Hue

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Lauren and I made it to Hue today. We had a 5 hour bus ride from Hoi An that stopped several times along the coast to check out some nice beaches. To get to Hue we had to pass through the marble moutains and got to stop by a marble carving factory, which was pretty interesting. Several people from my group got to sand some of the finished marble statues. Pretty neat! Hue is the educational capital of Vietnam apparently. The city seems a bit larger than Hoi An, but I really haven't seen too much of it. Lauren and I were pretty exhausted after our traveling today and really just wanted to eat pizza and pastries in the comfort of our ACed room. Hue is soooo hot! It is currently 87 degrees and 10pm. Tomorrow it is supposed to be a high of 95, similar to today. It just really never cools off here. There are also way too many mosquitos. I am getting eaten alive as I'm writing this. Blah!
Yesterday was a pretty big day! Lauren and I got up at 630am and took an hour and a half bike ride around the country side and got to watch some of the local fisherman at work. We came home and ate breakfast and then were off to our cooking lesson. We went to the market and our cooking instructor taught us how to pick good produce (tofu, pineapples, fish, crabs, noodles, water spinach, and papaya). She said that because all the locals know the words good and bad that we would use 'live too long' to denote produce that was not the best choice. When we got back from the market we were taught how to make sweet and sour chicken soup, fried spring rolls, green papaya salad with pork, fish in banana leaf with lemongrass and chili, and fried water spinach with garlic. I took good notes so if you are lucky I will cook for you when I get home. The food was delicious and lauren and I were stuffed. Immediately after, we had to go to our fittings for our dresses we were having tailored, which maybe wasn't the best idea (being full of good food that is). After we finished our second fittings we went and picked up our shoes, which came out impeccably. I had to even go back for an additional fitting for my dress just to make sure it was perfect. After that business was taken care of, Lauren and I biked to the beach and got horribly lost. IT was only supposed to take about 20 minutes to get there, but somehow we dragged it out to about an hour long trip. The beach was nice, but very crowded. The miss universe pageant is currently being held in Hoi An, and several people thought we were in the pageant. Pretty entertaining.
Tomorrow is going to be a pretty busy day, and I will be incommunicado until Saturday. We leave at 8am for a motor bike tour of the city, and will go to the Emperor's tomb and the citadel. Later we take a boat cruise on the perfume river and then will eat lunch at a nunery in the mountains. At 4pm we depart for our overnight train to Hanoi, and will arrive at 530am on Saturday. I'm sure it will be quite an adventure. Overnight trains always are.

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Comments

[Granny]

Sounds delish!
I love Asian food, and can't wait for you to cook for me! Also so anxious to see the boots and dress. I'm interested in the marble -- I'm wondering if process is similar to dealing with limestone. Happy you are having so much fun and learning so much. Love ya, Granny