Victims of a Drive-By Conversation
Trip Start
Sep 17, 2007
1
134
272
Trip End
Oct 08, 2008
Hue,
Vietnam
Sunday, March 16, 2008
The bicycles were way old school, and the brakes were slighly shoddy, but they worked, and we were off. The beginning was easy, we made the first two turns without any trouble at all, and it appeared that we would be well on our way. As we were rolling down one hill a woman pulled up to me on her motorbike and asked me some questions, but I blew her off. Farther down the hill another woman did the same thing, and for some inexplicable reason I didn't blow her off
biking on the street
. Travis and I always wonder how many genuinely kindly people we ignore because we're trying to defend ourselves against touts. One must always be prepared to part with some money if one gets oneself into something as simple as a conversation. We're not usually prepared to part with money, so we blow people off. This woman was very friendly. She asked me where I was going and where I was from, to which I responded, "from?" This led her to believe I was from France, and then she started speaking French to me. Fortunately for me my French was better than hers and we stuck to English. I never intended it to go as far as it did, and that is my only excuse for letting her believe I was French. She told me to follow her, she was going to her village by the tombs and she would go slow so I wouldn't get lost.
"No, no, I think we'll stop to take lots of pictures. You don't need to go slow for us." But she was undeterred. We rode through some lovely countryside, and 12 kilometers melted away much faster than I ever would have guessed. I only realized how far down the river we were when I noticed the sign for a tomb farther south than the one we thought we might go to because 12 kilometers was too far (the tomb we thought of seeing was 5 km from town, which was a very easy distance)
elephant guards
. So, at the very least, I must be thankful to this woman for getting us to the tomb I really wanted to see, which was that of Minh Mang. She chatted to me much of the ride. I learned that she had five children and was 47. I would never have guessed she was so old, but that is a very Asian trick, having an ambiguous age appearance. She had been in Hue that morning selling pineapples at the market and was on her way home to rest with her family because it was Sunday, a "holy day." Eventually we came to a bridge across the river and I asked if that was the way to Minh Mang's tomb, she replied in the affirmative, but then led us down another road. It was then that I really knew - before I'd only suspected. She was taking us home. I asked Travis if this was alright and he said, "why not?" So off we went. Naturally it was "come to my house for five minutes," but this is never the reality. As we rode in we saw her youngest son playing in the yard (don't think of it too conventionally - it didn't have grass), and she asked us to sit down and her daughter Mi came out and introduced herself, "I'm Number Three." Travis found this amusing.
Mi is in her first year at university in Hue. She studies economics and is very intelligent. We chatted about school and the US and various other things
mandarins
. Her mom came out and offered us pomplemousse. This confused Travis until I told him that I was French, and so she had told me I was eating a grapefruit in French. After a short while the mother came out and offered to take us to the tomb and then we would come back and she would make us lunch. I looked at Travis - this was our last out, but he shrugged, and Mi said, "why not?"Why not, indeed. Off we went. I got to ride on the motorbike, but Travis had to ride his bike because he was the boy. He rather resented this. Oh well. We took the back roads to get to the tomb and approached it from the boat lauch area. I am seriously unconvinced that we wouldn have found it if left to our own devices, but it is possible. Maybe there's another entrance with slightly better sign posting. It was a nice ride, being on a dirt path along the river.
I wasn't totally sure what would happen once we got to the tombs, but I was prepared to pay mom's entrance. She just pointed us in the right direction and sat down with a neighbor who sold drinks, though. Travis said, "So she's just going to sit there and wait for us then?" "Yes..." "Well that's awkward." "How about this for awkward - she thinks I'm French and I don't know what to do!"
You see, one of her daughters is a linguist, and she speaks English and French, and after dinner I would get to speak French with her. Lovely. All of my French has succumbed to Spanish, leaving my sentences in rather peculiar and stilted pockets of both. And while I never hesitated to speak French in class, all of the French people I've met I've been far too tongue-tied with, so French is not exactly my strong suit at the moment
before the tomb
. It was easy to let it be with the mom, but that simple allowance was about to be shattered, if it wasn't already by the fact that we told Mi that we were from the US. Awkward. We left all this behind us and entered the first pavilion inside the tomb's walls. The couple pavilions in the area were nothing too exciting, but they're there to pay homage to the Emperor and that makes them interesting. More interesting is the courtyard, which is lined with life-sized military and civil mandarins. There are a couple elephants for good measure, but unless these are calves they are not life-sized. Wandering around behind these we came upon two enormous pillar-stelae. I have no idea what they were for, but they were very big.
This tomb was that of the Emperor Minh Mang, the second emperor of the Nguyen dynasty (which is pretty much the only dynasty that controlled all of Vietnam, and is therefore pretty much the only one you hear about). He was famous for fusing nature and architecture in delightful and visually appealing ways, and his tomb is no exception. He was also a fan of crescent lakes.
