We crammed in every thing we could this morning before we left Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) on our flight to Hue. Dong, our guide, met us at 9am and we drove around the city, stopping at Notre Dame cathedral, built by the French during the occupation in the late 1880s. We stopped briefly in the church before proceeding to the main post office, a most incredible French Colonial style building from the Vietnam's years of being ruled by France. I'd seen this building listed on all the tour itineraries and couldn't understand why til I saw it for myself. With a beautiful domed main hall and a large central kiosk area that now serves as a retail operation selling postcards and small Vietnam handicrafts, the building was decorated in rich wood and featured a bank of private telephone booths of a by-gone era, intricate inlaid tile floors and old wall maps of turn of the century Vietnam and SE Asia. We spent about a half hour buying postcards and stamps for notes home before wandering thru the gift shoppe. What I didn't realize at the time was that the government run gift shoppes are the best place to buy things, especially Vietnamese crafts. Carved wooden items including chopsticks and boxes, gemstones and jewelry, items made from silk, paintings and fans and trinkets of all sorts. The government stores seem to offer the best quality at vr reasonable set prices (what-no haggling?) as well as a wide assortment from which to choose. But it was too early in our trip for us to know this now and we didn't buy anything more.

Our last stop before lunch was the Vietnam War Museum (or American War as they refer to it). I had very mixed emotions about visiting this museum in view of the victor's slant on the outcome. I knew the exhibits would be presented with a great deal of bias. Much of what we saw was very disturbing and it left me yearning to learn more about this important world event that I lived through yet had no real intimate detailed knowledge. We allotted an hour and could have spent far more time but had to keep moving to stay on schedule.

Lunch was planned at a very casual Vietnamese restaurant that featured traditional "pho", the national dish for which the country is known. Pho is basically just a meat broth (usually chicken or beef) and noodle soup served in a big bowl. The waitstaff also brings a variety of greens, bean sprouts and other additives allowing you to customize the soup to your own pleasure. On each table are also a variety of sauces, chilies and other condiments. I have no idea what I added (Dong also added a few ingredients which I had no knowledge of). In Saigon pho is served with deep fried bread sticks which taste very much like heavy donuts (with out added sweetness of cinnamon or sugar). The whole concoction is really great!

En route to the airport we stopped at the Reunification Palace which was the residence of the South Vietnamese president before the war ended, now a museum and occasional conference center. Built (and rebuilt after a bombing) in the 1960s, the building is long and up high with a hallway featuring floor to ceiling windows that extends around its perimeter, allowing for a great cross breeze when all the windows are open, which they were today. The building is set in a park-like setting surrounded by a very high ornate wrought iron fence. There is a famous photo of Viet Cong tanks crashing thru the front gates on April 30, 1975 when Saigon fell.


We saw the President's greeting room, office and other ceremonial spaces as well as the war rooms (with original battle maps) and his private residence. The most fascinating space was the basement which was also a bomb shelter. With very thick walls, ancient computers the size of your car, and mobile phones the size of large shoe boxes, the basement was a warren of meeting rooms, offices, kitchen and tactical centers.

From here we raced to the airport which is only a few kilometers from the town's center, getting there in plenty of time for our 3:30 flight to Hue. Unfortunately our flight was delayed, perhaps due to rainstorms in the center of the country, right where Hue is situated. I worried what that might mean for the tonight's festivities planned for the Festival's opening celebration.

Hue is a very different place than Saigon which is such a big city. With only 335,000 people it has an interesting small city charm that immediately makes the visitor feel welcome. There are not a lot of tall buildings, save the few 5 star hotels that seem to be cropping up everywhere around the country. The road from the airport is filled on either side with little shops, most which evolve right into the family's home situated right behind or on the floors above. The sky was darkening quickly by 6:30pm when we were leaving the airport so it was impossible to take photos as we sailed past (not that that stopped us) but the sights were fascinating.

We were met at the Hue airport by two very young representatives, one from the Hue Friendship Office and the other from the City's Office for International Cooperation, since all the Hue city officials were attending the "feast" that was in progress for about 200 visiting dignitaries that had been timed to precede the evening's much anticipated Opening Ceremonies. I have no idea what the evening will consist of; I only know my host Mr. Anh insisted I get to Hue in time for 8 o'clock. Our greeters transported us from the airport to the government guest house situated right on the Perfume River, just across the river from Hue's historic Citadel. We had literally 5 minutes to drop our bags and change our clothes before dashing off to the Citadel where the opening night's festivities were planned.

