Day 7, 8, and 9

Day 7 – Finally just relaxing

So after getting no sleep at all last night, we make our way to the airport at 3:30am. Surprisingly, people are already up and about in some parts of the city. This does not apply to the airport however, as we show up and the airline reps just got there themselves and the AC hasn’t been turned on. After waiting about 20 minutes for them to set up, we check in and head into the gate. At the gate, Jess and her auntie got freaked out by a B-rated HBO movie about man-eating vines in Mexico. I don’t know much about the flight to Hue, since I was knocked out, but when we get off the plane, it is immediately apparent that we weren’t really in a city anymore. The airport is small, and so are the communities between the airport and Hue.

We made no plans before getting to Hue, including no reservations. A very nice taxi driver took us around for a couple of hours to make sure that we found a hotel that we liked, and finally settled in at Carmellia, which is the most western style hotel we’ve stayed in since we got to Vietnam. With such a hectic busy schedule since we got here, a day to simply relax was well received.

Jess fell asleep almost immediately, while the rest of us got room service and enjoyed a meal inside our hotel. The food was pretty standard – egg rolls, fried rice, stir-fried noodles, mien tom. The coolest thing was banh khoai, which is like a deep-fried banh xeo. After that meal, I took a nap.

We woke up later in the afternoon and went to a local restaurant that is apparently well known for small dishes. We ordered banh beo, cha tom, banh ram it, banh loc, and nem. It’s actually the same menu that we see at Bun Bo Hue in San Jose, but I like it more, especially the banh ram it.

After that meal, we chilled some more. Jess and her auntie took off to look for a medi-pedi, while I and her cousin got LEGIT massages from the hotel. The person who did my massage was actually good. That’s how I know the massage is legit.

After that, we explored the hotel, since it was huge and had its own café, restaurant, club, and pool. Jess’s cousin and I wanted to go swimming, but it started raining. And damn yall, rain in Hue ain’t no joke. It was coming down hard.

Dinner tonight was more hotel food, since the rain was pretty rough and we were lazy. I had some bo luc lac, but the odd thing thus far about that plate is that they are cooking it here more like steak, with a lot of butter or oil, instead of the (I believe) traditional way, which is with salt and lime.

A very chill day, which was actually very welcome. Tomorrow we hit Hue hard. I’ve been dying to see the citadel firsthand.

Day 8 – Exploring the Citadel and Thien Mu!

We started the day with an American style buffet breakfast. It was definitely something that Jess’ auntie wasn’t familiar with, both the concept and food, but she took to it pretty well. It was an interesting mix of American and Vietnamese foods. The hotel made everything light, which was definitely a good thing. They even had an omelet station, but it done completely different than what we’re used to. It’s basically omelet shaped scrambled eggs. After breakfast, we headed out to the Citadel.

Aside from Ha Long Bay, today was the day that I REALLY wanted Nicole, my SLR camera, with me. The Citadel was overwhelming. It was so huge that the only way to really describe the entire thing is that it is its own city, and inside this city there were separate compounds for different family members and purposes. Some of the folks that I talked to about Hue said that we could get through everything in Hue in a day, but I don’t se how that’s possible. I could’ve spent a day alone inside the Citadel and still probably only get through a part of it. I think I would need at least two days to even be able to just walk through the place.

The Citadel is rich in history. There are exhibits all around explaining what life was like for the different emperors of the final Vietnamese dynasty. Even the walls themselves, which have survived several wars, can be explored for the stories they tell. We could only spend the morning in the Citadel, and we didn’t even cover a quarter of what it had to offer.

We took a break from the Citadel to rest in the hotel, since it was a very hot day. We got bun bo hue for lunch, which was FANTASTIC. After lunch, we headed back out and went over to Thien Mu Temple, which is also very beautiful. It is on a hill overlooking the river that runs through Hue. It is also home to the car that the famous monk who lit himself on fire drove from Hue to Saigon. The grounds themselves are kept immaculate and the entire temple is quiet. It was very peaceful.

