February 9, 2012
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Vietnam Part 9: Homecoming.
We land in Hue, my dad’s hometown, early in the morning.
Flooded fields from the airplane.
Hue’s airport is hilarious- upon landing, you see in large letters “Hue International Airport”. Except we were the only plane at the airport. We disembarked from the plane onto the bus and took the bus all of 10 seconds to go the short distance to the terminal. We were all laughing, and once inside, we saw there was only one luggage carousel for (I think) the entire terminal. I’ve been to airports in the middle-of-nowhere America and they’ve had more gates than this.
Hue was a breath of fresh air from the crowded, slightly dirtier Hanoi. Hue is definitely a lot more rural- the most rural out of Hanoi, Hue, and Saigon. My cousin Anh Bin- my aunt’s son who had remained in Vietnam the whole time while his two brothers and sister came over to the US- picked us up in a large rented van.
We dropped off our (ridiculous amount of) suitcases in the hotel lobby as it was too early to check in yet.
My cousin took us out for an early morning breakfast.
Bun bo hue, or as Seo amusingly calls it, “BBH”. There’s no air conditioning in this restaurant, there’s a stray dog sitting out front, there are some flies flying around the tables, and it’s maybe 10 AM, but this is the best bun bo hue I’ve ever had. It’s spicy, the broth is rich, and there’s a nice mix of flavors and textures all swimming about in this delicious bowl. I kind of want to order another bowl. And I kind of want to eat this every morning. But we have to head off to our next destination.
We’re off to take care of my grandfather’s grave. We pass by a rundown temple near the cemetery and my dad told me about how when he was in the boy scouts as a kid, his troop would camp out here. NEAR A CEMETERY.
My cousin leads us to my grandfather’s grave. Frankly, it’s ridiculous out here- there are no clear paths, everything is unkempt with vegetation sprouting out everywhere, and it’s a winding maze with no markers really to make your way out here. If it weren’t for my cousin, I don’t know how anyone would know to find it. Around Tet (or Lunar New Year), the place gets packed with people coming to clean up ancestors’ graves like we were doing.
The plot is overgrown with weeds and we hack away at the vegetation surrounding the grave with a dull blade and pull weeds from the area to properly pay our respects.
My grandfather. He passed away at 35 years old when my dad was four years old, so he doesn’t remember much of him, but my uncle and aunt certainly do.
We cleared out as much as we could, paid our respects, and headed on back.
LilBro jumping over puddles of water on the way back.
