the flag tower outside. This flag tower has been destroyed and rebuilt on many occasions as a result of wars, but now flys the Vietnam flag with pride. Inside is the Forbidden Purple City (despite not being purple, and not being a city), historically being reserved for the emperors own personal use, with very few servants even being allowed within. It was almost completely destroyed by the Tet Offensive (when the Viet Cong first attacked the cities of the south during the Vietnamese new year (Tet), during the American war), but the landscapes have been restored to how they originally looked.
Next to the enclosure sits a display of artillery, tanks in particular, from the American war (the American war is thought to have been Vietnam's second war, the first being with the French). A row of self built Viet Cong tanks were over shadowed by the row of American tanks used by the Southern army. Almost twice the size as those that were made with whatever materials the resistance could find. They all looked as if they were burnt out, or very rusty, either option was a possibility. They must have all been abandoned after the fighting in the area, as all bore the evidence of destruction.
This was where we met a really friendly Shaolin monk cyclo driver, asked us what we thought about the war and said that his father had died in the war when he was 11 years old. He had lived his life in Hue, and trained in a nearby pagoda. We chatted to Thinh for a while, as it rained, then took his business card and agreed to meet up again.

The following day we were picked up from our hotel at 6am to go on a tour of the DMZ (Demilitarised Zone), to return 12 hours later, a very long day that was mostly spent on the bus. The DMZ is the area 5km either side of the Ben Hai River that separated the Republic of Vietnam (South) and the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North), which came from the South surrendering to the British and the the North surrendering to the Chinese after WW2. Ironically, this area saw much blood shed as the war developed, and was one the most militarized zones in the whole world.
We started off along Highway 9, 10km south of the DMZ and running parallel to the Ban Hai River. The Rockpile was the first site, named so because of the 230m high pile of rocks. The top of this mountain was used by the US marine corps as a lookout to spy on the Viet Cong. It has also been nicknamed as Monkey Mountain, as the Americans were attacked by monkeys when they first landed there.
Along the highway there are huge patches of jungle that are missing from the almost perfect view. This is the area where the Americans sprayed Agent Orange, and dropped Napalm bombs to clear the Viet Cong from the forest. The chemicals had eaten away at the vegetation, and much of the area will will never be any more growth.
Further along was Khe Sanh Combat Base, the site of one of the most famous and controversial battles in the war. It was hard to picture the site with as much bloodshed, as it is surrounded by vegetation and plantations of coffee and rice, with even a few houses in the near vicinity. 10,000 North Vietnamese, 500 Americans and many uncounted civilian bystanders died at the site to machine gun fire, the explosions of 1000kg bombs, white phosphorous shells, napalm and rounds of other artillery. The Americans fought to hold the site, and then on succession they cleaned up any evidence that could be obtained and used for the North Vietnamese propaganda, then deserted it and moved on. So ultimately it proved to be a pointless battle, well other than to kill. The air field at the site remains the colour of red mud, to this day nothing will grow there as a result of the battle. Exploded bombs and parts of crashed planes are on display, as well as mock bunkers and a museum. Local peasants walk around the site selling dog tags and medals of the dead soldiers and bullets that have been excavated from the surrounding areas. They risk running into an unexploded mine for a small amount of cash.
Highway 1 is the road that connects the north and the south together, over the Hien Luong bridge to cross the Ban Hai river. We drove across to the northern side of the river, where a huge set of loud speakers still remain that projected propaganda across to the southern side.
The Vinh Moc Tunnels are 2.8km of underground tunnels in the red clay mud on the northern side of the river, the last place we visited on the tour. Built by the Viet Cong to use as a base, and for families of civilians to live for safety from the bombing overhead. It took 18 months of hard work to build, but succeeded in protecting all those that resided there. 17 babies were born in a makeshift maternity ward. It was as tiny as all the rooms, only suitable to crouch, sit or lay in. The homes for families to live were just a chunk that had been taken out of the wall of the walkways, only big enough to sit a few people in. It was very dark down there, having only a few gaps for ventilation, hidden from view. The entrances were also disguised by shrubbery, so was unnoticeable to the those not in the know. It was bombed by the Americans on many occasions, but the tunnels remained unscathed from damage. The only exception was from a 'drilling bomb' that hit directly on one occasion, failing to explode. No one was hurt, and the hole it created was also used for aiding the circulation of air. The ground above bore the craters caused from the falling bombs that failed to touch the tunnels that were many meters below. Since the tunnels are beside the sea, they occasionally experienced gunfire from artillery in the sea. Very interesting to see how people survived the war. Picturing so many people down there and understanding what they must have gone through, it is a very scary thought. Through the tunnels I could just about stand up most of the time, but on occasion, even I had to bend over, poor Adam was constantly bent over. It must have been very claustrophobic for those in there.

