Hue, Vietnam

The flight to Hue was quick and easy. The boys are becoming excellent flyers and actually look forward to it now. The first thig we noticed was that it's hotter here than in Hanoi.

Hue is the old imperial capital of Vietnam and is situated in the center of the country on the coast. It's quite a bit smaller than Hanoi but seems to have more of a party vibe to it. The downtown area is full of restaurants and bars. Tour buses full of people arrive each day.

We are staying in a hotel in the downtown area. In spite of being so central, it's actually quite quiet. Luke and I and the kids have a room, Mack and Isa share another room.

Our first day Isa and I went for a run along the Perfume river. We ended up crossing the bridge to the other side and running through the market...which is insanely busy! The bank along our riverside had food and trinket vendors set up along it, so we decided to eat there for dinner. We tried a few nibbles and sat down at a place where we made a huge mistake.... never eat at a place where there are no proces on the menu without discussing price in advance. We paid for that one. I am happy to report that this is the only time we were heavily gringo priced in Vietnam.  Most places are honest. The worst part was that the
food was subpar.

The next day was St. Patty's. The hotel included breakfast, which was fairly decent. We all decided to walk along the river down to the old imperial city site. Isa and Mack weren't interested in paying the entry fee, so they took the boys back for a nap (it was getting hot out any ways). The city was heavily damaged in the war, but it wasn't nearly as old as we had thought it would be. It was only built in the early 1800s and heavily damaged in the war.

Once the boys were up we headed out for some lunch. we tried banh beo, which are steamed glutenous dumpling topped with shrimp, pork crackling, crispy shallots and herbs. You sprinkle fish sauce over them. They are delicious! We also got in some famous bun bo hue.

On Monday Luke and crew headed off for their tour of the DMZ.  The boys and I hid out in survival mode in the room. They were back earlier than expected having chose not to explore the tunnels* at great length. They were happy to have gone, but most sites were commemorated with a monument and left a lot to the imagination. While their driver was informative, he wasn't a tour guide.

We went to Nook, a café on the other side of town for lunch. Afterwards Isa and I perused some shops with Vander for a few souvenirs.

I had decided while the others were at the DMZ that I wanted to take a motorcycle tour of the countryside. I booked an overnight trip that would take me from Hue along the Ho Chi Minh trail to Hoi An where I would meet everyone.  If you are planning a trip to Vietnam, I highly recommend this! They do all kinds of these tours to get you off the beaten path and they are fully customized.  My driver Tran picked me up after breakfast Tuesday morning and we set out for the mountains!

We were quickly out of the city and out to the country side. Our first stop was to check out a field of rubber trees. I actually had no clue that natural rubber came from trees. From there we were out further into the jungle. After some coffee, Tran stopped off at a waterfall where the locals like to swim. The area is set up with platforms for lounging in the sun between dips. I asked him why it was so quiet, he told me it was because it's too cold out for swimming....it was 26 degrees.

Rubber tree

We headed back down the Ho Chi Minh trail through some small countryside villages. At one point there was a slew of kids coming home from school on their bikes. All stopping to wave. It was interesting because they would ride linked side by side holding onto their companions handle bar and moving as a unit.

After lunch, we continued further up into the mountains. The vistas were spectacular. We rode along side a few other motorcycle tours, meeting up with them at some of the pit stops along the way. We stopped at the village of an indigenous group. I am never sure if they view these visits as welcomed or intrusive. Tran assured me it was welcome, but I still felt it wasn't right to take pictures. I did break out the camera when two young men returned to the village with a large and poisonous (so I'm told) snake for dinner.

Tran later told me that the government provides assistance to these minority groups as long as they engage in farming. He said that for a while the government funded the villages without asking for anything in return and as a result no one worked and substance abuse was on the rise. For these reason, they now impose a certain level of farming on par with what the village was originally producing.

Our last stop of the day was at another waterfall. This one was a little colder, and I may have been nudged in :) It was here that a few of the other travellers caught up with us, so I chatted with a couple of the other solo travellers.

We ended the day at a homestay in a small mountain town. After a brief rest, I joined Tran for dinner. While it looks incredibly mundane, each dish was bursting with flavour. I walked through the small town before bed. There were small "bars" set up, which were an aggregation of chairs at the roadside. Everyone was friendly and waved. I topped the night off watching the X-Files movie hahaha because it was on.

Sign in my homestay room

The next day we were up and out early after breakfast. As we drove through some of the small villages not far from where we stayed, we stumbled across a sacrificial ceremony. The entire village was crowded around a bull tied to a special symbolic pillar. Tran told me the bull would be killed and eaten in a feast that evening. While I am not put off by the killing of animals for food (esp in a culture where the entire animal is used), I did not like that the bull was being taunted and provoked as it was restrained.

We motored on through more beautiful mountain and jungle scenery. It's mind boggling that anyone fought a war out here in this crazy landscape.

After we descended from the mountains, we stopped off at a green tea plantation. We left the tea in search of some coffee. It was here at a roadside stop that a Vietnamese man with family in Canada, who spoke only Vietnamese chit chatted via Tran with me about life in Canada. He was an interesting man with a very skewed view on what living outside of Vietnam is like. It was an interesting conversation.

We left the mountains for the coast and had finally arrived in Danang. Danang is the 3rd largest city in Vietnam, it goes on as far as the eye can see. I'm very happy with our decision to spend the bulk of our time in Hoi An. Tran dropped me off at Marble Mountain. Now a UNESCO heritage site, this mountain was the primary source of marble in the area and drove the economy here. To be honest the mountain was a bit underwhelming. I didn't even make it to the top. It was also way over lunch time and I was happy to get back to Tran for some lunch, noodles!!

Next stop Hoi An to meet up with the gang!

While I was away Luke and co. hit up a proper large grocery store for some supplies and had dinner at the DMZ bar. According to them, it was quite tasty. Their journey to Hoi An was via van, but they also made stops at a lagoon, a pass and Marble mountain before arriving in Hoi An.