My morning in Hue began at 6:15 am. Like yesterday, a fantastic and filling breakfast awaited. After breakfast, a little time to take pictures along the river bank behind the hotel. Already there is a lot of traffic on the river at this eary hour. As I am standing taking pictures, a woman in her own little boat slides up to the bank and asks if I need a ride to the other side...a water taxi!
Soon, we are back in our busses and off we go. Hue is a fairly large city (the ancient Imperial Capital of Vietnam) and it takes some time to get through town. The city is bustling with activity, and it is warm already, even at the early hour. All through the city we see little markets on street corners, people peddling fresh fruits and vegetabes everywhere.
We have a little detour of sorts this morning. One of our group, Rick Dean, served with the 101st Airborn during the war and spent the better part of 1968 stationed at a small village on the San Bo River about 10 km (7 miles) north of Hue. And so the entire group traveled north a few miles to honor a friend and a veteran. It was a very emotioanl time as Rick and his wife shared stories of combat, the village and the villagers, and of his comrades of 1968...those who survived, and those whose name are etched on the Wall.
For the next few hours the busses plodded south along Highway 1A. We traveled through the countryside, watching as men and women worked silently in the rice paddies and fields. As we traveled south, we began moving up into the mountains that seperated Hue from DaNang. We stopped at a rest stop area at the highest point, the Hai Van Pass. When we pulled off into the parking lot, we were greeted by several Vietnamese United Methodist pastors, and 18 brand new Yamaha 110 cc Sirius motorbikes!
Before our trip began, the Team had been asked to collect donations to purchase these motorbikes...12 motorbikes at $1,500 each. So we sent $18,000 ahead of us to buy the bikes...but the Vietnamese pastor (Nia) who bought the bikes was able to purchase 18 bikes and helmets with the money! Talk about loaves and fishes!! There were 12 of us from the States ready to ride and the extra bikes would be riden by some of the Vietnamese pastors who met us at the top of the mountain.
And so finally, our motorbike journey began on top of a Vietnamese mountain. We riders quickly acclimated ourselves to our bikes and off we went, down the mountain. Around the curves and switchbacks we went, smiling and laughing with our Vietnamese pastor counterparts. At the bottom of the mountain was the city of DaNang...our first experience riding in city traffic on motorbikes...yikes!!
We wind our way through the streets of DaNang and eventually we stop at a United Methodist house church. (A house church is a congregation that is meeting is someone's home because they have not been able to raise the money to buy or build a church building yet.) Here we meet the pastor and several of his congregation. There are also a dozen or so members of the Vietnamese congregation present to be baptized...so a couple of the pastors in our group do the honors!
As a side note about the Vietnamese churches and their members...we have been amazed at their enthusiasm and excitement. Their worship services are exhuberent and joy-filled. In talking with some of them, they relate that THEY are amazed at our interest and encouragement of THEM. The main request from these small congregations is not for money (which they could certainly use) but for our prayers.
As we leave the church we are caught in a massive traffic jam in downtown DaNang. After some skillful (and lucky) riding, we eventually leave DaNang behind us. Miraculously, we do not witness any accidents at all! We continue south along Highway 1A, our next stop is Hoi An, where we spend the night at the Thanh Binh hotel. A quick shower and off to supper. Tomorrow we continue south.
