I suspect for most of us of a certain age, just hearing “Vietnam” brings back a flood of memories…and most of them bad. Those same bad memories reside in the older Vietnamese men and women I met. On my tour today I saw some beautiful, but poor areas: men and women toiling in rice paddies, water buffalo and chickens being raised for sale (or dinner).
After a 90 minute drive we arrived at a Buddhist Temple to visit with Buddhist Nuns. There are about 30 women who live and serve at this Temple. Their robes are similar to the men but the biggest surprise for me was their hair. They all have buzz cuts!! It was amazing how difficult it was to tell if they were men or women! Since there were no men at this particular Temple we knew they were female. We met young women (10 years+) and the elderly.
As we gathered in a small chapel the nun who was our hostess prayed over us. The prayer was a series of chants accompanied by a drum beat and occasional gong, all offered for our safety on tour. Then we went into another room where mats and pillows were on the floor (and chairs for those of us who couldn’t sit on the floor). Our nun-hostess (never given her name) then taught the group to meditate. After a 5-minute silent prayer we gathered at tables for a vegetarian lunch. I understand there are many vegetarian restaurants in Vietnam, so this is a common meal. I tasted everything, most of which I had no idea what it was. Just when you thought the meal was over more dishes were brought out! Some items I could identify: pumpkin soup, rice chips, green beans, white rice. Some foods were tasteless, others quite good. The meal ended with slices of grapefruit and a cookie.
From here we went to the Perfume River (named for the flowers tossed into the river when the President traveled by boat from town to town, several hundred years ago) and boarded a Dragon Boat for a 30-minute ride down the river.
The last stop on the tour was at Tha Om Garden House. Mr. Vinh, the current resident gave us a tour of the traditional 19
th century Hue residence and we heard stories about Mr. Vinh’s grandfather who built the house. It was damaged in the war and had to be restored when the current resident returned after the bombing stopped. We went into the garden and had afternoon tea with tables laden with fruit and sweets. I feel like I ate my was through Vietnam today.
Aside from all the strange foods it was a wonderful day!!