tết tết tết tết đến rồi

So ... Tết is here. There were a lot of screw-ups on my part with the dates ... details, schmetails ... and so I missed going to Hà Nội. Instead I met Patty in Huế. It was a lucky day, that one. I finished teaching at 12:30 and went home at around 2. I hadn’t been able to get a ticket direct to Huế and so was booked on a business-class flight to Đà Nẵng, followed by a three-hour taxi ride to Huế. I figured I’d arrive in Huế at around 11 or so. I was taking a rather lackadaisical approach to packing when it dawned on me that 16:00 was not 6:00. At 3:00 p.m. I knew in my heart of hearts that I wasn’t going to make the 4:00 flight, but still I flew out of the apartment and was successful in indicating the urgency of my mission to my taxi driver. He was heroic in his efforts, but alas, the ticket counter for my flight had closed by the time we got there. I was not too optimistic about getting a standby flight on a domestic flight ... imagine any NA airport on the Friday before Christmas ... but I felt it was worth trying. My back-up plan was to go to Chiang Mai, as I had heard international flights still had some seats. However, you can imagine my joy when the nice lady at the Vietnamese Airlines counter told me there was a seat on a flight to Huế in less than an hour. Prayers of gratitude aplenty. So there I was in Huế with Patty in just a couple of hours. No fuss, no muss! I didn’t really know much about Huế before I got there ... and I can’t say I know a lot more now. It is a very ancient place with some lovely wide boulevards along the Perfume River. Much of the city was destroyed during the war. We went to a couple of tombs of ancient feudal lords, namely, Thu Duc and Khai Dinh, and to the Citadel which is akin to the Forbidden City. It is in a state of disrepair in some places, but there are efforts at reconstruction and you can tell it will be monumental as those efforts progress. Right now, it is still amazing and the scope of the Citadel was very unexpected ... at least partly because of my ignorance. We visited a lovely pagoda and took a dragon boat along the Perfume River back to Huế.
Huế was full of flowers ... mostly tall (1 meter) bright golden-yellow chrysanthemums. The boulevards were lined with thousands of these plants. They were brought in from Đà Lạt for Tết. I knew flowers were important for Tết, but I had no idea .... the major disappointment in Huế was the number of touts and hawkers who just would not take no for an answer. I would like to go back and spend more time seeing some of the historic sites, but would have to think twice, as there was no peace to look and see, except in the midst of the Citadel. Too bad.
We had met a nice tour guide, Bao, who helped us with our tour and he took us to Hội An. We left a day earlier than we had planned because I had tried to push our days back with my scheduling screw up and all, but had not heard from our hotel in Hội An to know if we could delay our arrival. We had a really nice day ... driving over the mountains and along the coast. We were both shocked at the development around Đà Nẵng – so many western resorts along the coast. No wonder, the beaches are great. We went to what is called China Beach and is probably quite a bit south of the China Beach of TV fame. The very southern end of these beaches is Cửa Đại and that is the beach associated with Hội An. When we got to our hotel, the Orchid Garden Guest House, we were sad to discover that there was no room for us, as they had cancelled the night, as requested. The message was never related back to us from Agoda, our booking agency. But Bao came through for us and helped us find another place for the night (and also arranged for the taxi to come and take us free of charge to the Orchid Garden the next day). Then he got on his trusty steed and charged off into the Vietnamese sunset, ready to do more good things! What a guy.
Hội An was just great. What a wonderful town. It reminded me a bit of San Miguel de Allende minus the gringos. So picturesque. Although there are plenty of tourists, it is still very much a Vietnamese town ... with some Japanese and Chinese influences. It was a famous port city in the 1700s ... Chinese and Japanese merchants thought Hội An was the best destination for trading in all of Southeast Asia. According to Wikipedia, the Japanese believed the heart of all of Asia (the dragon) lay beneath the earth of Hội An. It was largely forgotten after a change in dynasties, when more trading went to Đà Nẵng. So it remained largely unchanged for 200 years ... and was mercifully spared much damage during the war (with both sides agreeing to spare Hội An). It is a UNESCO World Heritage site and wow, you can really tell why. It is renowned in Vietnam for its tailors and lots of people get clothing made there. It is also a city of lanterns and during the new moon every month, the electricity is turned off in the old town and the area is illuminated only by lanterns. It is absolutely lovely. Although tourism is an extremely important part of the city’s economy, there are lots of artists and designers and just regular people there. And there was far less pressure on tourists from street sellers, so things are generally easier than in other places. We found lots of neat restaurants and art galleries and a couple of fair trade shops that are employ people with disabilities. Every day was an opportunity to encounter some new lovely thing and meet some nice person. We thought the Tết flowers in Huế were beautiful and the flowers in Hội An were equally so ... and with the lanterns, it all seemed very magical. I can hardly wait to go back when Patricia and Sally come back in April.
We did go to Mỹ Sơn very early one morning to see the sun rise above the Champa temple ruins. It was so nice to be in the woods and to be in the quiet. Although the temples were partially ruined by time and even more so by American B52 bombers, there was some sense of them being reclaimed by nature. We met some very cute little novice monks at a pagoda down the street from our hotel. The oldest one's name was Phương, and he had excellent English. We also went to the beach one evening and had a lovely conversation with a young woman selling trinkets on the beach. Her name was Thu Thinh and she had a really great smile and a very good approach. One very funny thing happened after Patricia and I had had a lovely lunch at a restaurant called the Morning Glory (cooking class in April?). We were walking down one of the main streets in the ancienttown, as they call it, when I heard my name being called. I turned and there was a student from RMIT, named Kim! I had covered a class for an ill teacher one day ... their first day in L4 ... and we used to see each other in the halls. Her father is an artist in Hội An. They invited us in and gave us cold water and fruit and we sat and chatted with her and her parents for a while. We didn’t have time to explore or look at his work because we had an appointment for massages, but we will go and see them again when we go back to Hội An. Small world!
Since leaving Hội An and returning to Hồ Chí Minh City, we have gone and done many things. More amazing Tết flower displays. So many things are closed that Patricia has yet to see the city in its full form. We have been to some museums and restaurants, but some of the best places, including many stores, have been closed. We have seen some lion dancers, including these cute little boys. We did go to the Mekong one day (see water buffalo). It was so strange to see so many boats parked and the river so quiet. Eveyone gone home for Tết! We have gone on some city bus rides. We've been lost a few times and had a very funny time trying to get to a particular pagoda ... Chùa Huê Nghiêm and have had some amazing experiences visiting other pagodas and temples over this holiday season. Four days and counting ... some places still closed! We shall persevere in seeing as much as we can see and doing as much as we can do. See http://www.flickr.com/photos/raven_chick/ for more pics. Chúc mừng năm mới ... hope the Year of the Tiger finds you well and happy. All the best!