Into the Zone

Just north of Hue, the 2000-km long nation of Vietnam narrows to a 45-km wide waist. Cutting east-west across this thin strip of mountanous land between the East China Sea and the Laotian border is the Ben Hai River. At approximately 17 degrees north of the equator, this is where the (always mentioned in quotes) "temporary" dividing line between North and South Vietnam was drawn to facilitate free elections as the French were kicked out of the country in 1954.

Things changed, and by the time the American War was ramping up, a 10-km-wide zone straddling the Ben Hai River became the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) separating American forward bases (working, of course, in partnership with their friends in the Saigon-based government of the South) and the relentless spread of communism - first through French Indochina, then to the rest of the World! Or something like that.

Our tour through the DMZ took us up into the mountains north of Hue, which is nasty country in which to try to fight a war, but an absolutely beautiful landscape. We drove through rubber tree plantations, gum tree forests, coffee fields, and even farms where black pepper is grown.

Along the road that once connected US Army bases located south of the DMZ, we visited a rural village, where people are living a largely agrarian lifestyle. Despite the rapid growth of the major cities in Vietnam over the last decade, more that 70% of Vietnam's 90 Million people work in farming. In the mountainous parts of the country, some of these people still live in small villages of houses built on stilts to keep the snakes and bugs out.

The less idyllic parts of the area are a long list of well-known landmarks for students of the Vietnam War: The Rockpile, Hamburger Hill, Khe Sanh.

The battle of Khe Sanh was a major turning point in the American War. As such, the Vietnamese victory is commemorated with a large statue in the townsite, and the nearby location of the former US Marine forward base has been left to go to fallow, except for a small museum and the standard collection of discarded American military equipment?...

Including, at this location, a freaking C-130!

Our long tour ended with a visit to the Vinh Moc tunnels. this was a village north of the DMZ that suffered intense bombardment from sea and air during the height of hostilities, as US forces attempted to stop the flow of weapons and soldiers along the Ho Chi Minh Trail. The villagers took refuge from the contestant bombardment by tunneling into the hard clay earth. Unlike the Cu Chi tunnels - which were built to facilitate guerrilla fighting in areas of ground fighting, the Vinh Moc tunnels were just a survival technique for local residents. They were not designed for quick escape, but for longer-term survival, sometimes for weeks on end. As such, they were bigger and had living areas, kitchen areas, and even a maternity room where several children were born.

Ahh... This is all too depressing, the whole damn war is just too depressing. We are headed south to where the sun should be out. The South China Sea is just too stormy in these parts.

 

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More Hue

The weather in Hue has been less than spectacular. Not nasty a far as tropical depressions can be, but breezy, rainy, and cool. Daily high temps have not been out of the mid-teens since we arrived. Still, it isn't a beach town, so we dug our sweaters out from the bottoms of our packs, donned our Vietnam Sun Dresses, and hit the town.

Hue, as I may have previously reported, was a Capital City during several Dynastic rulers of Vietnam, including the last Emperors (the Nguyen Dynasty ended here in 1945 when they turned over rule of the Northern half of Vietnam to Ho Chi Minh). As it was the seat of Empires during the times that emperors did this sort of thing, the City includes a large walled portion: the Citadel,

which contains an inner walled portion: the Imperial Enclosure,

which also contains an inner walled portion: The Forbidden Purple City.

I think the rain is getting to Tig.

All the walls and moats were good for keeping out the Mongols, but not the artillery of the French War and the massive aerial bombardment of the American War, so much of what was the glorious interior of the Imperial enclosure was destroyed or damaged.

Although nothing but rubble remains of the Forbidden Purple City (which was only accessible to the Emperor and his Family) many of the temples, residences, gardens and offices of the Imperial Enclosure are open for touring as a long restoration process is being undertaken.

No military/historic site in Vietnam would be complete without displays of abandoned or destroyed Imperialist weaponry. Here an AD-6 with some prop issues.

A surprise display of Vietnamese advanced tech from the American War - a MiG-21. Hard to believe this riveted- together claptrap flew at twice the speed of sound. Oh, those Russians!

Along with the sights, Hue provided opportunity to sample some of the unique cuisine of the Hue region of Central Vietnam. They like their bun (fine rice noodles, thinner than pho but served the same way) spicy around here, but also have some unique dishes.

