Hue, Vietnam

Nov 12- Travel and the Imperial City (Hue, Vietnam)
Today we woke up early and prepared for our bus ride to Hue, Vietnam. The bus left at around 8:00am so we got there a bit early and loaded on the bus. This would be our first of several sleeper buses we were going to ride during our stay in SE Asia so we were excited to see what they were. A sleeper bus has about 30 or so seats which recline almost 180 degrees, except that your feet run under the next person's head (so your upper torso is not completely flat but slightly inclined). They are mostly comfortable, except that they were made with the Vietnamese body in mind, meaning that I was kind of cramped but all together not too unhappy. You tend to slide forward when you go over bumps, which is why they probably have seat belts (unlike pretty much all other forms of transport here). The bus ride was pretty uneventful and we arrived in Hue around 12:00. After finding a place to stay for the great price of $7 (other westerners were paying $10- ALWAYS bargain!), we decided to check out the Imperial City. The city was heavily bombed by the French, so much of it is in ruins. I think it was probably really beautiful when it was in good condition, probably even more so than the Forbidden City in Beijing, but as it was there was really only one place in the complex in decent condition. Having seen all that there was to see, we decided to checkout a nearby market. The market was pretty much the same as any other, containing fruits, veggies, dead fish, piles of intestines, etc. After the market we went to a grocery store to buy some snacks and headed back to the hotel to relax before dinner. For dinner we stumbled on this place that has the "best fruit shakes in Vietnam" and I have to admit they might be right. We also had some really good Hue-style Pho, which is pretty much the same as any other but maybe a little bit spicier (the broth was extremely delicious) and some crunchy noodles. Tired from a long day of traveling and full bellies, we headed to bed.

Nov 13- Tombs and Perfume (Hue, Vietnam)
The night before we had booked a tour with a place called the Mandarin Cafe for a cruise down the Perfume River to see some old emperor's tombs. The boat was slow but the ride was generally relaxing. Our first stop was to see a kung fu demonstration, which was pretty neat. The highlight of the show was definitely seeing a guy bend two spears while resting the points on his throat (look at the video- it was impressive). After this we checked out the Thien Mu Pagoda, which was nice since it was overlooking the river. After the pagoda we went to our first tomb, which was the tomb of Emperor Minh Mang. Emperors of Vietnam started construction on these tombs way before their death but most of them didn't get the chance to see them finished before they died. This tomb in particular was interesting because no one knows where on the tomb complex the Emperor is actually buried. Minh Mang had a coffin and whatnot, but that was only for show as he was paranoid that his enemies would rob his grave and uncover his body. Each tomb also has a large stone tablet, where the emperor's accomplishments are recorded. The second tomb was for Emperor Khai Dinh, the second to last emperor of Vietnam. This one was pretty awesome. Khai Dinh was a much more modern emperor and had visited Europe several times and as such his tomb was heavily influenced by French architecture. The outside is pretty cool but what is really amazing is his grave itself, located on the top of a small hill near the Perfume River. It is pretty decked out with gold and other precious items (like glass and porcelain) and also contains a shiny life sized statue of him (made of some precious metal but we forgot). It was pretty sweet. The third tomb was pretty much like the first tomb and belonged to Emperor Tu Duc. After visiting these tombs we headed back to Hue on the bus. Tonight we had another good dinner of some sandwiches (steph thinks we're sandwich whores and we probably are but they're really just that good) and some delicious Pho Ga (Pho with chicken).


Nov 14- DMZ (17th Parallel, Vietnam; near Hue, Vietnam)
Today we headed for the DMZ or the Demiliterized Zone. The DMZ is the important area stretching 5 km in central Vietnam which divided the North and the South. The idea was that no one controlled this area but a lot of important military bases and battles were all fought near here including the important Khe Sanh Air base. Our first stop along the way was a river which formed the southern boundary and contained an important bridge of the Ho Chi Min trail. Here we also could see the "Rockpile" which was a marine outpost accessible only by helicopter. Later we stopped at the Khe Sanh Air base. Khe Sanh was an extremely important base for both the North and the USA. For the US it provided a major outpost to control the 17th Parallel as well as a base for sending out planes for bombing missions. For the North it would prove even more important, as they laid siege to the base before the Tet Offensive as a distraction. Marines there called the base "Hell on Earth" and its really easy to see why. Under constant attack, life living in the bunkers must have been both terrifying and miserable. After some lunch we went to see another famous area called the Vinh Moc tunnels. These tunnels were dug by the people living just north of the DMZ and as such were subject to constant bombing by the US forces. In order to avoid the bombing, the Vietnamese peoples there dug themselves extensive tunnel networks 10 to 30 meters deep, much deeper than the tunnels at Cu Chi. These tunnels were also much wider and taller because they were for designed for civilians. After the tunnels we headed back to Hue. It was really interesting for us to get to go to the DMZ and other places in Vietnam to witness how the war affected the country and the people (of both sides). Arriving in Hue we decided it was time for dinner and had a great meal at the Mandarin Cafe. After the Mandarin we got some flyers for drink specials and went to a bar for a cocktail before calling it quits for the night.


Nov 15- Hue, Vietnam
Today was a relaxing day and as such we slept in (having gotten up at 5:30 the day before for the DMZ). We got packed and left our bags at our hotel and headed to find a place called Ninas for lunch (recommended on the internet). On our way I made the mistake of telling a cyclo driver that we were looking for Ninas, which he took as a sign to follow us for basically the next 20-30 minutes offering us help and making us more and more angry that he was there. Seriously, it was kind of creepy. At one point we just decided to turn down an alley that looked like it had a restaurant to avoid him and by sheer luck saw a sign for Ninas. Nina's was awesome (duck stew and cucumber salad and some noodles). Hue in general was an awesome city for food. After lunch we went off in search of the Ho Chi Minh Museum but found it was closed since it was Monday. Fail. It was now raining and we decided it was about time for a much needed coffee break. On the way to find coffee I suddenly had an urge to poop (in Nam you often just get an urge out of no where and its usually good to act on it) and I saw a nice hotel to stop in. Really the only reason I'm even mentioning this particular poop in the blog is because they had a bowl of rose water to make your hands smell nice after washing, which I thought was a really nice touch. Anyways, we found some coffee and started reading, during which it started pouring rain. This made us nervous that our bus might be canceled since Hue gets the largest annual rainfall of the country and we were now deep into Central Vietnam's rain season (it turns out we were fine). Eventually the rain stopped and we started walking in search of an internet cafe but realized that it was kind of late and we should probably eat and head to the Sinh Cafe to catch our bus. We bought new rain ponchos which were much thicker and better than our other ones in the hopes to keep our bags dry. We grabbed our bags and got all suited up but once we walked out of our hotel it had pretty much stopped raining, making our efforts meaningless (well, we have nice ponchos now....). We get to the bus and jump on board to start the long journey to Hanoi.