Perfume River (Song Huong) Vietnam

Just before the Perfume River/Song Huong (named for the fragrant shrub growing along its banks) spills into the South China Sea, it snakes its way through the old imperial capital city of, Hue. After touring the impressive Citadel my travel partner Rick and I made our way to the river bank in search of a dragon boat to take us up river to see some of the tombs of the Emperors of the Nguyen dynasty.

There are six tombs as well as the Thien Mu pagoda; of which we visited the tombs of Tu' Duc', Ming Mang, and the Thien Mu pagoda. Although the tombs we visited were triumphs of architecture and design, it's not the tombs that made the trip special, at least for myself. At one of the stops some of us chose not to visit the nearby tomb but instead mill about the small local village. I split from the group and let my sense of adventure guide me in the direction of some music. It sounded like the neighbor kid's garage band. Out of tune, off tempo and too loud.

I walked down the lane and soon came upon an open-aired establishment that looked like a bar or restaurant. I stepped inside to investigate and it immediately became evident that this wasn't a public house, this was someone's backyard patio! I froze as all eyes turned toward me. The guitarist, drummer and bass player stopped playing. A couple seated at the table nearest the band stood up. She was in a white flowing dress. He was in a suit. "oh shit" I thought, this is a wedding party.

A mustached man approached and smiled. He directed me to sit down. The band continued to play and before I knew what was happening, a glass of cold beer was handed to me and dishes of food were spread out before me. The people sitting at my table all seemed eager for me to enjoy, so bottoms up! Before I knew it I felt like part of the family.

I couldn't help but think that most of the people around my age and older had lived through the war and one of its most deadly battles. In fact, 80% of Hue was left in ruins and the Northern communists massacred as many as 6000 unarmed Hue civilians during the Tet Offensive. Millions died. No family was untouched by the ravages of war. And all that any of them had truly wanted was to tend to their farms, raise their children and be left alone. It's funny, but most of my exposure to the country had been from films, all of which were about the Vietnam war which incidentally we learned is called the "American War" over there.

From the little I had studied about the inner-workings of the politics involved in the war, I felt humbled that these people would take so kindly to a strange American, or French, Chinese, Japanese, or Brit for that matter; considering that these 5 nations had left indelible scars of sorts on "their" country. And it wasn't like they were being nice to try and sell me a souvenir or something. They were just good people, like most of the local people I tend to meet on my travels.

Perhaps they already knew the credo I would later profess when traveling outside the U.S. during our last political administration. When many American backpackers would don Maple leaf patches on their packs... "Don't judge me by my governments actions!"