The National Daily World Enquiring Globe

Where's Svlad? - Way Down in Hue

Hue is an ancient city. From 1558 until 1945, it served as the capital of Vietnam. Here the Nguyen Emperors ruled from the Forbidden Purple City. Then the French screwed everything up.

Anyone traveling to Vietnam would be a fool to not stop in Hue. Mongo, being nobody's fool, had two reasons to visit Hue. One was the the architecture. Second was tracking down Biff's daughter.

	The Forbidden Purple City is now a tourist attraction. Much of it was destroyed during the Tet offensive. But what is left is quite the marvel.
The locals were gearing up for their annual festival which included these ancient flying machines.
	When acting like a tourist, it is always important to look the part. Never shave, wear a loud Hawaiian shirt, and always wear your shades!
A trip across town in a Cyclo (bicycle taxi) took Mongo through the gates of the citadel. This was the site a fierce battle during the Tet offensive. Hue has history seeping from the seams.
	Downtown Mongo found the address of Biff's daughter. Not having a picture of her, and Mongo not speaking Vietnamese, caused quite a lot of confusion. Mongo was put back into the Cyclo, and off he was, thinking he was going to be taken to Biff's daughter.
He ended up at Thien Mu Pagoda, which was founded in 1601. What the hell was he doing there?
The local guys are rather short.	This tourist cover was getting a bit annoying. Mongo smelled a rat, and it wasn't time for dinner. As he tried to work his way out of the tourist trap, he came upon the Pagoda's temple. There were Asians sitting on the floor, wearing shoes, taking flash pictures of each other, right next to a sign, that said, do not sit on the floor, remove your shoes, no talking, no flash photography. What was wrong with these people? A Buddhist Temple is as sacred, and worthy of respect as any other holy place on Earth. Mongo dropped his shoes, holstered the camera and had a quiet look.

There was a threshold between the outer temple and the room which houses the statue of The Buddha. Not knowing the rules, Mongo stayed on the outside. Suddenly there was a little old man yelling at all the Asians who were breaking the rules. He was shooing them away. This left Mongo, his guide, and the little old man, who turned out to be the priest.

Mongo bowed and gave the traditional Buddhist salute palms pressed together at the crest. The priest smiled at him and dragged him into the room with the Buddha statue by the elbow.

"He likes you," said the guide. "You very respectful."

Mongo and the priest had not one common word between them. Through the guide the priest told Mongo he knew the woman Mongo was looking for. She had come to this temple often. In this temple there was no discrimination against people of mixed race.

Mongo asked if the priest could arrange a meeting with Biff's daughter. But the priest said she had left, and gone to France!

As far as Mongo was concerned, this was a dry hole. He filed his report, and headed south on Route 1. But at LowComDom world headquarters in Alviso, all hell broke loose. Where was Trouble? They needed to put a trace on his credit card immediately!

Next Time: Part 9 Road Trip!