The landscape changed rapidly from small urban to rural country. It never ceases to amaze me when you visit countries outside the United States how well they manage to utilize geographic space without defaulting to suburban sprawl. Within minutes we were in the midst of endless rice paddies, so picturesque with the farmers working in their traditional conical hats, ankle deep in water.

We passed through small villages with clusters of single and two story buildings, most with the usual ground floor commercial space (restaurants/cafes or stores selling any variety of goods) with their homes in the back or upstairs. In some cases the houses were quite sophisticated and modern, in others the architecture was very very old, even primitive. There were numerous "houses of worship" (Thu did not know how to translate but basically the Vietnamese Buddhists build shelter for their long dead ancestors as part of their religious practice). These structures were extremely elaborate, usually as Thu explained, financed and operated by the extended family. Designed in oriental style, most of the buildings were covered in mosaic tile detail with tile roofs and elaborate ornamentation.

The village market was difficult to describe - far more sophisticated than I've seen other places - perhaps because it is located so close to an urban center. People selling all types of things from children's toys to whisky to sugar cane juice to drink on the spot. People were playing various games. In one, people sat in pairs or solo in little grass huts with a kind of playing cards but on a stick. The man in charge walked around passing out additional "cards" as you requested (I guess) until someone yelled out that they'd won. It reminded me as a cross between bingo and poker.

Another merchant had a small suitcase stand set up with a child's spin game. If the spinner landed on a certain number, the child won a prize (all of which were also packed in his little suitcase on legs) He was happy to show us his set up and with Thu interpreting we learned he'd been making his living this way for 30 years.


There was also a cock fight going on, which we were quite happy to side step, and cafes set up for dining. Thu bought us some traditional sugar cane juice at a stand where a woman was repeatedly running 6 foot lengths of sugar cane thru a machine which crushed the sugar cane and the juice dripped out of a little hose into a bowl. The juice was combined with limes and placed in plastic bags with a straw, all tied in a rubber band so we didn't have to stand and drink it from her few communal drinking glasses.


The market was set on the edge of the village with roped off parking areas for the ubiquitous motorbikes - hundreds of them - and nearby was this incredible covered bridge built sometime in the 1700s (according to the sign) which was covered in tile work. It arched over the small tributary of a nearby river (or rice paddy, I can't recall) and dozens of people sat inside where it was surprisingly cool in contrast to the 100 degree heat outside. There were alters set up inside for incense and other alms.

We left and headed back to Hue to lunch at the "floating restaurant" located in a boat on the Perfume River, just a block or so from our hotel. Thu and Vien ordered several different dishes which we shared as is the custom, allowing Kelly and me a chance to try a variety of things. Vietnamese food is vastly different from Chinese or Japanese and I've been amazed at the array of things we've been presented with. It's all so very good but certainly for me at least it takes a little getting used to. The aromas and combination of tastes are unlike anything in Western cuisine and my palate if still trying to figure it all out. So always when asked what I would like, I suggest some fried rice - and although it's never been the same twice - at least it's familiar enough that my palate doesn't revolt.

We finally had a chance after lunch to go back to the hotel where Kelly and I had intended to lay by the pool for an hour or so and maybe even indulge in a greatly underpriced massage ($US14) or pedicure (about $US3, I think). We never got any farther than our beds. We awoke at about 5:58pm just in time for our handlers who were back on duty to show us more about Vietnam at 6pm.

Fortunately, Thu is good natured and didn't mind waiting a bit while we threw cold water on our faces and found something clean to put on. Thu had a real treat for us tonight and brought us to a small side street off the beaten path to a very traditional family run restaurant where only Vietnamese rice cakes were served. The place was small with mismatched tables & chairs and you could see the family's home in the rear. Now when I think of rice cakes, I think of those crispy things in the shape of a hamburger made from puffed rice and flavored cheese or plain or cinnamon spice that we buy in grocery stores. No, these are not that at all . . . .rather they are some time of glutinous rice base which are mixed with various ingredients, depending on the type, usually shrimp or pork or fish, usually ground or chopped up but also whole. The various ingredients are intricately wrapped in small almost single bite portions, in banana leafs for steaming. One variety we had came cooked in little round dishes about two inches across. Thu ordered perhaps five different kinds and she explained in great detail the different names and styles of cooking. But forget it if you think I have retained any of that. I ordered a coke in hopes the caffeine would help wake me up and we set about trying all these fascinating little morsels. The table was also covered in a variety of small bowls with different sauces and apparently, only certain sauces can be used with certain rice cakes because I seemed to cause a bit of a raucous when I used the wrong sauce on one of my rice cakes! For the most part it was all interestingly delicious. There was only one I couldn't get down - when I bit into it, it crunched in a way that made me rethink my decision to try it. I couldn't get it down and I was afraid it was going to come back up. I managed to delicately remove it from my mouth - I think without anyone knowing - and discarded it with some of the many banana leaves heading for the bin!

After dinner we picked up Thien who had been doing some English tutoring at a little side job he has and we all headed off for the Citadel for the Festival's evening events. Most all of the events are held at night when the weather is cooler (I'm betting it cooled down to at least 95degrees once the sun went down yesterday) and most all of the major ones are held in the Citadel which covers half the city on the northern side of the river. Since the Citadel is made up of so many buildings and squares and grassy areas, numerous stages have been erected far enough apart so as to not disrupt what's going on elsewhere. We hung around near the Forbidden City, the walled off area inside the walled off Citadel which was the home of the ancient royalty, until it was time for some of the shows to start.

Thu had to leave shortly after we first arrived but our good friend Ngoc joined us and the four of us wandered the various areas of the Citadel waiting for the "Oriental Show" to start. in one far off area we listened to a "jazz" band from Chicago which played a lot of Jimi Hendrix. We then moved to another staging area and watched a fascinating Indonesian or Thai dance performance.


Moving on into the back dark area of the Citadel there was a series of Chinese exhibitions of traditional lanterns, some 6 feet or more high, and nearby lanterns in a very contemporary style. Off in a distance we could also see fireworks going off but Thien explained they were no where within the Citadel but much farther away.

Finally it was time for the Oriental show which I had assumed was a performance piece. It turned out to be this spectacular fashion show with different segments put on by each of the different countries in Asia - Cambodia, Laos, China, Thailand, Indonesia, India and best of show - Vietnam. There was no printed program so I couldn't tell what the parameters of the show actually were. Some segments seemed to be very traditional dress, some a much more contemporary take on the old style, and some a mixture of the two. But the women were all incredibly beautiful: tall,lithe and svelte with long necks and their hair piled on top of their heads. It was an amazing sight to see.

In addition to the show itself, Kelly and I were both quite fascinated by the audience set-up. The long catwalk was a veranda area in front of a beautiful long & low historic building, the front of which was covered in lighted lanterns. But the veranda area was so wide, audience seating areas were able to be set up on either side. not chairs but colorful mats, nearly arranged in rows - perhaps 6-8 on either side of the catwalk, with small flat round carpets the size of a throw pillow perfectly arranged intermittently along the mats. Between the each row of mats votive candle holders were placed every 4-5 feet. Who went around lighting these hundreds of candles is beyond me and Lord knows they'd never be allowed in the US, not with the dozens of (well-behaved)children in the audience - who, by the way, each had a good time running around blowing out the candles at the end of the show! The whole set-up was quite spectacular to see.

To be continued...

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