Hooray for Hue

Hue (who-aye) was the imperial capital of Vietnam a couple of centuries back and is famous for it's architecture, monuments and war history.

Hue is easy to get a grip on. The main landmark is the Perfume River (misleading name), with the old city on the north side and the newer city, including most hotels and restaurants, on the south side.

We spent less than 24 hours in the city but they were productive albeit wet hours.

To get the ball rolling we hired bicycles and donned our rubbish bag raincoats and set out to see the Forbidden Purple City. Surrounded by a wall about 2 km's by 2 km's and then by a moat. The forbidden city was where only the concubines, emperors, and those close enough to them were granted access, the punishment for trespassing being death. We were quick to deduce that privacy was important to the emperors and that they didn't like unexpected visitors dropping by unannounced.

Opposite the main entrance to the forbidden city is a large citadel with the biggest flag we've ever seen - the photo below doesn't do it justice.

The photo below is inside the main gate approaching the palace.

The perimeter and gates of the forbidden city are pretty impressive but once inside things aren't as amazing as the name leads you to believe. This is largely thanks to the US who flattened the place during the war.

To get to the palace you cross a causeway surrounded by pond water. There are hundreds of carp in the water and if you feed them (or pretend to as we did) a feeding frenzy occurs.

Inside there are heaps of random little oddities like a giant phoenix, dragon and buckets.

Military buffs would have a field day in Hue as the city was very close to the border between North and South Vietnam (it played host to the battle of Hue) and tours etc are available for the DMZ or demilitarized zone. Because time was at a premium we had to give this a miss but riding around there was an abundance of captured tanks and artillery on display.

Hue is also famous for the emperors tombs which are located just out of the city. Once again we didn't have time to see these - maybe next time.

Random Fact: In Vietnam one road rule is strictly enforced (only the one) and that's drivers and passengers of moto's must wear helmets. The law came into force about 10 months ago and we can only imagine the record profits that helmet manufacturers must be enjoying as 80 million people buy helmets.

Highlights

- Traditional Vietnamese performance. Featuring singing, dancing, instrumentals and dancing dragons it was the most fun we've had sitting down for some time.

Lessons Learned
- You need more than 24 hours to check out everything Hue has to offer. If you're in a hurry two days would probably be enough.

- If it's cold and you don't have much warm clothing then rubbish bag raincoats are surprisingly warm.

Hoi An

Hoi An is famous for it's tailors. Our plan was simple - go nuts and get work gear made to measure for a fraction of the cost we'd spend in the west. With this in mind we spent a day doing reconnaissance to determine our plan of attack.

Through inspecting fabrics and looking through catalogues showing the latest styles we quickly sussed out the situation and got down to business.

There are pretty much two options. The first is to go through a family outfit and the second is to go to a larger chain. The family outfit is cheaper than the chain but the quality is unpredictable.

As with anything you pay for what you get and we wanted to make sure that our suits looked sharp and that we didn't waste our money. We decided on the chain option and graced Yaly's with our time and custom.

Yaly's has Hoi An on lockdown with four stores operating and the locals don't like it. They have a smear campaign running where they bag Yaly's and say it's overpriced and that they (or their family) make the "same same" for "cheap cheap". It's true that you pay a bit more at Yaly's but it's still a pittance compared to what you would pay back home. And hey, it can't be that bad if it attracts celebrities such as Jennifer Hawkins and Mick Jagger.

The next few days were spent getting measured and attending fittings. We spread the love (and the risk) around when it came to getting shirts. Having appointments and tasks to do each day was a refreshing change from the unstructured travel we've been doing.

One of Clint's suits is shown below. Forgive the wrinkles, it's been in a suitcase for a few days.

Dan opted for a three piece ensemble, the wrinkly result is below.


Hoi An is a great small city. It has retained it's old fashioned charm with cobbled streets and small traditional buildings. The French left a nice touch behind with the elegant architecture and fine cuisine. We focused on shopping this time, but we'd both like to return and spend more time there.