Thien, our main guide and handler from the Hue Friendship Office (who works for Mr. Le Van Anh the person I've been communicating with for the past 3 years), said we needed to hurry because we'd have to walk the half mile or so as the streets were impassible due to the traffic. When we got back outside we saw what he meant. The streets were jammed with people and motorbikes, everyone trying to get to the Citadel in time. Tens of thousands of people were all rushing in the same direction. It was like a mass migration and everyone had one mission in mind. I've never seen so many motorbikes in my life, all hissing and putt-putting, headlights bobbing in and out of traffic, mostly traveling at a similar consistent speed since there was no way to get around or ahead as everyone was going the same place. As we crossed the river adjacent to the ancient Citadel, we could see the lighted riverboats plying the shimmering murky waters, where 7 giant illuminated pink lotus flowers, probably 10 feet or more across, had been installed to celebrate the festival. The streets were all festooned with lights and signs in honor of the event and there was an air of excitement around us.


The inside just inside the citadel walls had been transformed into a huge stage area with multiple giant video screens and a central viewpoint area consisting of staggered performance stages of 4 or 5 levels which probably stretched about 250 feet from end to end. We were fortunate to have VIP seats in bleachers which actually allowed us to sit, along with a thousand or so other VIPs, while masses of people were forced to stand or sit on the ground. It was difficult to see just how many people were there in total as the crowd stretched in either direction as far as our sightlines would let us see. I could see humongous video screens placed intermittently in either direction allowing the growing crowds a good view of the on-stage performances. The whole scene reminded me of the opening ceremonies in New Haven for the Special Olympics World Games back in 1995 but multiplied numerous times over both in terms of the size of the stage and the size of the crowds.


The performance began shortly after 8pm and just as the speeches ended and the performers commenced, I felt the first of the raindrops. I silently prayed that the rain would pass us by as dozens of performers in colorful costumes began to fill the various levels of stages. The music was incredibly loud - such a sound system I'd never heard before - and the lights overwhelming. But the whole scene was spectacular. Unfortunately, the rain drops increased in size and number and before long we were sitting in a steady rain that showed no signs of giving up. Kelly and I agreed we'd sit it out even though we didn't have a rain poncho or even an umbrella - in our haste to get out of our room we barely had time to wash our face & hands. Thien, who couldn't get into the VIP seats since he was considered "staff" checked in to see if we were going to tough it out. We said we would. But after 45 minutes or more the rain was steady (and for the first time since setting foot in this country we were actually a little chilly). We were drenched to the skin and half the VIP section had emptied out. Unfortunately, it was time for us to give it up as well, as much as we hated to leave.


Thien walked us back across the river to our room where we discovered that the government guest quarters building didn't have internet (or any other) services and decided perhaps it would be more advantageous for us to move to a hotel around the corner from the Hue Friendship Offices. So we re-packed our suitcases of the few things we'd dragged out in haste and contemplated how we were actually going to make the move the mile or so away. Thien's motorbike would never work but there were no taxis to be had - the taxi drivers having either taken the night off to go to the festivities themselves or were tied up with other customers. So we did the next best thing - Thien went out and flagged down two "cyclo" drivers - those guys who ply the streets of all the cities in bicycle-powered rickshaws looking for fares. There are hundreds if not thousands of these guys in all the cities but especially where the tourists frequent and it's amazing what they've been seen transporting on the busy streets. But the locals take them too, especially in the most oppressive heat, moving not only themselves for all sorts of cargo from place to place. So for each driver to take one of us and our relatively large suitcase and carry-on bags was nothing unusual for them. But Kelly and I felt particular remorse as we piled what seemed like hundreds of pounds of our stuff and ourselves onto their tiny vehicles and we paid them twice the 50 cent fare for the fun of the overall experience.

The Asia Hotel suits us just fine. It's truly an Asian hotel, nothing American or Western about it and is just the experience I'm enjoying here.

To be continued...

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