Hue

Hue used to be the ancient capital a long time ago and was recommended by many people as a must see place in central Vietnam. After returning from Halong Bay, we flew from Hanoi the same evening; the flight took only 55 minutes. Joanne found a bus (there was only one bus at this small airport) while I picked up the luggage, that took us right to the  front of our hotel. Instead of paying $15 for a taxi as our hotel had recommended, for a fraction of the cost, she found a better way.

For what it’s worth, after visiting palaces and temples in China, Japan, and Korea, what we saw in Hue was not that impressive. Instead, what we found was a local young man whom we befriended with a big smile, a kind heart, and even bigger dreams of owning a hotel one day.

The citadel, surrounded by a moat, sits across the Perfume River and is the key visiting site in Hue. It used to be the palace for many kings and is now undergoing reconstruction to return it to some resemblance of its old glory.

Throughout history we’ve seen many child kings. Vietnam had its share.

We found a mixture of original and reconstructed work. Someone even told us to look for bullet and shell marks left during the Vietnam War and we found some.

They paid money to change into these costumes and get their picture taken. If they had paid more money, they could have had a full court (consisting of many of the employees also dressed in costume as their underlings) posing with them.

Between 11AM to 1PM is the siesta time in Hue. We even saw some employees at the gift shop fast asleep on their cots. The reconstruction workers also resumed their labors after 1PM.

La Carambole which is a local French restaurant, was recommended to us by a fellow Australian traveler. They had excellent western food and we had lunch there twice. The owner of the restaurant, Ha, is on Joanne’s left side. On our second visit, we met her French husband Christian and had a good chat.  They knew all of the general managers of the best hotels in town.

When we were in Hue, we had the local pho called Bun Bo Hue. In the picture are Phuong and Tran (his long time "just friends" who is studying to get a master's in biology)  who took us to eat on their motorbikes.  

We really want to tell you about Phuong:  The morning after we arrived in Hue, we were walking towards the Citadel when we stepped inside a grand looking hotel.  Phuong, who was manning the reception desk, greeted us. From the moment we met him, he opened up his heart and wanted to show us around the town.  Instead of meeting in the morning as he sugested we offered to buy him dinner after work. He brought along Tran, and Brian and I rode on the back of their motorbikes to different restaurants.  After dinner, Tran was called home by her Mom soon afterwards (good girls don't stay out late), so just Phuong joined us at the sky lounge for drinks. We ended up singing for one another. He sang “Take me to your heart”.

Bun Bo Hue was a bit more spicier than Hanoi’s pho. I have no problem eating any kind of noodles and this was also good.

The rice cake was delicious (with beans inside and covered in banana leaf).

This time, Phuong brought another friend (Me) from his English class.  He wanted to take us around the next day as well, but we had to bid good bye to Hue and leave for DaNang in the afternoon.  So instead, we spent the morning visiting La Residence, a hotel recommended by Ha. We wanted to hook him up with the general manager of a four plus star hotel.