We crossed the bridge spanning the lake to view the burial chamber of the Emperor
a beautiful place
. It turns out that this is not possible due to the fact that the chamber is enclosed in a circular stone wall that is only opened on Tet and the anniversary of the Emperor's death. Even if we could have gone inside this wall we wouldn't have seen anything special because the burial chamber is entirely underground. A sign told us that the chamber was a sort of palace-city for the Emperor. Of course inside were various riches, and his coffin was carried from Hue underground (don't ask me how this magical feat was accomplished, Hue being a full 12 kilometers distant) before being sealed into place forever more. The majority of the complex is undeveloped. It seems they put up signs describing points of interest before the points of interest were actually restored or put in place. At one point I was reading a sign about a building and what it was used for, after which I looked up and said, "What building?" Also there are really no paths. In order to get to the signs Travis and I waded over to them, but it was more entertaining this way. I'm sure in no time at all it will be a fully developed tourist center. Now, however, considering the amount of territory one is able to cover, we decided that the entry price was a little ambitious.
Oh, and just so you know, it's a UNESCO World Heritage site
family trip
. Having wandered around the grounds for a little while we made our way back to mom. For a couple minutes we sat and bought expensive sodas from her friend. We bought one for her, too. Then we were on our way back to the house for lunch.
When we arrived we met Bi, who introduced herself as "Number Two," and her mother brought us a yummy bowl of noodle and tomato soup. Bi is majoring in linguistics and her English was almost perfect. She told us all about her schooling, which is nothing at all like ours. Every morning she bicycles to Hue where she has classes most similar to our high school classes. Upon choosing a major, the students have their classes preselected, and they stay in the classroom while their teachers file in and out. It was very interesting to learn about, and very different from the way we of the American variety go about university.
We also discussed the US at length. Bi, like her sister, would like to visit the US, but she was concerned that it was very violent. Of course, in Vietnam people aren't just allowed to have guns, so this was one of her concerns. Apparently she'd also had an American professor who, unable to afford housing while in school, lived in the ghetto
the tomb itself
. Sounded like he told his students some lovely stories. We said that it really depended on where you were. Really, it's not all that different from Vietnam (possibly sans gangs...she was also worried about those), but you run into crime in cities and in the country people leave their doors unlocked. Same, same. I don't think she was entirely convinced by our arguments, though. She still seemed to think the US was very violent. Ah well. Her mother had decided it was time for us to go. We knew what to expect, but it still put a sour spot on a really lovely day. Bi's education is very expensive, it costs 800,000 dong per month. Do you think you can help her? I looked at Travis and asked him if 100,000 was okay in Spanish. He nodded. I pulled out a bill and handed it to the mom. She said, "One week is 200,000 dong, can you give us 200,000?" To which Travis responded, "I think that's enough." I, on the other hand, looked miserable (not, I think, unlike Bi herself, who got to sit with us this whole time), before saying, "We can't afford 200,000." At this Bi stood up and said, "This will help with my education. Thank you very much."
I scribbled our contact information on a piece of paper and told her that if she or her sister was ever in the US they could come and stay with us, but I think that we'll never even get an email
the family that kidnapped us
. That's okay. We took a picture and then left. Riding back to town we discussed our experience. We talked about how it was a bummer that people never just want to talk to you, and you have to be prepared to part with money if you engage in something like we just did, even if it is a great experience. When you're a Westerner you're a walking ATM. I noted that my sister also can't really afford her education but I never give her money. Travis pointed out that I've probably given her ridiculous amounts of money, to which point I acceded. We just don't have the culture of asking foreigners for money...proabably because we've got it (and scholarships and bank loans). Anyway, for most of the ride back to town we talked about giving people money and what it means in life. And I felt like we were stupid for spending 45,000 dong on sodas and then saying we couldn't afford to give away more money. We really couldn't, and left to our own devices we wouldn't have bought the sodas at all, but we were being expansive due to circumstances and that ended up not being helpful at all. Life when travelling is a great connundrum.
Back in Hue we made a short sidetrip to the Thien Mu pagoda, a Vietnam landmark. It's a working monastery, and the octagonal pagoda has Buddhas in many of its little niches
on the river
. It's simple and pretty. The grounds aren't large, so it doesn't take long to see the pagoda. Travis scampered around a courtyard full of bonsais for a while, though. I liked the large bell that can supposedly be heard for ten kilometers when it is rung. Other than the pagoda itself, Thien Mu is known for having on display the Austin car that delivered the monk Thich Quang Duc to the Saigon street corner where he proceeded to set himself on fire. His self-immolation was the first in a string of such immolations in protest of the South Vietnamese government's treatment of Buddhists. On the car and behind it are photos of the monk burning with the car in the background, and to the left of the car are a portrait of the monk and a photograph of his heart, which didn't burn and is therefore attributed to his holiness. It's at once sobering and incredible.
Back in town we went in search of banh khoai, the famous Hue pancake. We were only looking for a snack, but apparently the way the locals eat them is by ordering a bunch and munching down. Unfortunately for us we'd only recently had lunch, and it was too early for dinner. But they were super delicious and also the only thing on the menu in the restaurant where we stopped. Next to our table a woman was cooking the pancakes (which are actually nothing like pancakes and involve meat, vegetables, and peanut sauce) on a complex grilling-frying contraption. Mmm, delicious fresh food.
So after a long day we stayed in the hotel and relaxed, and tomorrow we'll be off to Hoi An.
Erin
