#24 - Hue down along the Perfume River

On our Way to Hue (pronounced 'Way') on the Reunification Express

Let your imagination run wild....

Although the charm of Hoi An could entice a visitor to stay longer, with gray skies and damp everything, we were ready to head out of our marginal hotel and onto the train for a scenic three hour ride to our next stop, Hue. 

At every arrival we have been met by a driver and guide and so, we assumed, we would be driven to the train in Hoi An and met again in Hue. But, to our surprise, our Hue guide and driver arrived at our hotel, and Son ('shoon', like moon) accompanied us on the train while our driver raced to Hue,with the luggage, to meet us on arrival. Perhaps we have paid a bit too much for our guided services? 

The Hoi An Station ( actually Da Nang station) is not exactly an upscale renovated building like Philadelphia’s 30th St. Station, but more a slice of daily life, which means basic and old. But, as Steve went to find us a Bahn Mi for lunch on the train, a young woman traveling with her husband and four kids sat next to me. Upon each of us hearing the other’s American accent, we struck up a conversation. It went something like this-

Where in the States are you from?

   Colorado.

Really? I live in New Mexico.

   Well, actually, I am from New Mexico but people never know where that is, so I just say     Colorado; it’s easier. I am actually from Raton.

I am from Santa Fe!

These two towns are less than two hours apart! Really, once again, the miracle of travel. She is actually a military wife living in Seoul, South Korea which she explained is a city of ONLY 25 million and just as expensive as NYC with apartment rents close to $5,000 a month. She’s lucky, I guess, because you and I are paying for her 'luxury' through the Army who pays her rent!

So, the train. Researched it, knew it wasn’t fancy, scenic views were touted as spectacular and this was the only place we had a chance to train. So we hopped aboard, found our seats and immediately were very glad we had not booked this for an overnight ride to Hanoi. Sure, it was scruffy and dirty, did see one cockroach, there was no ventilation at all, either A/C or windows and almost every local person took their shoes off. 

The day was misty and polluted, the views were from the other side of the train and we had to ride backwards. So, no, it wasn’t a lot of fun but it was only 2 1/2 hours and it was, as our guide said, seeing a real slice of local life.

 We passed oceans and mountains, rice fields and water buffalo, and even an old leper colony where the cured lepers have chosen to remain in seclusion to live out their lives. Perhaps the SUV drive would have been more comfortable but we rode the ReUnification Express instead. And -  there was no rain!

I had double checked our hotel online from Hoi An, wanting to avoid another crappy Vietnamese version of a bad Holiday Inn. It looked nice on line, but so had Hoi An. We arrived at the Eldora to a beautiful marble lobby and an amazing corner suite overlooking this city of half a million. 

Marbles floors and coffered ceilings, a glass enclosed bathroom with curtains and a beautiful claw foot tub. Immaculate and spacious. Well, something had to make up for the crappy Vinh Hung in  Hoi An. 

After a long leisurely shower we strolled out for dinner. Just blocks from our hotel are adorable bars and restaurants, more cosmopolitan than some of the small towns we have visited. We couldn’t wait to try all of the specialties of Hue. We landed in a cute spot, La Carambole, filled mostly with tourists but some locals too, or at least we assumed they were local as they were certainly Asian. We ordered the Hue special pre -fixe menu, six courses (Steve promised they were small, as he had read they were served like tapas) of Hue specialties. They were not small at all, but they were incredibly delicious. 

We started with Bun Bo Hue, a fresh rice noodle soup with meat, veggies, noodles and fresh herbs. 

Next spring rolls. Now all over SE Asia we are eating spring rolls which are nothing like what we eat at home. These are small and deep fried but the wrappers are layers of flaky rice paper, not heavy and oil soaked like at our local Chinese take out. I am not sure I will ever order a spring roll again when we get back home. 

Bahn Lok Goi is presented in a steamed lightly oiled banana leaf which, when opened, contains a glutinous tapioca flour crepe filled with minced caramelized shrimp and pork, which you dip in a doctored fish sauce. Now, a word about fish sauce. At home I use it very sparingly and rarely like dishes using this as a main flavor. But here in Vietnam the fish sauce is light and delicious, with none of the smell we associate with rotting fish.

Grilled chicken with lemongrass and crispy shallots served with rice. Again, at home lemongrass is one of those inedible things you find in your food that you inconspicuously try to spit out in your napkin. Not here. Here it is sliced thin and delicately sautéed and completely edible....especially good with lots of crispy shallot.

Last main course was simple noodles and veggies. I don’t know how they make this so light, actually perhaps the secret is that they use peanut oil to sauté their veggies. I only buy peanut oil to make Passover rolls and by the next year it smells old, I throw it out and buy a new one. Now I will know how to use it all year long. 

Dessert was a banana fritter, a half of a banana batter coated and fried, not too sweet, not too oily and a great but heavy way to end a meal. And drumroll please.......a six course tasting-menu dinner......guess????

$10 US a person!! With a cocktail and a beer, the total dinner came to $25.00. I don’t think I could cook this at home for that.

On the way back to the hotel, we bump into two people who were in our cooking class two days ago in Hoi An; guess we are on the same circuit. And yes, we saw them again today at a famous masoleum. 

Marci and Son, our excellent guide

We have only one full day in Hue. We did not expect much from the city or its attractions. I had read it did not really have a lot to offer tourists. But our guide made it a fabulous day.  First of all, we expected a cold, rainy day but instead we had blue skies and sunshine. We started at the Imperial Citadel, aka the Forbidden Purple City, where the 13 kings of the Nguyen (Win) dynasty lived. It is not at all purple but that word is used to denote royalty. It is quite large and although it (and Hue) were heavily bombed and damaged during the Vietnam War, it is now a UNESCO Heritage site and has much of it has been reconstructed. The King lived there with the Queen and his 400-500 concubines with whom he fathered 142 children.  When the French surrendered the country to the Communists, the King abdicated, and he and his family exiled to Paris, where his 2,000 descendants, Princes and Princesses and their children, still live today. 

A museum visit and pagoda and then a couple of mausoleums of dead Kings. Sounds boring, right? Not at all. Son made history come alive including the story of King Tu Duc who was buried with much gold and silver, but no one knows exactly where his coffin is. In order to keep the secret (as kings built their mausoleums well before they died) as to the exact location ( so no one would loot it ), the king selected prisoners on death row to do the labor. Once it was done....they were all put to death. Now that is a perfect way to keep a secret. And by law, no one is allowed to use current technology to find the location. 

One stop was a monastery, interesting but nothing truly amazing until we came to a small building. In it was a car. A blue car. A old blue car. An old blue Austin. And next to it a photo. A very famous photo. One of Time magazines most famous photos of the 20th century. The photo was of a monk immolating himself to protest the Communists treatment of monks and Buddhists. 

We may have been too young to remember this when it happened in 1963, but we have all seen this photo and we were standing, not only next to the actual car the monk had driven to this street, but at the monastery where the monk had lived and worked and prayed.  It was a wow moment to be right there with a piece of history.

We made a serendipitous roadside stop at one of many little businesses that make joss sticks (aka incense sticks) by hand. 

Freshly Made Incense Sticks for sale

The displays are colorful and I must say, it’s not hard to roll a stick!

Well, I am off now to the hotel spa for my 7th or 8th or 9th massage of the trip. I mean how can you not have a great massage at the end of the day when it costs all of $25? Anyway, it will give Steve time to edit my post, add lots of great pics and post for today.