June 15 - Hue

It's been a few days since we last posted, so there's a lot to fill you in on. On the 13th, we took a bicycle tour of the northern Vietnamese countryside. It was a truly eye-opening day. We took a cab with our tour guide out to a rural village, but along the way we stopped at a pagoda. Our guide "Power" explained the significance of all the different Buddha statues, the lotus flowers, and the architecture of the pagoda itself. We walked behind scenes and saw the actual females monks in action, if you can call it that. Then we rode out of Hanoi, past countless rice paddies, until we came off of the highway, onto a semi-paved road, then onto a dirt road before we reached our destination. We stopped at a local woman's house, which was little more than one room (the "little more" was the bike shed.) Though modest, with only a bed, a table, and some chairs, the place was impeccably clean and ready with a tea set for any guests that might arrive. We had a small cup of tea, and then it was off on our adventure.

We rode through the "streets" of the village and saw all of the women at work in the rice paddies. Power told us that the men work and live in Hanoi so they can better provide (financially) for their families. Even the children in the village are expected to work in some capacity. We shared the road with some locals and their water buffalos, which we were told are quite valuable. I guess if it comes down to us or the water buffalo plowing the field, we would cherish it more than ice cream and Nintendo COMBINED.


It was super hot out so we stopped for a drink of freshly squeezed sugarcane juice. We had only had sugarcane mojitos before this, and believe it or not, this was much better. The woman took the long stalks of sugarcane, that looked a little bit like bamboo, and cranked them through a big grinder-press-a-majig. Obviously, she did this by hand.

After this we rode further into the village and visited a 500 year old commune, which was more of a meeting area and village center (think, synagogue in a shtetl, but in 90 degree weather- and not in Florida) than a socialist commune. Again, the architecture and carvings were spectacular, and all done by peasants in the village. This showed that although they were not the mandarins or village aristocracy, everyone played a role in the commune's creation.

Then it was back to the little old woman's house for lunch. Power cooked up some mean noodles and vegetables and we chatted about all of the Vietnamese cliches about married life. Feeling refreshed, we headed out on our bikes again.



This time we biked over to a pagoda situated on top of a big hill. We climbed up all 238 steps (in the 90 degree weather, humid no less -- have we told you it's wicked hot here?). We were pretty embarassed to find a 94 year old monk, very highly respected in Vietnam, who climbs those stairs every day. Again we shared tea, and Power translated some of her words of wisdom. One word about the older women in Vietnam... they have black teeth, and it is considered beautiful! They actually make them black on purpose by eating a "beetle" fruit (a fruit, not an insect, we think). It's an awfully special site, and we will leave it at that.

Our final stop on the bike ride was a brick making factory, sort of. It was more of a field of clay, where WOMEN press the clay into bricks, and then stack them in one of two kilns. These kilns were bigger than our apartment, and they stack them all the way to the roof- two stories high- with bricks and charcoal. They then light the kiln, and let these cook for about a few days. Don't worry, though, they still have the other kiln to unload and load again while the first is cooking and then cooling. It is arduous labor, with poor air quality and it is even HOTTER by the kilns.

After a long day of bike riding, we hopped on an overnight bus bound for Hue, where we arrived early the next morning.

The saga continues...

Lots of love,
Ari and Jillian