For our last day in Hue we met up with our new friend, Thinh, the monk cyclo driver that we had met the other day. He took us on a motorcycle tour of some of the most important sights in the surrounding hills. The first place was the Thien Mu Pagoda, overlooking the Perfume River. This is the pagoda of the monk Thich Quang Duc, who set himself on fire and burned to death in protest against the policies of President Ngo Dinh Diem, in 1963. The Austin motorcar that he used to drive himself to the site of his protest in Saigon was on display. This is the monk that is on the cover of the self titled Rage Against The Machine album. His death inspired many similar self immolation from other Buddhist monks and other political protesters. The actual pagoda was built due to a legend of a fairy woman (Thien Mu) appearing and advising that a pagoda be built for the country's prosperity. On hearing this, the governor of the city, Nguyen Hoang, ordered the construction in 1601. As the legend depicted, as a result of the many associations to the anti-governmental demonstrations at or with members of the pagoda, the country's prosperity was indeed improved. The monk's tomb is at the back of the complex. Also housed there, to the side of the seven tired pavilion, is a 2052kg giant bell, that is said to be heard up to 10kms away, pretty crazy.
Thinh then took us to the pagoda where he trained as a monk, the same place where he teaches Kung Fu to novices, Tu Hieu Pagoda. It was incredibly beautiful, situated in the middle of a forest, with a small lake at the entrance and many beautiful flowers and bonsai trees. We arrived just in time for the end of the prayers (it was prayer day), the only day that female monks come to pray at this pagoda. 120 men live there, some as young as 7, and of many nationalities. Those in white robes were trainees, novices wear brown robes, and monks wear yellow robes. When women become novices that is when they shave off their hair, well the same goes for the men too. We watched them pray to all the Buddha statues in the room, kneeling on the floor and standing up, repeating it three times, as three is the lucky number. Thinh told us about his teacher, Thich Nhat Hanh, who seems to be one of the most important figures in modern Buddhism, other than the Dali Lamar. He is currently teaching in France, and has written many famous books. If it hadn't have been raining we would have seen all 120 monks doing walking meditation around the grounds, in a long line. Instead we were shown pictures of it. It was such a beautiful place, and I feel privileged that I got to go there and see it.
The next stop was the Royal Tomb of Tu Duc, constructed for use before and after his death (1848 - 83).He lived a life of luxury, having 104 wives but no children of his own, only an adopted son who's tomb is also there. One of his wives had the honour of being buried with him, the lesser wives had a separate burial tomb in the complex. He even had a theatre built there. It was more like living quarters than a tomb, pretty crazy really, it was huge.
We sat and chatted to Thinh for a few hours in a cafe, as the rain had got heavier and heavier outside. He was a very interesting man, he told us about his troubled life. He trained as a monk and became an expert at Kung Fu. The government knew of this, so sent him to fight in Cambodia as a commander, despite him having no formal military training. He was lucky enough to be one of the few Vietnamese who returned home from Cambodia after 4 years of terror. He watched one of his close friends die to the hands of the Khmer Rouge. He told us of how the government blind folded the troops on the way to Cambodia, so they did not know where they were going, to prevent them from escaping and running back to Vietnam. They had to fight. As an only child, he decided to get married to a young woman that he met teaching Kung Fu, and had two children, despite being a monk. He said that he spoke to his teacher, and he understood. There would have been no one to carry on the family name, and family is very important to the country. He loves his family dearly and is very happy with his life, Buddhism has taught him that.
After realising that the rain was never going to cease, we put on our Asian style rain covers and carried on. We visited an old American bunker and temporary hospital. The government doesn't like people to visit it, as many Viet Cong were killed here, but Thinh thought we should see it. I made sure to stick to the marked pathway.
Further along we saw an elephant and tiger fighting ring that has been there for over 1000 years. There were four small entrances for the tigers, and one large gate for the elephant to enter. Apparently the tigers always won, the poor elephant was most likely outnumbered. It was used up until 1945, the end of WW2. The tigers were bought in from China for the fights, and I think the elephants were local. Nearby was an old elephant tomb. The Buddhists worship the spirit of the elephant here, as it is considered to be a lucky animal. If it was that lucky though, surely it should have beaten the tigers, or wouldn't have had to fight in the first place.
Thinh took us back to his rented tin shack that he calls home. He lives there with his wife, mother and two children. It is very small for a house, and must be really crowded when they are all there. His wife cooked us a traditional dish of rice sheets and shrimp with fish sauce. We had to eat with chop sticks. I had recently mastered the art of eating with chopsticks, but the food was really slimy, so it took me ages to pick it up. The rice was really good, but I wasn't that keen on the shrimps. It has been really good meeting a local and learning about his life. It was time to leave now though, take a hot shower and get out of my wet clothes. As we parted he said I was his new sister.

