Sunday - A Day of Rest

Sunday, sunday--our rest day. This is the day we normally don't have any scheduled activities, work or otherwise. Still, most of us found it impossible to rest and relax. There is so much history in Hue, the city and the landscape are beautiful, and we will have seen only a fraction of it by the time we leave. So, we take each opportunity to witness its magnificence while we can. Despite the slow but steady modern development of the city into a tourist hot-spot, much of the ancient architecture and traditions are visibly intact.

Two groups set out into the country to tour pagodas and garden-houses. Chris, Dave, Galen, and Trinh (an economics lecturer and one of the local volunteers we have worked with) visited some of the oldest sites: Theravada pagodas (traditional Buddhist monasteries), and elaborate garden-houses (with pineapple, coconut, and banana trees as well as ponds filled with lotus flowers in bloom. These garden houses still serve as home to some--can you imagine?
Meanwhile, Tess, Trista, Caroline, and Tara visited pagodas, tombs, and lastly an American bunker. At one of the sites they posed for a priceless photo wearing traditional Vietnamese dress.
Elsewhere, Celine and I were headed for disaster. We headed to the market to "window-shop" and take pictures of things that we could not explain by words alone. We took plenty of interesting pictures but were spotted by someone who knew our group. She led us to her shop and in the midst of conversation she deftly turned to business. Before Celine and I knew what was happening she had a crew dressing us and fanning us and trying to sit us down. We were laughing hysterically watching one another be twirled into one outfit and the next. This is not uncommon--the Vietnamese in Hue are entrepenurial beyond belief. A young boy tried to shoe-shine my Teva-like sandals yesterday. The tenacity of a vendor is formidable, and my transactions usually end in disbelieving laughter. When we left the market we were without enough money to buy even a watermelon and each had instead a lovely pair of pants.
On our way back to the hotel we met Jill who had been held captive by a stubborn computer and faulty disk all morning. Budgeting is a Zen-art apparently and Jill & Angie are devout artists--Buddha bless them. It was, however, a very hot day and high-time for most of us to head to the beach. Tara and Caroline were already there. Tess went with Ha, Loan, and Quyen (three of our saintly volunteer student interpreters from Hue University) while Angie, Jill, Celine, and I rented the most competitive motor-scooter drivers in Vietnam; arriving in one piece was a blessing as was the cool Pacific salt-water. Swimming and basking in the sun made it worth the race home in the dark, which Jill's driver won, by the way. Kudos to Jill and her crazy speed hawk.