We didn’t stay at Thien Mu that long because a storm started rolling in. We headed back to the hotel to rest up. Once the storm subsided and we felt ready, we headed out to get some more bun bo hue and hopped on a tour boat that took us to a spot in the middle of the river. Singers then performed traditional Hue style music for us while we listened. I can’t say that was my favorite part of the trip, but I appreciated the cultural exhibition.

After everything we did today, I am going to knock out. More exploring tomorrow before we leave for Da Nang.

Day 9 – The Emperor’s Tomb, Hai Van pass, and the new Da Nang

After another American style buffet breakfast, we checked out the Emperor’s tombs. Our first stop was to Emperor Bao Dai’s tomb. He apparently wanted to be buried in his vacation home because he spent a lot of time at this place writing verse and verse of poetry. His tomb included a lot of small lakes because he apparently enjoyed the water too.

Emperor Minh Mang’s tomb was more elaborate then Bao Dai’s. It was constructed further away from the city, and his funeral apparently occurred in 4 parts. His funeral procession marched from the Citadel way out into the boonies/jungle where his entire procession had to participate in 4 different ceremonies at 4 different structures. This may not sound like much, but if you experienced the heat and humidity that we did, I have no idea how all of these people, dressed in full regalia, were able to walk all that way without feeling like they were going to pass out.

Emperor Khai Dinh’s tomb was the most elaborate and the most remote. It was built into the hillside so that getting to the next layer required going up a flight of stairs. With every layer though, we ended up higher and higher, which meant that we could see more of the surrounding landscape. In the distance from this tomb, there was a large statue of Quan The Am on a stand completely surrounded by the jungle, so how it got there is a mystery to me

Dragons lined each flight of stairs. These dragons were intimately carved with a very high attention to detail. The eyes of the dragon themselves were made of jade. A lot of dragons didn’t have those eyes because they had been stolen over the years, but the ones that did have them were remarkable.

The Emperor’s tomb itself was lined with jade. Every image inside the tomb had been put together with jade, and the Emperor’s statue. It was incredible. Even though I wasn’t supposed to take pictures of what I saw, I snuck in a few shots to share with everyone. It’s quite possible that the statue of the emperor himself was made out of gold.

Another storm started coming in, so we got back to the taxi to head back to Hue. The trend had become quite clear. Hue was beautiful in the morning, and completely drenched in the afternoon. As we got back into the city, the rain starts falling ridiculously hard. I swear I hadn’t seen rain come down this heavy since Hurricane Katrina. Our cab driver was drenched after being in the rain for less than a minute.

The drive through Hai Van was very peaceful and absolutely breathtaking. The road that we took was surrounded by small communities, which was surrounded by jungle, which was surrounded by mountains. I snapped so many pictures that my camera died. Along the way, some crazy ass bus drivers cut around us to get ahead of us, even in pouring rain.

When we finally get into Da Nang, I quickly realize that it looks NOTHING like what I remembered it. Da Nang is now incredibly developed, but no where near as crowded as Saigon or Hanoi. Since Da Nang is on a river next to the ocean, the weather isn’t bad at all, and is actually very nice in the morning and at night. The bridge that is by where my family is from is now super lit up and has become a major tourist attraction when it turns at night for boats to cross. Da Nang itself now has skyscrapers and malls.

It takes us a little while, but we find my uncle’s hotel and get settled in. After some catching up, I cleaned up in my room and then headed over to my paternal grandmother’s house. My grandmother’s house is literally 2 houses away from my uncle’s hotel, AND I can get there by walking through a tiny alley behind my uncle’s hotel. Talk about easy access. I also saw my cousin who I haven’t seen in 10 years. She went from a tiny little 11 year old to a…err…tiny little 21 year old. She is still short as hell, but she’s definitely all grown up.

After catching up a bit, I head back to my uncle’s hotel. He takes us out for dinner to a restaurant were we make our own spring rolls, but with 2 different kinds of rice paper and some DELICIOUS mam nem. Even Jess almost finished all of her food. My uncle then takes us to Indochina, which is like Vincom, for some desserts. It was all of our first time inside the building, so we explored it together (though there wasn’t much to see).

I’m so tired from the craziness of the past 3 days that I can’t even properly conclude this post. We’re going to the beach tomorrow at 5am.