Hue, Vietnam - The American War

9/12/14-

We arrived in Hue and did the usual price haggling game with the swarming taxi and moto drivers, although our improved understanding of Vietnamese negotiation has made this process much easier. Rule one is: you must be willing to walk away.

 We found a great hotel (The Than Thien Friendly Hotel) for a good price and decided to venture out in the heat to see the old palace from the Nguyen Dynasty (1802-1945). 

The palace is located in a citadel with a mote (mosquito farm) around it and several perimeter walls before you reach the Forbidden Purple City (great name!) where only the king, his concubines, servants, and eunuchs were allowed.

 We decided that King Nguyen must not have cared much for shade because there were no trees and it was HOT! Lauren almost died of heat stroke. We became very sweaty and chose to walk back to our lovely air conditioned room and we didn't regret it.

We met a older moto driver named Duk (sounds like dyook) who fought for the South Vietnamese Army in the early 1970s and was quite open to talking about his life.

We decided to take him up on his offer to show us the countryside, his home, and some sights off the beaten track.

Before the American war he was a teacher. When the fighting started, all South Vietnamese teachers, engineers, academics, etc were enlisted in the military. He said he went willingly however, because of his anti-communist sentiments.

Duk showed us this massive graveyard that seemed to stretch forever on both sides of the road. He told us around 6,000 Vietnamese were massacred here during the war by the north but now the government claims it was carried out by the Americans. 

He fought for several years for the south, alongside Americans who he spoke fondly of. When the north finally took over the country and the Americans left, he and all of his comrades were taken to prison to serve sentences equal to the number of years they served in the military. 

For him, it was three years of prison and work camp. The Americans later accepted refugees but only if they had been in prison for 5 years or more so he was denied refugee status. 

An American bunker grown over with vines in a small village outside Hue.

He said he would like to leave Vietnam but he had been previously denied a passport by the Vietnamese government who continues to restrict him because of his past fighting for the south. He said they will only allow him to go to Laos, but it would be much more difficult for him there economically so he remains in Hue.

He said there's a saying in Vietnam that goes something like "they shoot at you if you try to leave but when you come back rich they welcome you with open arms."