November 1 to 4, 2019
670km from Hanoi
Population: 455,230 (Wikipedia)
As mentioned, the guys had already been to Hué with a tour so that Laurent could have an overview and also to have some buddy time.
Laurent and Salah woke up at 6am to meet with the tour guide in downtown Hoi An. It was a small group, only 6 people. The tour would take them through a scenic drive but the weather was such that there was no scenery to be seen.
Bubble of History: Huế is a coastal city of central Vietnam that was the capital of the Nguyen Dynasty (the last Emperors) from 1802 to 1945. A major attraction is its vast Citadel, the heart of Hué, built between 1804 and 1833. The fortified wall consists of up to 20m-thick, 6m-high, 10km-long walls, a moat (30m across and 4m deep), and is accessible through 10 gateways. The complex of Hué historical monuments is a UNESCO world heritage site.
The city was also the battleground for the Battle of Hué (Jan to March 1968), one of the longest and bloodiest battles of the American War. – Wikipedia and Lonely Planet.
On their day tour, the boys would stop in 3 of the main historic places around Hué
1. The Royal tomb of Khai Dinh
This site is the mausoleum of Emperor Khai Dinh, who reigned between 1916-1925 as the second-to-last Emperor of the Nguyen dynasty, under the French government (he was considered a puppet figurehead for the French). The construction took 11 years and was finished after his death. The tomb's square footage is smaller than other Emperors’ but the building itself is more elaborated as it shows a mix of different architecture styles and materials (mainly French and Vietnamese). Unlike other Emperors, Khai Dinh was buried there (9 meters deep).
2. Thien Mu Pagoda
Construction started in 1601, this seven-storey pagoda is considered an unofficial symbol of Hué.
Apart from the pagoda, the temple also houses the car in which the monk Thich Quang Duc was driven to his self-immolation in Saigon in 1963 against the Diem regime. It was the first of a series of self-immolations by members of the Buddhist clergy, which brought the cause of Buddhists to the attention of the international community.
For music lovers, the picture was used on Rage Against the Machine’s first album cover.
3. Imperial City
The site is in pretty bad shape. First, because a lot was destroyed during the American War (including all the Forbidden Purple City, reserved to the Emperor and his family) and second because of the financial priorities of the country. Only 10 out of the 160 original buildings remain and are maintained and restored.
Bubble of History: The Nguyen dynasty Emperors reigned from 1802 to 1945, including under the French Protectorate. Bao Dai was the last Emperor of the dynasty, abdicating after Japan’s surrender in August 1945 while the Viet Minh launched the August Revolution. The independence of Vietnam was proclaimed by Ho Chi Minh on September 2, 1945, followed by the first Indochina war until 1954 with the French.
Overall, the tour was not that great. First, the bad weather did not help us enjoying all the places, especially the so-called scenic views. Second, the guide was a nice guy, but his English level was not that good and explanations were not very clear. We saw too many things too quickly. Salah realized in the 2nd visit of the Imperial City with us, that the 1st one was not very thorough.
We had hesitated but decided to spend a few days in Hué after Hoi An, and Salah did not regret going back.
So... on November 1, the 4 of us headed to Hué on a sleeper bus, consisting in 3 rows of lower and upper berths. First time on a bus like this and it was fun. We were very comfortable, each of us having a seat. The trip was only 3h30 hours and very smooth along the coastline. It was raining outside.
The bus dropped the travelers in the suburbs of Hué. Taxi drivers were there though, like vultures looming. Probably fake taxis for the most. We got lucky to find a real taxi, dropping off passengers getting on the bus we were on. We took the cab, which took us to our homestay.
When we got there, the owner quickly showed us around and dashed out to pick up his wife from work. This young couple did everything they could to help us during our stay and we were very grateful to meet them. They are adorable!
We had 3 bedrooms, and a common space on the upper floor of the house. We also had access to the kitchen downstairs, shared with the owners.
We were very well-located within the city walls, not far from the Imperial City.
The first night, we went to a restaurant recommended by a neighbor: Lac Thanh. We had the best food: banh khoai. It is a thick and crispy crepe made of eggs, rice flour, seafood, meat. Once complemented with fresh herbs, cucumber, fig, and vermicelli, we rolled everything up in a rice paper and dipped in a peanut sauce. It was super duper good!
The owner is deaf and mute but communicated really well with his hands and had a nice sense of humor. He offered us free scooter rides the next day to various touristy sites. He proposes to all the tourists coming to his restaurant, he showed us thank-you books of people who rode with him, even from August 2019. We did not accept because
1. We needed 2 scooters (apparently, he would have managed to find a 2nd one),
2. The weather was pretty rainy over the next days,
3. We didn’t feel super comfortable driving around 60km with the girls on the scooters.
So we declined his offer. But, we had a sneak peek because the rain started pouring when we were still at the restaurant. Salah called a taxi but it never got there so Mr Lac offered us a scooter ride back home. I went first with Lana but we ended up in the wrong direction and instead of 5 minutes, we ended up driving 15 minutes. Totally fine by me (and Lana who was thrilled to be on the scooter!!) but we were soaking wet when we got home. Salah and Naema arrived 5 minutes later, Naema wearing a big smile on her face. At first, she was somewhat scared but as soon as they started driving, she loved it.
The next day, we went to visit the Imperial City. Salah was sharing what he had learned with us and we were taking the time to explore the whole site which is quite big.
