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Little Kirsty Ventures to Pastures New
Hue
After the 5 hour bus, dumped our bags at a hotel then hired a private car to take us round the sights. First we went to see some ancient tombs. By this point it was midday and hitting 43 deg cel so we were all a bit lethargic and hot. The tombs had beautiful inscriptions on them and there was a small lake covered in a layer of gigantic bright pink lotus'. The scent could be smelled throughout the tombs-making the place even more peaceful. There were beautiful Vietnamese girls in traditional dress, having a professional photo shoot by the lake. Some pics were taken of them on the lake in small Vietnamese wooden boats. While we walked around, there was a Chinese couple taking loads of pics of them in different positions. They had lotus flowers in their hands (the stalks were about 1m long and the flowers were huge). Chez asked where they got them and the girl just handed them to her as a gift. They smelt so good.
We took a break for a drink before heading to a Pagoda next. We had to drive quite far out of the town to get there and we were the only people around when we arrived. As we looked at the decorative shrines and Buddhas, a handsome looking young Monk (shaved head with a bit of hair at the front) approached us and ushered us into a part of the temple that said "Ministerials only- no visitors". We were like "are you sure?" and pointed at the sign, but he was adamant. So we had to leave our shoes and all of our belongings outside, before stepping into a very serene part of the temple. There was a large Buddha in the centre, other shrines round about, with burning incense and candles and pics of important Monks on the walls. We took our time walking around in silence and gradually more Monks entered the room. They were so beautiful with their shaved heads and in their navy robes. One of them could speak good English and asked us where we were from etc. He used a very soft voice so we all tried not to speak loudly, and were to be very calm in the way we addressed him. He was very interested in what we were doing and we asked him a bit about the ministry. He said the youngest Monk there was 12 years old, and their master was very young, at the age of 26. They learn English and French and other academic subjects, in the monastery. Our conversation was cut a bit short by the sound of a gong. It was chimed several times and once over, the Monk told us that it was to symbolize the vowels of the Buddha. He then said it was time for the Monks to practice their singing. We were obviously gagging to be asked to come along too but didn't want to sound too forward. So Chez slyly asked where they would be practicing and he said it would be in their Ministerial Quarters. So we thought there was no chance of us getting to go then. But then he asked if we would like to watch and we were all dying to shout- "Yeeeeah!" but were just like- "are you sure that would be ok?" in as calm a tone as possible. He seemed thrilled to have us join them and led us to the hall. As we looked through the door, there was a unanimous intake of breathe. Ahead of us we could see all of the monks sat in lines on small bean bags, in the meditational pose. Some seemed to be deep in thought, with their eyes closed, others seemed happy to see us and were inviting us in. The master was sat at the front and could speak good English. He ushered us in and was very friendly. We sat on the bean bags at the back, near the Monk who had invited us there. We were each given song words and the Master told us they would sing a song in English to welcome us. The song was called "Happiness" and he described to us the meaning behind it. What he said was so inspiring and the way he said it was so soft and peaceful. I can't remember his exact words as he expanded a great deal but it all made perfect sense- "We should never seek happiness from the past as it has already gone, we should never seek it from the future as it has not yet come. We should be content with what we have in the present as that is what we have now." As he spoke, I could tell that I wasn't the only one feeling an overwhelming sense of emotion and understanding at that point. He then began the song and the Monks repeated each line. The sound of the Master reverberated off the walls in perfect pitch and was utterly crisp. He sang a capella and perfectly in tune. The Monks repeated in unison with the same quality of sound. I can't really explain how the chant went, it was just so clear and enchanting- sent the craziest tingles down my back and made us all utterly awestruck. After the first run through of the song, the Monk invited us to join in. I was just chuffed to bits to be sitting there, surrounded by gorgeous monks, with beautiful voices, and being able to join in with them. Next, we sang through it in Vietnamese, which was even more exciting and some monks found our pronunciation quite amusing. There was a mix of attitudes throughout the men. Some seemed to be in deep meditation and these guys seemed to sing with most conviction, then there were a few younger Monks that seemed more relaxed in the fidgety sense.
We didn't want to leave so remained seated and listened to a few of their competition pieces (as they were practicing for an up-coming event). After a while, we felt it was time to leave, as they were now rehearsing a piece carefully. The Master thanked us for our presence and to my horror, as I stood up, I very nearly fell over. I realised that I had sat on my leg in an awkward position (cause I had tried to get into the meditating pose) and had managed to completely stop the blood flow to my left leg. I tried to smile and bow politely and slyly hobbled to the door. The others were curious as to what was wrong and I was using all of my might not to scream as the blood began to rush back to my limb, causing the greatest discomfort and tickliness.
We were all silent on the way back to the car- didn't really know what to say to each other. All we could muster was- "I don't know what to say". It was weird, cause when we arrived, we were swelteringly hot, but after the rehearsal, we all seemed much more relaxed and cooler. It may have been the weather, but I felt like I was so relaxed, I was numb to anything at that point.
Next stop was another set of Tombs. Chez, Kirsty and I sat in the car as Annie checked them out, since we were too excited about our last escapade and were content just sitting chatting about it. We agreed it is high up there on our fave GAP experiences. Our chauffeur for the day was flirting with Chez (as always-highly amusing) and decided that we were the Spice Girls. O..K.
Finally, we stopped at the Old Citadel where Chez and I got out to have a look about. The whole place was decorated for a big festival that was taking place that night. There was a kite show in the grounds outside and the paths leading up to and around the Old Citadel were sprinkled in gold glitter and lined with candles. Inside, there was an array of tables laid out and decorated for a feast than night. There were elephants giving rides around the park grounds- but they were chained up and looked so awfully sad. We just chilled out and had an ice cream and meandered around. There was far too much to see in the time we had but we checked out some old decorative buildings then headed back to the car.
Once back at the hotel, Chez and I went to catch the night bus to Hanoi, whereas Kirsty and Annie decided to stay in Hue an extra night. There was much confusion over the bus and it turns out that our ticket had not been confirmed. So after much confrontational argument with the bus company, I managed to get Chez and I on the same bus as Sarah (she had stayed in Hoi An an extra day) but we had to use plastic seats- farce. Chez was donated a seat since the bus driver's sister was hitching a ride for free so only thought it fair to give her seat up. Sarah and I took it in turns to use a plastic chair. Later on in the night, Sarah did her classic- sleep in the isle, so I managed to get a real chair to myself- yey. Saw 2 moto crashes on the way their- really nasty. And as we drove through the suburbs of Hanoi, Sarah saw spit-roasted dog on plates in skanky local restaurants at the side of the highway. I asked her if she was sure it wasn't pigs, but she said they had long tails and she saw their faces and they looked like jack russels-yuuuk.
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