I made my way to Hue

Hi there,

It's Sunday evening in Hue (pronounced "Hway" with emphasis on the 'h'), the imperial cpaital of the Nguyen dynasty.

After I last posted, it rained even more. Friday consisted of almost non-stop rain, very heavy for most of the time. So, i managed to do very, very little. During one quasi-dry period another guy staying at the hotel (he was as bored as I) and I took a ride on the motorbike he was renting to the train station. I bought a ticket for the next day. We also headed over to My Khe Beach and drove along there. It was starting to rain again so we went back.

I did have one exciting meal that day, banh xeo. It's essentially a crispy, flavorful crepe folded over with bean sprouts and shrimp and other goodies inside. You take pieces and wrap them in the spring roll wrapper with herbs and lettuce and pickled vegetables and dip in sauce. You get to play with your hands and have a great meal. Very good.

Yesterday, it was grey but not raining. It was my last morning in Da Nang. Unfortunately, a lot of my morning was consumed by trying to mail a package. I did see a little in the city, but not much. I had some really good fried rice and roast duck for lunch.

Here's a picture from my first day in Da Nang

Early in the afternoon, I boarded a train to Hue. The views were quite good. The train tracks run along a cliff edge looking out over the ocean and some of the land below. It got quite grey, though, and rained more. Three and a half hours later (it was supposed to be two and a half but we were waiting on the trakcs for reasons I don't know) we arrived in Hue.

I spent the afternoon/evening gettin my bearings. I had a Banh Mi-liek sandwich. It was stuffed with bits of grilled frog meat (as I learned from the guy working the stands who spoke a little English). It was spicy and delicious.

This morning, Sunday, I walked out and found a great bowl of noodles for breakfast. It had little steamed dumplings and slices of roast pork and other bits of goodness.

I went back to the hotel. There, I rented a bicycle. I went into the old city, which is enclosed in a wall. I spent most of my time jhsut pedaling around, enjoying what I happened upon. I did go inside this area that had been reserved for the center of the dynasty. I wandered the grounds and got some pictures. It rained rfo a while but eventually cleared up.

A fishing net contraption lowered and raised by a huge lever

Small River

the Perfume River

I had lunch at the market, which I really didn't like. It was cold noodles (I had no idea what it was when I was ordering, but I really loathe the cold noodles here) with some chili and vegetable. No broth or anything. Blech.

That about wraps up what I've been up to. Today, I bought my train ticket for tommorow. I'm heading to Dong Ha, a few hours north. From there I'll hopefully tour the DMZ, the old border between North and South Vietnam. The DMZ area included many important locations during the war, including Camp Carroll, The Rockpile, Hamburger Hill and Khe Sanh.

Well, I should get going.

Take it easy,

Mike