8 stages (or more) for a Black Hmong Hairdo!

The Imperial Capital City of Hue

The former imperial city of Hue is known for it's significant cultural and historical value. It contains the huge Citadel, within which is most incredible Forbidden City. Hue also has many ancient pagodas and tombs. Like the Forbidden City in Beijing, the one in Hue is enormous, but it's very different. It's more earthy and gritty and somehow foreboding. Stripped of all the wood superstructure and silk tapestries and artifacts, it's only a ghost of what was once a rival to the Khmer empire. It feels old, very, and we can only imagine what an impressive sight it must have been with all the royalty, military and inhabitants. We also visited the tomb of Emperor Tu Duc. It's set on a pine-forested hill and lotus ponds with a forest of fragrant frangipani. We were told that when Tu Duc died he was buried along with a great treasure. All those involved with his burial were executed to keep his resting place (and treasure) safe. In fact, the huge flagstones around his tomb were removed by the French in an attempt to find that treasure (unsuccessfully!). The Tu Hieu pagoda was very special. It was established in 1848 by the imperial eunuchs. Since they could not have children, the eunuchs financially secured the temple so they could have future generations of monks available to perform necessary ceremonies for their next life. In fact, we were lucky enough to stumble on a group of the monks at prayer.

Hike to Ban Ho

It was a long, hot, all-day trip and a major slog to get to Ban Ho and then to the Silver waterfall. Ban (our Hmong guide with the same name) was amazing, and so excited an proud to show us her beautiful countryside. Ban Ho lies in a valley and is in an area with rushing rivers and many waterfalls of all sizes. The tribals have their own mini, family-sized hydroelectric generating sets. Family sized power generating! Even the most remote villages have power - enough for lights and their TV! It seems that they live incredibly simple but satisfying lives. Everyone we asked seemed to be very content. Vietnam has free WiFi inernet almost everywhere. I was really impressed. We passed fields of marijuana (cannabis sativa) that they use as hemp for making their unique linen-like fabric. Ban arranged an old soviet-era jeep for the first leg. The views along the way was simply spectacular. The hike was rough. My camera got so knocked-about, I lost my lens hood and skylight filter. How? Mara & Tia kept up somehow. Ban prepared lunch at our first stop where we met other tribals (Red Zao and Black Dao). The trip to the waterfalls we just a bonus.









Cannabis Sativa. Fields of it! The Hmong weave their linen fabric from the hemp.




The village of Ban Ho. We're still about an hour away.