Hue, Vietnam

Perfume River

Our train entered Hue Station just after 3:30 pm. I was relieved to be off of that train and excited about exploring the city. Hue is well known for its historic sites - Imperial City (the Citadel), Forbidden City inside of the Citadel, and Perfume River to name few. We would visit each one the following day. Our current focus was getting to our hotel.

When we left the station, several men ran towards us shouting taxi, taxi? They were eager for business. We chose one of them and agreed on paying 50,000 VND. I also knew it probably did not cost that amount if we used the meter in the taxi, but it is normal for drivers to negotiate a price first. I wanted to get a few pictures before we departed. The driver did not understand why I was not going directly to the vehicle. In fear of possibly losing us as a customer, and probably thinking we were trying to get away from him, he proceeded to follow us the entire time we took pictures. As far as he was concerned, we were money and he was not going to miss this opportunity. 

Once I got my pictures, we were led to his taxi, or what we expected to be a taxi. He opened the trunk of a white car that looked like it would have been better suited on blocks in the scrap yard. While Douglas was perfectly fine with taking this car, I was not having it. I saw one lone taxi at the other end of the station. I immediately rushed towards this taxi, hoping none of the other train riders snagged it before I could. When we got there, the driver was in a uniform (black pants, white shirt, and red tie equaled uniform compared to the street clothes everyone else had on). Three other men quickly got in front of the driver and began negotiating prices with us. I thought they were doing it on behalf of the driver, but they were still trying to get us in their personal vehicle. This taxi driver never spoke one word. We finally just told the taxi driver our address and put our bags in the car. 

The first driver's "taxi" is actually on the other side of this car

While loading the bags, we heard loud yelling behind us. Douglas and I turned around to see a fight occurring between the men who were trying to get us to take their private vehicles. I clearly have no idea how this occurred. From the moment they left us to the time the fight broke out, not even one minute had passed. This guy was angry though. He actually broke a plastic chair over the other man’s back. Then the guy who was being hit with the chair walked away angrily. I thought perhaps he was going to cool off and think about how he got himself in that situation. How silly of me to think such a thing! This guy comes flying back on the scene, butcher knife in hand, aiming it towards the man who broke the chair over his back. He was seriously going after him! Others had to come hold him back. I told the driver to please go immediately as I was not trying to stay there and witness any crime. Come on, Hue, really! Every city has a hood and we must have been smack in the middle of Hue’s. 

That chair ended up in about four pieces.

We stayed at La Residence Hotel and Spa. It was another five star hotel a few kilometers away from the city center. It is an Art Deco hotel that was the residence of the French governor during the colonial days. The interior was covered with French décor appropriate for that period of time. The property was very large, flanked by tall ancient trees which presented a stunning view at night. A standard room was reserved for us, but during check in they upgraded us to one of their suites on the top floor. Douglas knew all the time this would happen, but kept it as a secret to surprise me. During his golf outing in Da Nang, he teamed up with a couple British men. They hit it off and the men even drove Douglas back to the resort we were staying in Da Nang. One of them is the General Manager at a fabulous resort in Hoi An and used to be the General Manager at La Residence in Hue. He called in a favor to the hotel and told them to upgrade us upon arrival. Making connections sure does pay off.

Cups of tea were brought out for us while checking in

We were escorted to our suite and amazed by its size. The room had a separate living room aside from the bedroom. The best part was the ultra-long balcony outside our room. It overlooked the enormous pool downstairs and the famed Perfume River.  It reminded me of something I might find in downtown Charleston, South Carolina. Although everything about it was charming, I still favor the more modern hotels. Also, the bed looked nice but was hard as a brick. That is definitely an important factor for me. No matter how nice the room is, it isn't that good if the bed is uncomfortable. We were only there for a night so it was okay. 

our large balcony overlooking the pool

other side of our balcony overlooking Perfume River

We decided to visit the sights of Hue tomorrow on a private tour with an English-speaking guide. I researched a few good nearby restaurants before leaving Hanoi, one which was also recommended by the hotel staff at La Residence. By the sounds of our stomachs, we were way overdue for dinner.

