Vietnam - Hue (Day One)

Vietnam was in my dreams a couple of years ago. I never knew why but when I finally got the chance to make a trip to Vietnam, I was truly excited. I had calculated that it would take 2,747km by car to get to Da Nang from my place in Melaka and 23 days or 2,719km to walk there but alas, I prefer the 2 1/2 hours flight from KLIA to Da Nang. This time I was travelling to Da Nang, Hoi An and Hue with SLing, SYuen, Alvin, Annie, Jonathan, Richard and Teresa. Lovely people and we really had a good time of fun-filled, caring and laughter-filled enjoyment. For me, I really wanted some peace and some happiness. Got is all in the group and the places we went in Hue, Hoi An and Da Nang. We started early in the morning as we arrive din KLIA for our flight to Da Nang. Boy! There was a big crowd in the airport. I was thinking to myself, " Don't these people ever work?" but then again, we all need some from of rest and peace somehow , right? 

The two and a half hours flight was quite a horror for me as the doting Korean mother and his son took my window seat while on my left was a vomiting queen. Yeah, what a way to start your holidays, right? Anyway, I was awake the entire time due to vomiting queen but it was okay but one would feel queasy when one just swallowed the in-flight meal of chicken wrap with all the vomiting going-on. Ain't gonna let this spoil my holidays, you bet! So, I braved it all. ( as though I have a choice! Sigh! )

Arrival at the Da Nang International Airport was a real surprise. Very chic and modern airport, actually. I felt very impressed. There, at the airport, to greet us all was this scrawny, thin-looking but dark-skinned young man called Thanh Tuan. He is our guide for the next few days in Vietnam. Boy, he is one cheery, ever-smiling and energetic , young man indeed. He was full of enthusiasm, active and energetic while making us all feel young again. We were then introduced to our driver, Khanh who then loaded up all our bags into the Transit van. The MPV was spacious and cool indeed. I was impressed that Tuan asked for our names and throughout the trip , he made it a point to remember our names.That is a good guide indeed. 

Along the route out from the airport, Tuan informed us that we would be in Hue that day and would start our tour immediately but going to Hai Van Pass which was at the border of Da Nang and Thua Thien-Hue province. This was an important pass point whereby a lot of battles took place during the Vietnam War and during those earlier days between the Champa kingdom and the Dai Viet kingdom. You may asked how I knew these facts. Well, firstly ,  I read up and secondly, I listened to what Tuan had said that day. So, in that way, I won't miss out the interesting history of the places I am going. 

Hai Van Pass is approximately 21 km long mountain pass on the National Route 1A in Vietnam near Bach Ma National Park. Its bullet-ridden bunkers and shelters are grim reminders of war in those days. A walk on this pass gives you a chill and the sense of senseless killings that had happened at this place. Its picturesque view of the highlands mountains and view are sought after wedding photographs. We saw a few couples doing their photoshoot atop the bunkers and pass to get good wedding photos. 

I guess, despite its gloominess in war times, smiling couples with the wedding photographs kinda lifted up the gloom of this pass. For me, many were killed to defend this strategic pass and important post so that a greater Vietnam would prevailed but at what cost, right? Never would know the true cost of a human life on such liberty and defence of a mountain pass. Grim reminder indeed.

Along the way, we stopped along the road with Long Ca beach view as the backdrop. We could not resist taking pictures of the beautiful drop of Long Ca Beach. 

Afterall, holidays are able taking pictures and enjoying oneself, right? We then stopped at a beach front and took pictures as the scenery surrounding the beach was awesome. We were informed by Tuan that the beach area was also known for oyster farming. We could see as we traveled along the beach trail that there were a lot of oyster farms, fish farms and shrimp farms.  Our first stop for lunch was at Ba Suu road side shop where we had "banh uot thit heo" which is roasted pork with rice noodles plus a bowl of fresh mint, basil, salad, bean sprouts and cucumber and cut lime pieces. The dip is a bowl of fish sauce with cut bird eyes chili ( cili padi ). 

You are supposed to pick up some roasted pork with some rice noodles, dipped them in the sauce and down it all nicely in your throat. The taste - Love it! The other chili paste was even better for the rice noodles. We all bought some of the chili home as the heat and taste was really good. Most of us sweat profusely as we down the roasted pork and noodles together with the potent concoction of chili la.....

Bun uot thit yeo - roasted pork with rice noodles

Cherish Hotel, Hue

After leaving the place, we headed towards our hotel, Cherish Hotel in Hue town. I must say that this hotel is truly nice and I enjoyed it very much. I guess, this is the only I have been to which has a Lenovo laptop in the room for its guest to browse the internet or even sent emails home. Truly a wonderful hotel with nice ambience and nice rooms to go with too. The facilities were in good working order, room was clean, toilet facilities and bathing facilities were tip top condition while coffee & tea facility was good too. Truly a wonderful recommended hotel.

At Quan Hanh Restaurant, Hue.

After showers and rest , we were off for dinner arranged by our guide, Tuan. We had informed Tuan earlier that we wanted to have authentic Vietnamese foods and he did not fail us. We got ourselves a nice table in Quan Hanh Restaurant which was very crowded with the whites and locals. We left it to Tuan to order for us the dishes while we added up Nem lui ( meat skewed on the lemon grass stalk ) and the vietnamese savory pancake. Overall, we had banh beo - steamed rice cake with chopped shrimp, crab meat and one nice piece of lard dipped with fish sauce and chilli, banh loc - cassava stuffed with shrimp & pork wrapped in banana leaves and steamed, kem flait - creme caramel with passion fruit  and sua chua hoa qua - home made yogurt with fruits and porridge with prawns and goodies. Not forgetting the accompanying fresh vegetables and rice paper wrap. All in all , it was a very satisfying meal indeed. Reasonably priced and tasted good....real good.

Banh beo - steamed rice cakes with chopped shrimp, crab meat and lard. Dipped in fish sauce and chilli.

Nem lui - BBQ pork on lemongrass stalk

Porridge - with shrimp and other goodies

Banh loc - cassava stuffed with shrimp & prok wrapped in banana leaves and steamed

Kem Flait - creme caramel with passion fruit

Savory pancake with pork, bean sprouts and prawns goodness

Hue Bridge near Perfume River

We also had a stroll at the Perfume River and also a drive pass the Imperial City at night. Beautifully lit up and looked so majestic at night, we could not wait to see Imperial City in our morning tours the next day. As we walked along Perfume River near the main bridge built by the French, we could see many makeshift stalls selling food goodies like desserts, noodles, bbq dried cuttlefish and soupy noodles.

It was interesting yet we were really full that night after our sumptuous dinner. Tuan took care to explain to us the connection of the Perfume River with the Vietnam kingdom that night but I guess, we were all too tired after a long day under the blistering sun that day. Maybe, it fried our brains a little bit as the body grew weakened with the thought of fluffy pillows, comfy bed and the draw of cooling air from our bedroom air conds! 

We bid Tuan good night as he ran across the street to stay in a smaller hotel that night. With the beautiful outline of what we will do the following morning, we headed for bed. 

For me, I was anticipating a great day the following morning as I dozed off that night. That ends our first day in Hue, Vietnam. Xin chao - Welcome to Vietnam!