DAY21
| DAY21 |
VIEW THUMBNAILS | DAY23 |
|---|
We woke up early and were shuttled over to the river by two men on motorbikes. The morning was slightly cool and very misty. It looked very much like the previous evening had looked. The streets were wet and sky was overcast. We stepped onto a long narrow boat with several other tourists and bent over as we entered the cabin. There was a Vietnamese couple from Canada, a german couple, an Australian couple and two girls from Singapore. Everyone sat along the windows and peered outside. As we traveled up river we passed many family boats dredging the bottom of the river and hauling up the sand. I imagine they would sell the sand to some construction firm. Little children often peered from the doorways of their cabins and smiled. It looked like hard work and the entire family was involved in the process. The first stop was the Thien Mu Pogoda. The grounds were well kept and I knew why when I saw two monks trimming the large tree leaves with machetes. I asked one of them if I could take his picture. He agreed and gave me a big smile. I showed him the picture on the camera's lcd afterwards and he said it looked very good.
The next stop was the tomb of Emperor Tu Duc constructed in 1864. This was my highlight of the perfume river tour. We were given an hour to explore the grounds but it was definately not enough time. The tomb is not a tomb in the traditional sense. It is more like a park surrounded by a rather long wall with a lake in the middle. There were many structures inside including residences for the Emperor, his wives, concubines, and staff. According to the Lonely Planet guide, Tu Duc is not even buried here. He wanted to keep his grave a secret and had the 200 slaves, who helped bury him, beheaded.
To get to Khai Dinh's tomb we needed to depart the boat and take motorbikes along a very muddy road. There was a man in charge of all of the motorbike riders and Thanh negotiated our round trip for 50,000 dong. Still pretty expensive but cheaper than the asking price. The tomb of Khai Dinh was very grandiose. This was Thanh's favorite attraction. I liked it too. There were many statues, stairs, dragon banisters, tall spires, carvings, and beautifully decorated mosaics within the interior chambers. Unlike Tu Duc's tomb, Khai Dinh is actually buried within one of the chambers beneath a large sculpture of himself. On the way back, I almost tipped over along with my rider. The mud sometimes rose up to the level of my footpegs. My rider was old but very skilled and everytime I thought the bike was going to stall and I was going to have a mud bath he miraculously straightend the bike and picked up some speed.
When both Thanh and I arrived back at the boat dock, the manager of all the motorbike riders asked us for 60,000d. I couldn't believe it. Thanh argued with him for a short time but he remained adamant. I reluctantly gave him 60,000d and I still regret it to this day. I attribute my capitulation to my culture. Since I don't get swindled here in America, I had absolutely no skills for countering his intentions. I was taught to always be polite and to keep an open mind in the event I had made a mistake. I was made to feel like I had made a moral mistake and this guy did an awsome job of looking shocked when I originally gave him 50,000d. By the way, 60,000d is only 4 USD. Not a lot to me but it's the principle. On my next visit to Hue, I will be ready for this guy and all of his buddies. They will only get 10,000d from me plus a swim in the river after I throw them in.
We ended our trip with visits to the tomb of Minh Mang and Hon Chen temple. It was a long day and we were both exhausted. That evening back in Hue, we booked our tickets for the DMZ. I was very excited. We ate dinner at Mr. Do's guest house. I remember eating banana pancakes. They were pretty good. We perused through several scrap books filled with pictures of visitors to Mr. Do's. After we finished a white haired man smelling of alcohol walked in and sat down. It was Mr. Do. He was curious about Thanh and asked her a few questions in Vietnamese. He said he could guess what she did. He asked if she was a waitress or worked in a hotel. Thanh told him the correct answer and he was surprised. He told us that one of his sons was living in Southern California and that he had visited him once. Later Thanh would tell me that she was slightly uncomfortable around Mr. Do. She also didn't like how he went out at night to play billiards while his wife sat home and cooked for the guests. I thought he was a pretty great guy myself. ha.