A group of cyclos were camped outside the hotel gates. A cyclo (SEEK-low) is a three-wheeled cycle taxi. It has a single seat that can fit the average foreigner (two Vietnamese people). The driver sits on a small bike seat behind the passengers. I was hesitant to ride the cyclo for two reasons:  it looked a bit suspicious and I had no clue how the two of us would sit on there together. Douglas was naturally all for it and urged me to just do it. I agreed and figured this day already started out with an adventure between the train ride, the bootleg taxi we nearly got in, and the knife fight that broke out in front of the station. Why let all the adventures stop there? Still puzzled about the seating arrangements, I agreed to ride. The men told us that we could both ride with no problem. He then got a small wooden plank and placed it towards the back of the cart. He told Douglas to sit on top of the block and for me to sit between his legs. With a bewildered expression on my face, I watched Douglas climb onto the cyclo and then spread his legs open for me to join. I cautiously got on, not knowing if this poor cyclo or its driver could handle the weight of two above average-sized foreigners. I placed Douglas’ book bag in between my legs and we were off. It takes some strong pedaling to push two adults, and our driver was not the strongest looking individual. We moved at the speed of a turtle attempting to cross the street in moving traffic. Despite being on that thing watching bikes and cars scurry past us, I actually found it pretty relaxing. It’s a nice way to tour the city and take pictures without stopping in the middle of the street. Of course it seemed everyone stared at us as we passed by them, as if we were the first people to ride a cyclo out there. I am positive we weren’t, but I’ll assume it’s either because we’re black or because we looked way too big to be in the small cyclo in the first place!

Sort of looks like an adult baby carriage!

Douglas' foot hanging off the side of the cyclo.

He was so excited!

A lot of people were happy to see us pass by

We drove through the middle of this intersection in between moving traffic...not so scary had we been in a vehicle, but very scary on a cyclo

I found myself enjoying it as well!

The trip wasn't half bad!

We reached the restaurant about 20 minutes later. Unfortunately, we did not negotiate price before we hopped on so we had to barter the price at the end. We agreed on 200,000 VND ($9.50) which was highway robbery compared to the 23,000 VND ($1.05) we later paid in a taxi to return to our hotel. Like I said, they always try to get foreigners for all the money they can. It is always best to agree on a price before the ride.

As we were trying to dismount our cyclo, a woman approached us selling handmade silk paintings. She was annoyingly persistent. We were paying the cyclo driver his money and she was in our faces flipping through hundreds of paintings for us to buy. I’m thinking, “Can we get a minute?” The paintings did looks nice, but she was overly eager to sell them. They were pretty cheap so we purchased five to help support her and in the hopes that she would not follow us into the restaurant.

Our lunch spot, Nina’s Café, was not directly on the street. We walked down a long alley and followed signs to the restaurant. I saw several foreigners in the surrounding restaurants so we knew it was a good area of town for local food. Nina’s Café is an unassuming, quaint restaurant with a romantic feel. We happened to be their only customers that evening, which highlighted its romanticism. The menu was written in Vietnamese, English, and French. It was clear many foreigners dined there. The prices were extremely affordable and the options were nearly limitless. We wanted to taste everything. I was even more thrilled when I showed the waitress my gluten-free restaurant card, written in Vietnamese explaining what I could not eat. For all my Celiac friends out there, this card is a must have when traveling. It comes in many languages and can be found here. 

A little basic Vietnamese - how helpful!

We ordered appetizers, soups, a main course, and dessert. Seems like a lot, but in our defense, we had not eaten since breakfast and it was already close to 6 pm. We were starving! The food took some time to come out, but it was well worth the wait. Each dish was pure perfection. I never tasted anything like it in Hanoi or even Da Nang. There was such flavor in each bite, my mouth watered for more. Douglas and I loved it so much we went back the following day for lunch and even ordered meals to pick up that evening for our flight home. We have never done that before, which shows just how delicious the food was.

Seafood spring rolls with spicy fish sauce

sweet potato fries

Nina's Special Seafood Soup

Ginger chicken and rice

Pan-fried pork and rice noodles

fresh pineapple juice

Over the course of the three times we ate at Nina’s, we shared a great rapport with our waitress, Nina herself. She explained that her father worked in Colorado for a few years. He saved the majority of his income and later returned to Vietnam where he built a large three-story home for his entire family. The house sits directly above the restaurant. The home has eleven bedrooms for all her aunts, uncles, cousins and other relatives. It is considered the family home. Her mother is the main cook for the restaurant and all other family members help out by serving, waiting tables, cleaning, etc. The kitchen used in the restaurant is also the house kitchen. The restaurant was named after Nina, their only daughter. The restaurant and people were filled with every bit of authenticity we could have asked for. It was a wonderful experience dining there and sharing her company. If ever we visit Hue again, Nina’s Café will be our first stop! 

