Heading south-Hue To HoiAn

I arrived to Hue via a night train from Hanoi and awoke to a completely different atmosphere. Hue is a small city, quite quiet and laid back in respect to Vietnam. It was the old capital of the Nguyen Dynasty, the rulers of which lived in their own version of a Forbidden City-pictured here. 

After entering the main gate I came upon this-the south gate, which is a bridge leading to the main hall. The flags you see on either side of the bridge are called the Five Elements flags. They can be seen in many different places throughout Vietnam, governmental, religious and communal areas. 

Although some reconstruction has been done, most of the Forbidden city looks like this. According to the video which I watched before starting my self guided tour-"due to the American B-52 bombers" most of the city was destroyed in the war. So it looks more like an ancient ruins site than anything. 

There was also a theater inside the palace which was completely reconstructed. I found these enormous masks and couldn't resist a picture. 

After touring the Forbidden City, I hopped on my bicycle (and despite the fact that it only one speed, a shaky pedal, and brakes that needed a lot of pressure) I rode out of town about 7 km to the tomb of the last emperor of the Nguyen Dynasty.

Inside the tomb I found this life size depiction of the king surrounded by some of the most beautiful mosaic work I've ever seen. Can you see that all of the walls, ceilings, and every detail is ALL mosaic?! I got lost there for a while going over every last inch of the place (oh and there were large fans at several points-key after a ride in the scorching sun).

Here is just one example of the beautiful work done there. 

Here I am with my two new Viet Kieu friends (Vietnamese born, but raised outside the country). On the left is a French guy who comes back yearly to help out in an orphanage and on the right is a fellow American (shout out to Philly!).

The next day we were invited to the orphanage to meet the kids and play with them. On the very right is the head Buddhist monk who runs the academic side of the orphanage. The entire orphanage is run by all female Buddhist monks. There are about 160 children (ranging from newborns to college age) currently living in the orphanage. Some of them were brought by their families because they just couldn't feed and clothe them any longer and some were just dropped off in the night. The kids seem to have a decent enough life-helped by donations from private people such as my new friend, as well as a restaurant they run, catering to tourists.    

This was one of my little buddies who I absolutely fell in love with. Every time I moved away from my backpack he would find it and bring it back to me. 

I also made a few other friends. I couldn't put this baby down and the other little ones wouldn't leave my sight. When it was finally time to say good bye I didn't want to go.  It nearly broke my heart.

Later we were invited to the main temple of the monks. As it turns out, we happened to arrive on the first anniversary of the death of the monk who had started the orphanage and therefore was seen as one of the most important days of the year. We lit some incense for her and then were able to enjoy both lunch and dinner with the monks.

This was only half of the dinner we ate. It was one of the most delicious meals I've ever eater AND it was all vegetarian! (there was one dish that we all thought MUST be made of meat but turns out it was from Jack Fruit). When we left, some of the girls gave me little coconut filled rice cakes and treats to take with me and "eat in hotel" as well as a HUGE grapefruit that had fallen from a tree-remember, these are kids who have so very little of their own and they were so gracious and hospitable with me.

The next morning, after a slight incident in which I left my passport at my hostel and had to have the girl from the hostel meet the bus on the road,  I headed to HoiAn, a cute, French-influenced city, where the buildings in the center of town are no more than 2 stories, the rivers cutting through the city are spotted with boats and the riverfront is lined with cafes and restaurants with lots of Happy Hours offers. 

Later that night I returned to the same area to see the impressive light show of traditional lanterns which are a huge sell here. 

You can take part in the lanterns by buying them from the vendors on the shore, hiring a small row boat from an old woman who looks like she couldn't possible get anywhere, and then setting them free down the river, as this bride and groom were doing as a camera crew drifted along aside them.

Since my hotel was only 3km from the beach, I awoke early one morning with the intention of having a nice short run, with a quiet, peaceful walk on the beach at the midpoint. Imagine the surprise I felt when I arrived to discover hundreds of people enjoying themselves at the sunrise. But unlike the day before where it'd been all foreign tourists sunbathing, this time it was all Vietnamese.  It hadn't even occurred to me to go swimming at this time. But I made sure I didn't miss the chance again, and the next day I did my run and watched the sunrise from the water-utterly amazing, one of the best of my life. 

This is my $5/night hotel. I was lucky enough to stumble upon it and was told that I'd have a dorm (which in a backpackers lingo means anywhere from 4-12 bunk beds) but when they showed me to my room I had a private room, just no A/C (guess for $5/night you can't have EVERYTHING).

I decided that after a few days of beaches and cafes, I should do something productive. So I took a tour of Mi Son, a ruins site, built by the Cham people from the 4th-14th century to their goddess Shiva. This site is the most important in Vietnam and comparable to Ankor Wat and Macchu Picchu, although not quite as big.

And even less impressive and smaller now due to the "American B-52 bombs" this time, according to my tour guide. 

As evidence or proof, here are two duds that are displayed inside one of the temples along with multiple artifacts.  

Can you guess what these are? 

Lots and lots of incense. Since many people are Buddhists, they are in constant need of incense. People go to Buddhist temples much as they go to church as well as other random days in order to ask for special prayers. When they enter a temple, they make a donation, receive a few sticks of incense, light them, lift them to their head to allow the smoke the surround them, and after saying their prayers/wishes, they place the sticks into a mound of sand.