A Day to Ourselves in Hue

Reese and I got a great night’s sleep here in Hue. The hotel is gorgeous and the nicest we’ve stayed in. This part of the country is obviously more developed and modern than in the south and especially compared to the Mekong Delta.

Da Nang was especially modern and clean, but a lot of that can be attributed to the destruction it suffered during the war. The whole town’s been rebuilt and is a wonderful testament to Vietnamese resilience.

Yesterday was a long day. Woke up for the second morning in Na Trang and didn’t have to get on the bus to the airport until 10 a.m.. The plane ride to Da Nang was a little longer than the one from Saigon to Na Trang, but it was followed up by a long bus ride.

We visited a Chum culture museum, silk weaving factory and marbleworks shop. Lots of beautiful things to see but the group was getting quite weary, especially after visiting yet another market, this time in the small town of Hoi An.

The culture for shopping takes getting used to for us westerners. A shop owner came up to Reese and I on the street and struck up a conversation, then asked if we wanted to see her new shop. She just opened it four days prior and was obviously very proud. She had many silk wares including dresses, skirts, men’s suits and ties.

Unfortunately, she would have had to custom-make our clothes, and we didn’t have more than a few minutes. I kept telling her “Xin loi, xin loi,” or “sorry, sorry.” She really went out of her way to very nicely invite us to the shop and we might have bought something if we had more time. Closer to the bus Reese did go into a shoe store, though, and was able to quickly try on a nice pair of red flip flops.

Once we got back to the bus the day turned sour, however. Reese and I have been having the time of our lives here. She’s absolutely in love with the food, the people and the scenery. I’m enjoying all that and am pleasantly surprised to be learning Vietnamese at a lightning pace.

Some of the students on the trip, however, are doing a fine job of representing the ugly, arrogant American. Today we had a choice to either go back on the bus and tour with the group or take it easy and be on our own. Reese and I took the opportunity to ditch the group because I’m sure we’d end up saying things we’d later regret.

Instead, I’ll say the potentially regrettable things here and the people from our tour I’ll likely offend can read at their leisure.

Specifically, one young woman was bragging about how she was enlightening our tour guides about sexism, power and equality. They were telling her how it’s OK for men to sleep around but not women. She asked them why and they laughed.

What she took from the experience was how ignorant these two men seem to her and couldn’t wait to regale the rest of us with how she expanded their narrow horizons. She valiantly educated them about concepts such as oppression and the evils of one group of people having power and superiority over another.

I wanted to ask if she’s going to kick over Buddha statues and replace them with crucifixes for an encore. Luckily for everyone I bit my tongue.

How is this attitude any different than that of all the other conquerors who’ve been pushing Viet Nam around for over 1000 years? Since the mid-70s Viet Nam has been deciding what’s good for Viet Nam for the first time ever in its history. Who the hell is this woman to come here and start pushing them around again?

Yes, she considers herself liberal, enlightened and open-minded. That’s why I want to take her aside and explain to her just how imperialistic and ugly she’s being although I doubt she’d listen.

So, today Reese and I take a break from the group, try to remember only the wonderful things we’ve experienced so far and take in some new sights, sounds and smells as we tour Hue.