Instantly on the drive to our hotel you could see the difference what an hours flight south makes. The people are slower and quieter and so are the roads. The food is different too, and we think better. There also seemed less poverty somehow. A story we’ve heard more than once is that people in the north earn their money and spend little. In the south they earn their money and spend most of it. In Hue we’re about half way down and you could see the difference between Hanoi and here.
Our hotel The Pilgrimage Hotel and Spa is beautiful, thank you Bamboo Travel. Small three storey houses made of red brick dotted amongst lush and beautifully landscaped gardens. It’s all very tranquil and lovely and the staff, and there are loads, are constantly wishing a good morning, good day, good night, welcome back, have we had a nice stay. And yes we have.
The hotel is situated about 15 minutes outside the city in the countryside. No sooner had we arrived but we jumped on one of the shuttle buses to go and get a spot of lunch and have a little look. On our walk around we came across a little street with several street cafes. Even though we’ve been travelling for 2 weeks we haven’t yet eaten at a street cafe. Feeling brave we decided stop at one where we thought it looked pretty good and where there was a group of people eating. A man on the street tried to usher us in laughing. After some confusion we realised we were trying to invade someone’s private house and they were having lunch. We made a quick exit with the man still laughing. A little way down the road we saw another. And it had bowls so asking for noodle soup the staple diet of the Vietnamese we thought should be quite straight forward. The owner looked quite excited to see us and ushered us to a table with small plastic chairs. You know the ones! Our big western bums only just squeezed in. She presented a menu with pictures of three dishes. All looked good but we pointed to the bowls and asked for soup. A few minutes later, no noodle soup but we did get all three dishes pictured on the menu. First up, a huge bowl of greenery and a small bowl of sauce and chop sticks. Not sure what to do we dunked the leaves into the sauce – which was very tasty. A few minutes later some meat on sticks and some very thin crispy rice paper arrived. Now we’re really confused and a lady on the street who had been watching and giggling for some time decided to step in and educate us. By now we needed more salad and sauce as this was an integral part of the dish. Our new friend took us in hand and this is what you do – put the rice paper on your plate, take a good helping of leaves and place at one end. Then put the skewered meat on top of the leaves, then place some bits of very sharp apple and something else that was star shaped on top of the meat with a few more leaves. Roll the best you can rather like a cigarette roll up, pull the skewer out of the meat and dip in the lovely peanutty sauce. Hey presto! This and the other two dishes that came were the most delicious food we’ve tasted. At the end she presented us with a childrens watering can and a couple of cups for some tea. All told, $3. Excellent, and we didn’t even get a dodgy tummy the next day.
Next morning our new guide Fung came to the hotel with air-conditioned taxi to take us off for some sight-seeing. Hue is yet another Unesco heritage site and very quickly we realised why. There were 13 Kings in Hue from 1802 to 1945 when the French took control. They all have mausoleums set in beautiful parts of the countryside on the outskirts of Hue. We visited two of them. Kai Dinh the 12th Emperor and Tu Duc the 4th. The first we visited is not the largest but it is one of the most impressive and took 11 years to build. He started to build it after he had been emperor for 5 years but died before it was finished. On the other hand Tu Duc built his resting place very early in his rule and used to go there for holidays with his queen and concubines. It took 3 years to build but had 6000 people working on it. The King caught smallpox and therefore had no children other than the ones from concubines and so the next king was his nephew. He was a contemplative and poetic king and liked to come here and write and think. It’s beautifully landscaped with acres of spruce trees and very contemplative.
Fung our new guide doesn’t speak great Engish and unlike Kha in Hanoi who was a mine of information and liberally offered it Fung is more the reactive type and his delivery not so interesting so if this blog seems a bit sketchy that’s why. More info on all the Emperors at www.vietscape.com/travel/hue/kings.html. Minh Mang was the most famous of all the emperors as he had the most concubines and 142 children. They make a potent wine in Vietnam which they say is as good as Viagra and they call Minh Mang!
Next stop the Imperial City or the Citadel – it’s vast. We didn’t walk it all as it’s about 10 square km. It’s situated in the centre of Hue by the Perfume River. Building was started in 1804 and took 29 years to build as the emperors centre of government and home. It was severely damaged in 1947 by a typhoon but most of the damage was in 1968 by American bombing .
It’s so tragic to see. Unesco and various other nations are funding a huge refurbishment programme but it will take 20 years. It’s the most interesting building site you’ll find anywhere in the world.Hue is also a centre for the making of the signature Vietnamese conical hat and incense sticks but don’t know why. The Vietnamese really do still wear the hats everywhere you go so I’m sure we’ll end up purchasing one at some point. We should have in Hue as they have lovely ones where if you hold them to the light they have a pagoda, lovers, and a bridge within the bamboo. So clever, but quite cumbersome to carry. Tomorrow we go to Hoi An – yet another Unesco site and a favourite with everyone you meet.
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