We got up at 7 this morning and had our usual pancake breakfast, although this time there was no chocolate sauce. I had honey, Lauren had sugar. We were due to be picked up to go on a bus and boat tour at 8am. When the transport eventually arrived it turned out it was two motorbikes so we had an unexpected motorbike ride to start the day. We were dropped off at the Riverside and hopped straight on a two headed dragon boat.
Our first stop was a garden house. Apparently this was a standard house in pre-1945 Vietnam, as Vietnam was a Buddhist country and money was not important. The houses all faced south as this was the direction to face to get the best feng schue. Feng shue apparently has nothing to do with positive energy from furniture but is related to water and wind and the best water and wind is in middle earth. And I don't mean lord of the rings. So houses in the south face north and north houses face south. The houses have a screen outside to stop bad spirits, that aren't able to go round walls, and a pond as spirits don't have a reflection and would see they don't belong to this world and leave. There is also a Buddha at the front of the house to remind you to be Buddha and to not forget the purpose of life. Anyone can be Buddha. It is not what someone thinks of you but how you act.
Our tour guide gave us a very detailed explanation of Buddhism and how it relates to life. Buddhists believe in reincarnation. You have 3 lives; an animal life, a material life and a spirit life. Apparently before 1945 Vietnam was a Buddhist country. But in 1945 a big famine came. 2 million people died in 6 months. People turned to prayer but nothing changed so they stopped believing. The guide told us that people still had Buddhist beliefs but they tend not to be practised. He made some point about how the purpose of religion is to provide help. He used the example of when people are doing good business, it's because they're clever so they don't need God and don't pray for help. But when they're not doing well they pray for help.
The guide also explained about the principle of karma, using a story about a banana. Two people, one practising religion and one not, are attempting to grow the biggest banana. Person A plants his banana and then goes and prays for the biggest. Person B plants his banana and then instead of praying, does the things he needs to to make banana grow and take care of the plant. Person B ends up with the biggest banana. He was basically trying to say it's what you do and how you act that matters, not how many times you get on your knees and pray. He also explained how Buddha is not a God in the sky, and that anyone can be a Buddha. All you have to do is what you need, and not what you want.
He went on for ages about it and I can't remember everything he said but those are the basics. He said something about God being open to corruption as well. About how if you do something for God, He will do something for you and how you could do many things for God in return for Him doing something not necessarily good for you.
He also taught us about the Buddhist philosophy of love. Apparently love is a connection between two people's DNA energies. And this was all in about 20 minutes. It was a lot of infirmation to take in. Thankfully the rest of the stops were a little less heavy.
The next place we stopped was the Thien Mu Pagoda built in the 1600s. We then stopped at a temple for the common mother. I wasn't sure what the difference between a Pagoda and a temple was so I asked the guide. Pagodas are for Buddhism. Temples are for anyone.
Between these two stops we were served lunch on the boat. Lunch (rice, tofu and veg) was included in the tour price but you could order and pay for extra dishes. I got a plate of pork spring rolls which were really tasty and Lauren got chips. We also had to pay for drinks. I had a bit of everything (except the chips) and Lauren had some rice and some spring rolls as well as the chips.
After these stops we transferred into a bus and drive to three tombs to visit. The first two were pretty nice but the last one didn't compare. They were all tombs of previous emperors. Two of the emperors were buried on the property of their tombs but the exact location isn't know so that they were left unharmed. The people who buried them were promptly executed so they couldn't tell anyone. In the case of the first tomb, the tomb of Mihn Mang, that meant 200 people were beheaded. Mang was the the emperor between 1820 and 1841. The second tomb belonged to Khai Dihn who was in charge between 1916 and 1925, whilst the third less impressive tomb belonged to Tu Duc who was the longest reigning emperor. The tombs were not just little concrete blocks, they were expansive complexes that had multiple features and fancy buildings.
We also stopped at a little shop where we spent two minutes seeing how incense is made. Apparently it's a mixture of sawdust, tree sap and whatever the smell is, for example cinnamon*. It's all natural and no chemicals. Lauren had a quick go at rolling it. You basically just whack a little stick in the middle of some of the mixture and roll and that's that.
After the tombs we were dropped off near our hostel. We walked back and I promptly jumped straight in the shower as it had been pretty humid and sticky today, with it managing to be sunny. We spent the rest of the evening chilling, with a wander down to the shop in between.
*I think that's what they said. I was having trouble understanding.