A great way to spend the evening is to select a restaurant and devour a set menu before moving on for dessert. Arguably home to the best desserts in Vietnam.



Random Fact: When the sun sets and the locals pack up the market the rats come out to play. They are big and everywhere.

Highlights
- Breakfast in the same market. Three courses for $1.50 NZ.

- Bartering with the locals. Most of the stores are busy which means the staff barter in a fun and friendly way as they aren't overly hung up on making a sale.

Lessons Learned
- Make sure the women who helps you choose your suit has good English and a pleasant personality. You don't actually meet the tailor and she is the go between so get someone nice.
- If you decide to get a suit from Yaly's go to Yaly #4 to choose your fabric. Situated slightly further out of town the fabric is cheaper.

Duh it's Da Nang

Da Nang is a port city 30 minutes north of Hoi An. It's often overlooked by tourists as it's so close to Hoi An which is a tourist magnet. We were interested in checking out a city that isn't commonly frequented by tourists and it fitted the bill nicely.

While we were hanging out in the city we made friends with a student called Thang (Tongue). We arranged to meet Thang and his girlfriend My (Me) for dinner. It was great hanging out with locals who weren't after money and who just wanted to find out more about you and practice some English in the process.

Up and about early the next day we visited the cities greatest claim to fame - the Museum of Cham Sculpture. Set up in the French colonial era to preserve the relics of the ancient Champa kingdom it's the only museum in the world dedicated to this fascinating subject.

Danang isn't frequented by tourists. The buses stop to let people off at the Cham Museum before taking them away again. As a result the city doesn't really cater for people like us. Hardly anyone speaks the English and it's a bit more of a challenge to find out info. This was good and bad as it was harder to find things out, but nice to be away from the general travel hubs.


For the afternoon we had arranged to meet Thang and My who had offered to take us to the marble mountains. The marble mountains are famous for stone sculpture making - the finished product is on sale everywhere. The mountains are also home to some buddhist sanctuaries and some surprisingly cool caves. The mountains are quite impressive and definitely exceeded our expectations.


Clint tested the claim that his camera can withstand a 1 metre drop (on to concrete) by unwittingly letting it fall down the steps above. It bounced and rolled it's way right down to the bottom with the shutter open and loved it.


Later that night Thang and My took us to a fantastic local restaurant. They thought we were the first foreigners to visit the place and considering there are no signs and that it's down a long and dark alleyway we believe them. The food we had was for special occassions and was the nicest meal we've had in Vietnam. We're both surprised that the type of food the restaurant serves up isn't commonly available in tourist friendly locations. Whoever initiates that would be on to a winner.


During the Vietnam war American GI's took R&R at China Beach which is a short moto ride from Da Nang. If you've seen the movie Apocalypse Now parts of China Beach feature as do the quotes "You either surf or you fight" and "Charlie don't surf". With that in mind we set out to go surfing.

We hired boards from the local surf shop and it wasn't long before we were being pummeled by the waves. Winter meant that we had the place to ourselves and didn't have to worry about any traditional surfing etiquette. The surf was quite large and patchy as the wind was up but it was great fun and we both managed to do alright. When we'd finished we were both happy to be back on the shore as the swell was getting big for rookies such as ourselves.

Feeling like we'd been through a washing machine it was time to track down a bus and scarper out of town.

Random Fact: In Vietnam the twin that is born second is considered the eldest. This means that temporarily Clint is the big brother - turning the social dynamic between us on it's head.

Highlights
- Hanging out with locals and being treated like people. No alterior motives or sales pitch just mutual interests
- Inpersonating Kelly Slater at China Beach

Lessons Learned
- It's hard to leave Da Nang.. the transport out of the city is limited and takes a bit of work to find
- Da Nang is a city of the future. There is a lot of development going on and there are high hopes for the place going ahead. Time will tell but alot of multinationals have setup shop.
- Stone museums lose their shine a little after visiting Angkor Wat