Writing on a tablet at a pagoda in Hue.

The Central Vietnamese can also be characterized as hardy, strong, and enduring people.  The countryside also suffers the hardships of the yearly monsoon floods.  Because of its location and lack of communication routes, its primary cultural city, Hue, has not prospered, as have some of the coastal seaport towns.  However, Hue has maintained its cultural and educational strength.  These strengths brought forth the political leaders of the past from central Vietnam.  The old cultural aspects have been retained and have been influenced by the western migration of the Cham Dynasty.  Central Vietnam has the moral and physical strength of their northern brothers and sisters with the added dimension of the educated culture.  While the Northerner looks to protect the country from the outside, the Central Vietnamese develop the country from within—thus the political leaders develop because of their concern for the internal fate of their country.

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Tuesday, Jan. 12, 1999

Our chance to ride bicycles around Hue was washed away by the remnants of Tropical Storm Hilda, which also kicked up some great surf at China Beach.  We toured the the Forbidden City and the Citadel, site of the longest battle of the Tet Offensive in 1968.  We went to the Thien Mu Pagoda, home of the monk who immolated himself to protest President Diem's religious oppression against Buddhists. The car he drove on that fateful day is still on display.  

Photo: The Citadel
Photo: The Imperial Palace
Photo: The Emperor's Library
Photo: Thien My Pagoda

Wednesday, Jan. 13, 1999

We drove to the DMZ and crossed the 17th parallel by foot, ever watchful of unexploded ordinance that still litters the area.  Later we hiked along a part of the Ho Chi Minh Trail on Highway 9 (leading to Khe Sahn) to an ethnic minority village belonging to the Bru people.  We enjoyed a theatrical dinner at the Imperial Palace, where we dressed up as members of the emperor's court and listened to traditional Hue music.

Photo: Rice Paddies along the DMZ
Photo: Communist war memorial at the DMZ bridge
Photo: The DMZ bridge
Photo: Looking back down the Ho Chi Minh trail
Photo: Schoolhouse in the Bru village
Photo: "Holding court" at the Imperial Palace

Thursday, Jan. 14, 1999

We left Hue and drove through the Hai Van Pass to Danang.  After a brief stopover in Danang to visit the Cham museum, which is devoted to one of the most advanced ethnic minority tribes in Vietnam, we climbed marble mountain, whose enormous limestone caves--used for thousands of years as Buddhist temples--were converted into hospitals and spy stations for the Viet Cong during the American war. 

Photo: View from Marble Mountain
Photo: Meg buying brocade in Hoi An
Photo: Seamstress showing us her bolts of silk
Photo: The sewing station

Friday, Jan. 15, 1999

Some students used their one free day in Vietnam to swim at China Beach, still reeling from Tropical Storm Hilda.  However, they were quickly shooed away because the beach is now the private property of a very expensive hotel.  The rest of us chartered our own bus, driver and guide to My Lai, about two hours south of Hoi An.  We saw the famous Cham towers on the way. 

Photo: Cham Towers
Photo: Gravesite for one of the My Lai families
Photo: My Lai memorial statue