It didn't stop raining for the whole night and when we woke the next morning it was still raining. I looked outside of the hotel and the alley way was flooded up to the first step. I found this quite exciting, then we found out that it was a lot worse in other parts of the town and the bus would therefore be late picking us up. It turned up an hour later. We were the first few on, and our bags were put on the back row of the bus, we wondered why. A little bit later we saw why. The roads were really flooded further up, so our bags would have got soaking wet if they were underneath. In some parts the water was so deep that the lower half of the bicycles and motorbikes were under water, and people were still driving then through the puddles. Hardcore people! I can certainly see why all the floors are tiled now, and why people sleep in hammocks. The journey was very cramped, bags filled the gangway. On the way to Hoi An we were wondering what it would be like. It is far more renowned for flooding than Hue in the rainy season. Looking forward to getting further south to the tropics again.

Take care everybody, talk to you again soon. XXX

---

Photos

Decoration Street
Hanoi.

Hao Lo Prison
Chivo in chains.

Bai Hoi Junction
Hanoi.

Stalactites
Looking like jellyfish inside the caves.

Halong Bay
And the floating village.

Sun Set
Halong Bay.

Halong Bay
From the forest of Catba island.

Floating City
Halong Bay.

Floating Fruit Shop
Halong Bay.

Military Artilery
Viet Cong tanks at the front, American tanks at the back.

Exploded Bombs
DMZ.

Vinh Moc Tunnels
Highway 1, DMZ.

Burning Monk Picture on Window of Austin Car
Thien Mu Pagoda.

Monk
Tu Hieu Pagoda.

Adam, Thinh and Chivo
In the rain.

Dragon Decorations
Royal Tomb of Tu Duc.

Elephant and Tiger Fighting Ring
The tigers entrance.

Elephant Tomb and Temple
Hue.

Our New Friend Thinh
And his mum.

Rainy Days
Hue flooding.

Comments

[sarah caldwell]

I love reading your blog, its really made me want to go out and travel. Hope you have a good xmas and new years.

[christine]

what a good idea to have a whole street selling the same things would save all the treking in and out of so many shops ...... good job you like seafood with the amount that you've eaten .. brain food .... wow .. so interesting to be shown round by a buddhist monk ... wonderful ... take care .. love you .. mum xxxxx