Our main goal in visiting Vietnam was to go to the central region of the country and visit some of the places Chris’s dad had been when he was stationed there during the war. We’d do some sightseeing — and eating, of course — while we were there, too.

We started out in Hue, the former capital of the Nguyen dynasty which ruled from the mid 1800s until the 1940s. The city sits on the scenic Perfume River and the old Imperial City at the edge of town is still fairly well-preserved. The weather was like the crummiest Portland winter day put on repeat: overcast with a drizzle that never stopped. We got pretty thoroughly soaked after a visiting a few places, but still got a good sense for the sights and sounds of Hue.

The trip had a bad start when our flight from Hanoi was delayed 3 hours and we got to our hotel — which I picked, by the way — late at night to find it kind of a stinking hole. Evidence:

scary Santa on the front window

elevator fail

Stained, broken mattresses stacked up everywhere

We soon ditched the hotel for nicer digs across town and the trip got much better. But on to the touring…

in ponchos in the Imperial City

Me at the old Imperial City Library — they had to move all the books out because the building was faling apart. Sounds like some libraries I know back home…

group at the Mausoleum of the 12th emperor

We took a tour of the DMZ area including the town where Jim had been stationed. He said he recognized nothing which was good because the place wasn’t in great shape the last time he was there. The towns around the DMZ have transformed themselves from bombed out, decimated villages into thriving cities with nice roads, new construction and some pretty cool monuments to the Vietnamese heroes of the war, including my favorite: a huge roadside monument to the mailmen who continued to deliver mail through the war.

We made a stop in Vinh Moc, a town that had once been on the border the North side of the border and had been bombed flat by Americans. In response, the townspeople, dug a series of tunnels under the town where families lived until the end of the war. We took a tour of the tunnels and were duly impressed with their ingenuity, tenacity and engineering skill.

Vinh Moc tunnels map

We don’t have a lot of pictures from inside the tunnels since it was so dark, but you can see here about how big they are. I could walk comfortably most of the time, but my travelmates had to scrunch down a lot.

Some of the tunnel openings got to the sea and some to the mountains. We went out to the sea.

Jim and Liane on the beach right outside the tunnel.

Next we were off to Hoi An, a UNESCO World Heritage site for its unique blend of Chinese and Japanese shop house architecture which has been well-preserved for over 500 years. Sure, it was touristy and commercial, but still charming.

C and his dad with a dragon at the Fujinese Assembly hall.

Huge spirals of incense that you can buy and burn with a wish or prayer attached. There were several from Thai tourists who wished for the good health of the king.We were told that they take about 2 weeks to burn out.

There was a miniature replica of the Great Wall of China outside the Assembly hall.

Hoi An had a ridiculous number of adorable babies everywhere we looked. It must be something in the water.

Hoi An also had a whole lot of tourists, some of whom were being ferried around by cyclo drivers.

But as far as I know Hoi An only had one motokitty.

Perhaps the best part of our visit to Hoi An was when Chris and I rented bicycles and pedaled out to Cua Dai beach, about 5 kilometers away from town. This was a tiny bit terrifying because: first, if you have ever spent any time on the roads in Vietnam, you know that the drivers are deathwish daredevils — and that goes for all vehicles from the motorbikes to the tour buses to the water buffalo; second, even in a small town like Hoi An, the air is thick with exhaust fumes that make it difficult to breath even if you’re not exerting yourself; and third, we rented the bikes from a slightly sketchy dude for whom bicycle maintenance was a foreign concept.

But! we survived and had a great time, too.

C on his bike

bikes on beach

the surf on Cua Dai

stormy cua dai beach

one of our fellow riders and some of the scenery we enjoyed on our ride.

I’d heard that Hue, having been the home of the Emperors, was the food capital of Vietnam so naturally, I was pretty excited to eat what they had to offer. But either we were just going to the wrong places (very possible, as we went to many tourist restaurants) or Hue cuisine ain’t all that. It seemed like its main claim to fame was having lots of fancy ways to present the food and there was less focus on preparation. However, we were in pretty boring restaurants ordering not very exciting food.

“white rose” is rice noodles with shrimp

fancy veggies

We fared a little better in Hoi An where we ate more street food.

These street noodles stopped everyone who walked by them in their tracks, they were so beautiful. They looked like an alternate version of “cau lau” a local noodle dish that can only be made with the water drawn from the local well. delicious.

Another Hoi An special is fried wonton which are served sort of like Asian nachos with shrimp and veggies served over the top of the crisp “chips.” very, very good.

another version of Hoi An fried wonton

We had just an evening to spend in Ho Chi Minh City — we just had to wait for our morning flight back to Bangkok — which was a shame since its known as having the best street food in the country. We settled for a westernized street-food restaurant near our hotel for our one dinner and had some interesting dishes.

snails

fish sauce wings — I think I like the version at Pok Pok better.

shark ship! on the river near our hotel

On our last morning in Vietnam I woke up early and took a walk around the neighborhood then C and I ditched the group for our one shot at HCMC street food. We got a bowl of bun bo hue (ironically, we never had this in Hue) at a street stall around the corner. So, so good. We picked up a banh mi to go and headed home…

bun bo hue