That night, we went back to eat banh khoai at the Lac Thanh restaurant and crossed the Truong Tien bridge over the Perfume River. That bridge was designed by Gustave Eiffel (the Eiffel Tower guy) and its construction was completed in 1899. At night, the light show makes it very unique and pleasant to watch. We had fun with the lights (see pictures)! Afterwards, we went to a touristy area with bars, recommended by the homestay owner. And we quickly went back home, as it was not our cup of tea at all. Too noisy, too touristy, too young!
Our third day was a Sunday, and the only day off that week for our young hostess. We had a chance to converse about her job. She works in a factory making clothes for sports brands (Décathlon, Nike, Puma, etc). She commutes every day for 1 hour one way by bus and her husband takes her to the bus station by scooter at 7am and picks her up at 6 pm. She also works every 2nd Saturday, which was the case the week-end we were there.
We also talked about health care in Vietnam. If she or her husband goes to the doctor, they would pay 80% of the visit, the other 20% being subsidized (by government or employer, I am not sure). Although they do not have kids yet, she informed me on the maternity leave, which is 6 months in Vietnam and partially paid (2-months pay allowance). Not bad!
The Vietnamese LOVE children, and the girls know that only too much! That Sunday, the young lady came to the common space upstairs and played with the girls. Even when Naema had some homework to do and we disappeared in a room to focus, that Salah worked in the other bedroom, she was playing with Lana, and braiding her hair. Her husband came by to play some guitar. Just being around the girls cheered them up!
Around lunch time, the owners left the house and we wondered what to do in this pouring rain. It was certainly a movie day so that’s what we did! We called a cab and headed downtown, bought tickets, ate a quick lunch at a fast-food restaurant (much healthier than KFC though) and took our chairs in the movie theater.
It was November 3 and the movie was about El dia de los Muertos. It was in English with Vietnamese subtitles so we could understand the story. It was a 2016 movie (we found out later) but it was extremely timely.
After the movie, the clouds had cleared up and the sun was shining again. We walked 40 minutes to get to a café I had read about on a blog, crossing a small affluent of the Perfume River.
The rooftop was not open due to the weather but we were able to go upstairs for a few pictures.
We tried the salty coffee (“best coffee ever” for Salah), a Vietnamese coffee topped with whipped milk mixed with salt… never thought it would turn out that great! I also tried the taro ice cream, not bad but not extraordinary.
Next, we crossed the street to see a Catholic church, built by the French – like a lot of buildings in Hué.
Coffee culture is big in Vietnam, and this is totally in-tune with us. We like Vietnamese coffee so much that we bought a phin (filter) and coffee at the supermarket to make our own at home. The coffee taste is chocolatey, it must certainly come from the higher proportion of robusta beans in their mix because no cocoa gets added.
On our last day, our flight to Ho Chi Minh City was at 9pm so we had the whole day in Hué. The homestay owner agreed that we could leave our backpacks for the day, which was super nice of him.
We took a cab to visit the Tu Duc tomb.
Bubble of History: Emperor Tu Duc reigned from 1847 to 1883. The enormous expense of the tomb and the forced labour used in its construction spawned a coup plot that was discovered and suppressed. The site was Tu Duc’s residence during his reign, with halls to receive civil and military mandarins (ministers), a theater, a place of worship. The man-made lake makes it very enjoyable. The Emperor was not buried in the mausoleum (although he had his self-written epitaph carved out there) but in another location, unknown of the public. People who knew about his burial site were all assassinated to keep the secret.
After the visit, we were starving and walked 2 km back to the civilization because around the touristic site, prices were inflated.
Along the way, we saw a village of incense makers. Although we have used incense for a long time, we had no idea how it is made.
An old lady taught us. The easy way is to slide a stick through a machine (that Lana, Naema and I even got to try) that wraps it in cinnamon-based incense paste.
The not-so-easy way is to handroll the incense paste around the stick and this is tricky (haven't tried but watched a tourist in distress 😉).
Afterwards, drying is a couple of hours and it is ready to be sold.
After the visit, we were starving and walked 2km back to the civilization because around the touristic site, prices were inflated. We ended up in a hole-in-the-wall, like many other places we had been before, serving only one dish we hadn’t had before: omelette mixed with rice floor that we could roll in rice paper with salad, fresh herbs, and cucumber. We also ordered a fresh sugarcane juice, and we saw it being made with a big roll pressing the juice out of the cane. Couldn’t be fresher! The girls loved the juice. I enjoyed it as it reminded me of my grand-father in New Caledonia making me try it when I was Naema’s age.
This ended up being the cheapest meal of our trip: 53,000 VND (2.3 USD) for the 4 of us.
Talking about currency, in Vietnam we feel rich! Not only are things cheap (food, clothes, hotel, etc) but the exchange rate turned us into millionaires (1M VND = 40 USD) … for a month at least!
At the end of the day, we headed back home, took a shower, closed the bags. We went close to the homestay to a vegetarian restaurant and asked for a menu. Instead of pictures, the old man dragged me into his kitchen and showed me the food available. It is incredible how words seem superfluous in some situations.
We ate really well and headed back home. The owners were very sad to see us leave and our hostess said that she just wanted to get back home from work that day to see the girls. She was so sweet! We headed to the Hué airport, another tiny one (and hot). That night, we were flying Bamboo Airways towards South Vietnam.
Coralie + Salah
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