Nina

Nina's mother

Full off of Nina’s wonderful cuisine, we walked around the area for a bit and visited a night market. Nothing really caught our attention, but we did purchase a few items we had not seen in Hanoi. After an hour or so, we made our way back to the hotel. Douglas and I both enjoy the water and were eager to do some night swimming. At the resort in Da Nang, the pool had no lights so it would have been too dangerous to swim in the dark. You could not see a thing and there were stairs tucked away all over that pool. But the pool at La Residence was well lit and screamed our names. We were surprised to see no one else at the pool. It was perfect for us. The last time we night swam was in 2008 while staying at a hotel in Palm Springs. We had so much fun. Douglas and I stepped into the water and were shocked to see how cold it was. We dipped our legs a little further in but had to stop. No wonder no one else was in the pool. It was freezing! It did not help that the air outside was cool. We tried to work up the nerve to dunk our bodies in the water but failed miserably. Standing in that water was more punishment than enjoyment. We called it a night and decided to spend the rest of the evening in the room playing our favorite card game, Quiddler. Such simple things keep us happy and entertained. 

May 10 - Douglas' Birthday and a random store in Vietnam!

Many of these photos are available for sale around the streets. Here, an artist paints what will later be sold.

It cost 2,000 VND (ten cents) to use the port-a-potty. The woman in the both stopped Douglas to pay after he exited.

The back of La Residence Hotel

The following morning was our big day to travel. We scheduled a four hour tour to visit several historic places in Hue.  Both of us were sorely disappointed when we awoke to the sound of rain. Nothing is worse than spending the day touring around outside in the rain. Yuck! Our hopes were high that the rain would taper off, but that never happened. It only got heavier, pouring continuously throughout the entire afternoon. Our tour was canceled and our flight took off that night. So much for seeing the city.

We made the most of the day hanging out in the hotel room until the rain slowed down just enough for us to go outside without getting completely soaked. We went back to Nina’s Café for lunch and afterwards took a taxi to Dong Ba Market, which was conveniently located indoors. We spent about 15 minutes in this market. And really, that was too long. I have been to markets in both Thailand and Hanoi, but this was the craziest yet. There were more locals inside than tourists. Be prepared to have an attack if you are claustrophobic; there is hardly room to walk. And although it was indoors, the rain made it a bad day to visit. There were muddy puddles in the walkways and water dripping from the tin ceiling.

The following is a true story...making our way through the market, people kept approaching us asking the same question, “Where are you from?” Their main reason for asking is to build a conversation with you and lure you into their booths to buy something. It gets very tiring answering them every two minutes. Douglas came up with a plan. He said, “Anytime they ask us where we are from, let me answer." I asked what he was going to do. He said, “I will tell them we do not speak English, but I will say it in French. Then they'll leave us alone.” I shrugged my shoulders and said, Hey, whatever works! Within moments, a woman approached us and asked where we were from. She continued to repeat herself three times not catching the hint that we were not interested in answering. Douglas taps my arm and says, “I got this.” He turns to the woman and says, “Je regrette madame, je ne parle pas anglais.” (I'm sorry Ma'am, I do not speak English.) The woman then responds to Douglas by saying, “Vous parle francais? Parfait!" (You speak French? Perfect!) and proceeded to speak full-on French to him, asking even more questions in French. I looked at Douglas, pursed my lips and said, “Well that planned backfired McGenius!” He was so surprised he couldn’t say anything. He just told me to walk faster and don’t look back. Really, that’s your bright idea? That woman continued to follow us around the entire market for the whole time we were there, speaking French. I was so done. Although we hardly ever spend time in the hotel room while staying in cities we have never been before, being in the hotel sounded real good at that moment. It was almost time for dinner at Nina’s anyway. We bought two souvenirs and quickly left Dong Ba Market.

Our trip in Hue did not go quite as planned, but it was enjoyable nonetheless because we did it together. Between Da Nang, Hoi An, and Hue, we had a memorable vacation full of “cultural experiences” for the books, or rather, my blog. : )

Our final stop before heading home to Hanoi - Hue Airport