February 9, 2012
-
Vietnam Part 12: Lady in the Lake.
Our next destination was to the Ngo Mon Gate, the main entrance to the Imperial City.
I asked my dad if the imperial grounds looked like this back in the 50′s when he was younger. He said that after the Viet Cong took over, they just painted the whole thing whatever they wanted (in this case, bright red) and didn’t try to research and restore it to be historically accurate. Sad.
The palace grounds. It was torn up during the war and there are still some areas in ruins today.
Pavilion on the north side of the Imperial City.
Tree along the famous Tinh Tam Lake. My dad said everyone in Hue knew it as the tree where the ghost of a lady with long hair sat and that even during the day on the way home from school he would run past it- it was that scary. And it was kind of creepy, really. You weren’t in ‘Nam, man, you don’t know.
Next stop was to my dad’s old elementary school.
It was actually pretty neat touring the school grounds. My dad briefly chatted with a teacher who was still in her classroom. I didn’t take any photos, but the classrooms themselves look like they hadn’t changed since my dad was there.
Next stop was to my dad’s old junior high. Unfortunately, it’s now a war museum.
I’m not sure at what point a school gets shut down and turned into a war museum.
At dinner that night, the BigBro found pig brain on the menu. It came served like this. It’s surprisingly good! It tasted like egg yolk with a similar consistency, like when you eat the yolk of balut.
A stray dog drinking from the little pond in front of the restaurant.
End day five.