We had "banh khoai" at a little shop just off the street, then again at several other places - it was that good. This is a fried rice-flour pancake with some ground shrimp and pork on it. It is served with a variety of condiments, and is despite appearances, it is not eaten like breakfast at De Dutch. First you stick a bit of salad greens and fresh herbs into your little soup bowl and garnish with shredded onion, carrots, cucumbers, fresh garlic, hot chillies, and chili paste (if brave). Then you stick about half of your loaded pancake into the bowl, and smother it all with a cold gravy made from fermented soya beans and spices. Holy shit, it's good.

We were also repeat customers on "banh beo", which are steamed rice paste patties topped with ground shrimp and a variety of other savory flavours. These were served by the tray of up to a dozen individual saucers, which you cover with a sesame-oil based sauce then pop in your mouth as a single-spoon serving.

Finally, we enjoyed some if the freshest spring rolls ever, in that we rolled them ourselves at the table. The delicate rice paper was stuffed with a grilled pork mixture (that was grilled over flame while skewered on a stalk of lemongrass!) and the shredded onion, cucumber, and fresh herbs, all dipped in spicy soya sauce. In our inexperienced hands, a slightly messy treat!

These put the smile back on Tig's face. We discovered that pretty much anything (excepting soup) in these parts can be mixed with some fresh veggies, wrapped in rice paper and dipped in some sweet- savory-spicy sauce. Good times. If only we could find a place to wash these tasty treats down...

 

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Hue

The train took us to Hue over about 12 hours. We were in soft sleepers, so we got a bit of a snooze, but the music, the partying Dutch hooligans next door, and the second hand smoke (free!) might have disturbed the sleep a bit.

My rumbling tummy didn't bother me too much, although it would limit the distance of my venturing from the hotel on our fist day in Hue, but that is all I'm going to say about that.

Hue is a river town, and a former Capitol, with some pretty random preserved heritage buildings amongst rapid new development. Sound familiar to anyone back home?

The first impression we got of Hue is of the ample green space that lines both shores of the Perfume River - the lazy muddy waterway that bisects the town - as well-maintained waterfront parks line much of the shore. There are several other small rivers, canals, and moats (more on them later) that cut through the City, so it seems we're always crossing a bridge. This makes navigating by foot much easier on the narrow twisty roads - just count the rivers you cross and note which bridge you used.

Our first day wanting the (closer) streets of Hue led us to a few older Pagodas (Pagodi?)

...and the expansive old waterfront market that had an absolutely spectacular variety of fruit and vegetables.

But mostly, we caught the ambience, and had our first Bahn Khoai.

 

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Understanding Marlon Brando

The horror...

The... Horror...

 

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Ha Long 2

While noodling around the 2,000 islands that fill Ha Long Bay, we were rarely out of sight of a small 2- to 10-person fishing boat. The traditional fishing practices of the area involved small family groups who rarely left the water - they were born, lived, and died on fish boats and small floating homes with fish nets attached where live catch could be fattened up.

At some, the revolutionary government of Vietnam brought revolutionary things to these rural backwaters: things like schools, medicine and all the conveniences of modern life. They faced a problem familiar to those of us in colonial nations: how do cost-effectively deliver these services to essentially nomadic people living in small community groups. Naturally, they came up with a solution that is also familiar: a Reserve System.

The Vietnamese Government assembled the fishing families of Ha Long into several floating villages, populations between 300 and 500 people. this allowed them to build a floating school for the children, a floating community hall, and provide for many of the modern conveniences (yes, we even saw TV antennae and heard Karaoke machines) while allowing the fishing families to continue their fishing ways.

We toured one of these villages, being guided around by a local woman paddling a bamboo boat. This village subsisted on fishing, but also had a pearl farm attached, and we saw how cultured pearls were created by opening the young oyster and inserting a small irritant and a mother-of-pearl nucleus.

Schlepping gawking tourists around by bamboo boat also appears to be an important part of the local economy.

The next 18 hours were a bit of a blur, as we spent 4 of them being battered by the Vietnam highways system in a mini-bus, 2 of them buying provisions and pho' on the streets of Hanoi, and 12 of them watching a very wet countryside go by on the train to Hue.

We are headed south, looking for some sun.

Oh, and I am getting the sense that the general digestive malaise I am currently feeling might not be a result of my bar bill on the boat, but of something I might have eaten. That would be a first for me, as I have always had a bit of an iron stomach when traveling. Wish me luck!

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