Hué

Hué. Our next stop. This city was the site of the bloodiest battles of the 1968 Tet Offensive, staged by the VC. The Tet Offensive was the turning point in the American war. In January 1968, the VC launched a major attack in the Demilitarised Zone in central Vietnam. This was essentially a mass diversion to draw attention away from series of strikes they were about to launch against more than 100 cities and towns, including Saigon. As the cameras rolled, the VC guerillas took over the courtyard of the US embassy in central Saigon. The US had no choice but to respond, and they did so by bombing heavily populated areas, killing tens of thousands of civilians and soldiers. Having this footage beamed into their households, many Americans could see what destruction the American occupation of Vietnam was causing. Public tolarance and approval ratings for the war plumetted, even as the military was claiming major successes, and the cost of fighting the war became too high for America.
At the same time, stories were leaked out about massacres and savagery against the unarmed population of Vietnam - including the infamous My Lai Massacre in which 504 Vietnamese civilians had been rounded up and systematically murdered or raped, including 182 women (17 of which were pregnant), 173 children and 37 elderly men. After many investigations, only one Lieutenant was convicted and spent only 3 years under house arrest before being paroled in 1974 after the US Supreme court refused to hear his case. Again, walking the streets of this historic town, you would have no idea that these atrocities had occurred there only some 40 years ago.
After making a few stops on the bus, including Marble mountain - a set of temples erected on a mountainous site near Hoi An, some even inside caves - we arrived around 1500hr. As we only had the equivalent of around 48 hours here, straight away a group of us took a walk to the markets where we came across many delights including a 2-pack of milo milk. Beth (the Aussie) and I bought one, and to our dismay it tasted nothing like the milo we've come to know and love; more like a watered down room temperature powdered hot chocolate.. Not ghastly, but definitely not milo.. After this, we had a few beers at another Why Not Bar and some dinner there a little later on too.
The following morning, the entire group each had their own motorbike guide and we took to the backstreets and rural paths checking out life outside of the towns. Our guide for the day was extremely informative (much more so than Nguyen) and we learnt a lot about the history of Hué and Vietnamese life in general. After stopping off at a rural market and township for some fun and fortune-telling, we took a spin through the rice fields along paths not much wider than a motorbike. This didn't, of course, stop us when there was traffic heading in both directions, not to mention a herd of water buffalo taking up the entire path - we just kept on going.. as you do..
We visited the emporers tomb and mausoleum followed by lunch served by the local monks. It was an awesome vegetarian feast (Shirley, the strict - yet friendly - vegetarian of the group, was certainly happy!) and afterwards they invited us to sleep on floor mats for an hour which half of the group did, including myself. That was definitely one of the best lunches I've ever had..
I was one of the last people to awake and everyone was already on their bikes, raring to go, helmets and all. We stopped for a few moments to see Vietnam's equivalent of the Colosseum, where elephants and tigers would battle to the death - I understand that the elephants would usually win in this instance. A couple of metre-wide bridges later and we came to our last stop of this mammoth day tour.
Originally founded in 1601 because a "Fairy Woman" (Thien Mu) appeared, as the legend goes, and told the people that a lord would come to build a pagoda for the country's prosperity, the Thien Mu Pagoda has become somewhat of an icon of Vietnam. The biggest event associated with this Buddhist temple was that of the self-immolation of Thich Quang Duc in 1963 as a protest against the persecution of Buddhists.
We all saw the famous photo on the front page of newspapers when it happened (and if you weren't around in 1963, you would have seen the front cover of Rage Against The Machine's self-titled album) - this is Duc. He drove, along with 2 other monks, to a busy intersection in Saigon and sat in the lotus (meditative) position in the middle of the road while one monk poured gasoline over his head. Duc's final act was to rotate a string of wooden prayer beads around his neck, recite the words "Nam Mo A Di Da Phat" ("homage to Amitabha Buddha") and strike a match. He is said to have remained in the lotus position for 10 minutes while he burned before his body toppled over and the congregation of monks put out the flames - what discipline that must've taken! That evening thousands of Saigonese claim to have seen Buddha himself appear in the clouds, and he was weeping.
The car in which Duc was transported to the intersection on that day is now housed at Thien Mu Pagoda. It sounds strange but it really was humbling to have seen even the smallest detail of the event in person, i.e. this car - it was no longer just a photo.
This was such a huge day that we needed a little nana-nap when we got back. The next day was quite busy as well and a bunch of us headed for a few hours to the city's massive citadel (fortress) after which we ate lunch at a roadside eatery in which neither party, the customer and the waitress, could understand each other.. It was great!
Three o'clock was the meeting time for our last overnight train...

Photos:
1. Guarding a doorway in the Citadel
2. A life-size statue of a warrior
3. entrance to the Emporer's tomb
4. Young monks in the making
5. A man rests
6. Inside Marble mountain
7. Lee and Shirley getting nowhere fast
8. Our bikie gang!
9. Just in case I forgot
10. My driver
11. Lovely view
12. Lunch!
13. Everyone, hold on for dear life...
14. Cruisin'
15. The Austin motorcar
16. Thap Phuoc Duyen, the 21m-high octagonal tower in the Thien Mu Pagoda