Much of our past week was carefully planned and executed by our intrepid and knowledgeable guide, Anh. Anh has lead many a TOP tour over the years and his skill and expertise in finding hotels, out of the way sites for our veteran buddies, dealing with the local authorities and police, selecting delicious local food and informing us of the Vietnamese culture is boundless.
But there are surprises...some good and some not so good.
We were not even out of Hoi An last Thursday when we encountered mayhem on a tiny local bridge. A taxi coming from the opposite direction blocked our way and as usual there was a stand-off. The cyclists and people on motor bikes just squeezed through while the drivers of the taxi and our bus stared at each other. Our bus finally backed down and then we squeezed by the taxi with inches to spare.
There was no shaking of fists or honking, just a lot of jockeying and maneuvering. This set the tone for the next four days...a lot of patience and good natured wonderment.
We were heading for Lang Co, a short way up the coast and over the Hai Van Pass. As we inched through the city of Da Nang, Anh took the bus mike and asked if anyone would like to take a small detour to view the giant statue of Quan Am, the Vietnamese Bodhisattva of compassion, commonly called Lady Buddha. I shyly held up my hand and others joined, so off we climbed up Monkey Mountain to see this wonder. I was naively expecting to have a quiet contemplative moment or two and to burn some incense in the pagoda. Ha!!! Tour buses jammed the parking lot and people posed at the base of the statue. But she was beautiful in a large sort of way. The size of the people at the bottom of the photo give you an idea of the magnitude of this statuary.
Up and over the Hai Van pass we went, grinding along behind huge trucks. There is now a tunnel route through the mountain, but trucks must take the old highway. The day was cloudy, so the vistas were limited.
Onward, towards Lang Co, we stopped at another overlook. I wandered into the very primitive road side rest stop. In the dingy and dirty interior I was horrified to spot the "unique" local alcoholic beverages.
Yup....a snake and a crow soaked in rice wine...."Very good for the health", said the proprietress. Right!!!! This did not rank as a good surprise.
But the Lang Co Beach Resort did! An older holiday resort favoured now by the Vietnamese, but on this occasion eerily quiet. I spied perhaps 20 other guests on the rambling property. The beach both in the evening and early morning vacant of human activity. Our cottages were clean and the sound of the surf soothing. No dreams of snake wine or traffic jams.
On our way to our destination the following morning we whizzed by pig washes. Like a giant car wash of sorts, truckers taking pigs to market, stop to hose down their load of pigs so that they will arrive looking fresher and healthier. Extraordinary!
The city of Hue, the Imperial City of old Vietnam, is steeped in culture. We saw nothing of this culture though as we were committed to two projects with our Tours of Peace group; the first an event at an old high school from which Ho Chi Minh graduated. Here we presented 80 scholarships to poor children who, although achieving top grades, would not be able to attend school if not for our support with fees. This is always a stirring event, with shy students trouping onto the stage to get their envelopes which ensure another year at school.
In the afternoon it was off to the Duc Son orphanage, where upwards of 150 children from infants to high schoolers are sheltered and loved by Buddhist nuns.
No surprises here at Duc Son, the kids were as excited as ever to have some fun and eat a nutritious meal provided by our group.
The next day was LONG! We travelled north and west towards the mountains and the Laotian border. An important stop was within viewing site of the ridge where one of our veteran companions had been severely wounded and air lifted during the war. We held an impromptu ritual, lighting incense to honour our companion's two buddies who died that day beside him in his fox hole.
On the itinerary were also two stops in Montagnard Villages. Poverty was clearly evident, but the people were welcoming and of course the kids loved the goodies we handed out, stickers, combs, toothbrushes, shampoo, candy and tennis balls. For the adults we left much needed rice, cooking oil and noodles.
A delightful surprise was to see the grandmothers, tenderly caring for the babies.
I am intrigued and charmed by these ancients, with years of toil written on their faces and bodies.
Although their dress is not as elaborate and colourful as their northern mountain neighbours', the embroidered sarongs can still be seen here in Central Vietnam.
Thank you to Vu Duc Anh and Michelle McNair for the photos that I lifted from their FB pages.
Really feel like I'm on the road with you guys. Thank you for taking the time to share your experiences.
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