Vietnam: Hue

After our return from Halong, next up was our trip down to Hue (pronounced "Hui"). To get there, we had to take another overnight train - 14 hours from Hanoi. The beds were not as comfortable as the train to Sapa but the timing was much better to handle. We arrived at Hue at about 9 in the morning which meant that most of us slept pretty well and were up and alert when we reached the station. I'm sorry to say that about this point of the trip I had gotten a bit lazy with regards to picture taking and was rather content to just see and commit the sights to memory. Hence, pictures will be quite limited from now on. Train stations always excite me. There is a buzz activity around you and one feels so excited especially this was the first time in Hue. Even while walking around, my eyes were gleaming as I spied the numerous street hawkers plying their simple hawker fare. I wasn't hungry, but I was definitely intrigued by what the locals were doing. 

Since we were too early for the hotel check in, the guide, Lap had arranged for a motorcycle tour for us around Hue. It was drizzling but apparently it was still ok. 

It was an exciting trip! All of us sat pillion on the motorcycle and I do have to give kudos to the motorcyclists for being so good in their steering/driving. We went through alleyways, bumpy back roads, muddy pools of water and at no point did I feel like I was going to fall off. Floods are a problem for Hue and then being the rainy season we were able to see the effect of rain on the city - rice fields were flooded to the brim and often the paths separating the rice fields and rivers was just a small strip just enough for the bikes to ride past.

One of the oldest wooden bridges in Hue/Vietnam, built centuries ago by the royal family. Fortune tellers hang around the area and some in our group had their fortune told and it was interesting to listen to what the fortune teller had to say to them. D went to have his palm read and the lady predicted that he would meet a lady 29 years old in Thailand and that he was a person who love to drink and party. Quite aptly true as back then I knew of a 29 yr old lady that he was interested in... but whether it came true, I don't know :) The guide told us a story of how a few years back the fortune teller had informed a couple that they would break up before they left Vietnam and true behold, the couple actually split up when the tour reached Saigon! The guide refuses to say whether he believes this was the work of the gods though he did mention that when his wife was pregnant, the doctor had told them it was a girl, the fortune teller said it was a boy. It turned out to be a boy. Top right picture shows the flood marker in Hue. Flood waters rose up to 3 metres high at one point in time. The dragon boat below was the one we took on our ride along the perfume river.

Lap (our guide) also brought us to an agricultural museum where an old volunteer lady showed us rituals of the daily life in Hue. In the picture above, she is showing the group how to eat betel leaves which is like eating mild opium for a kick. It stains the teeth, so many of them end up with blackish teeth which is considered attractive in these parts. Another part of Hue which we saw was the Thien Mu pagoda (above right picture).

My apologies, I cannot remember this lady's name (Mrs...) but she's a famous conical hat maker in Vietnam who has appeared on TV and been overseas to show her conical hats. She designed the 3 layer hat where if you hold the inside up to the light, you can see paper etchings of Hue's famous sights and a vietnamese poem. She was born a disabled child so we found it quite amazing that she is able to perform the craft with such skill. The hats are oiled on the top layer so they are water proof as well.

Visit to the King's tomb. Most of it is closed off for excavations which will probably take many years so what we did was to walk around the complex. Most of it was destroyed during the Tet offensive which is a pity. In one of the pillars, H found a bullet lodged in it (picture above)

Another thing Hue is known for is joss sticks. Especially with Tet coming up. Different colours have different aromas!

The highlight of Hue - exploring the Citadel. This is the building from which Emperor Bao Dai abdicated from in 1945 and the former seat of the imperial government. Unfortunately, this place was badly destroyed during the Tet offensive many of the buildings have definitely seen better days. It is a rather tranquil area though, nice for a walk around.

The night to end all nights in Vietnam. Persuaded Lap to bring us out for a local vietnamese bbq dinner - lured especially by promises of stingray. Iz, D, K, T all came along and when we walked into the local place, every local turned to stare at us. It was hilarious. Then Lap did what Lap does - ordered a frog and when it came and was put down in front of us, all of us went OMG and immediately whipped out the cameras to do the touristy think and take pictures. The viets eat frog but eating the frog meat wrapped in a spring roll with leaves/herbs as the frog meat can be quite strong and overpowering to some. Pretty cool way to eat it (I think that viets like to eat everything via spring rolls) compared to in S'pore whereby the most common way is frog leg porridge and they would NEVER serve it like that. Everyone that I've showed the frog leg picture to has immediately went wide eyed upon seeing it. Have I also mentioned that alcohol is dirt cheap in this country? A bottle of local vodhka cost only 60,000 dong! Naturally we went crazy with it and by the end of dinner, we had gushed down four bottles and all of us were pretty drunk by the end of dinner.

Picture of all us going crazy at brown eyes bar despite the vodhka filled dinner. I don't think we realized that extent of our drunkeness till the next morning when everyone came to ask me how I was filling and I was just so embarassed for the rest of the day.