Da Nang And All The Way To Hue

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We arrived at our hostel in Da Nang, which is another coastal city. We got settled and went out for another motorbike ride. We had spent a little over $5 on the motorbike rental and wanted to get the full value of the money out of it, after all. We drove along the coast up to the peninsula. On the way, it started raining, so we pulled over at a little cafe where no one spoke English.

I tried to ask for coffee. I tried to ask for Coca Cola. I tried to ask for tea. They gave me warm beer. Once it stopped raining, we continued on up some mountain roads with beautiful views of Da Nang. We drove up a very sketchy steep narrow concrete road for a long time. At one point, the motorbike stopped because it didn't have enough power to make it up, so I had to get off and walk. Other times, Sylvan jumped off the bike and ran it up the hill while I held onto the back for dear life. We eventually made it up to the top of the mountain, which, despite the mist, was beautiful. Da Nang looks like Miami before it was really developed, but the part of the city that's not on the coast is gorgeous. Once we took some pictures, we drove down while I held on for dear life. We made it down alive and kept going on the road to the Marble Mountains.

The Marble Mountains are...full of marble. And they just pop up from flat land in the middle of nowhere. We paid the entrance fee and took the elevator up. We hiked around for a while through temples and woods and caves full of marble. Once we were too tired and hungry to be there anymore we drove back to Da Nang. We tried to find bahn mi or...anything that was food. We stopped at a small restaurant on the side of the road that had seafood. I ordered 250g of clams with mustard. I got small clams on ice with ginger and lettuce. But it was cheap. Then we drove further into the city and over the dragon bridge (dragon bridge!!). The city was AWESOME. We saw all the bridges light up, and boy do they light up. And keep lighting up. They change colors and have light shows and we sat and watched it until our stomachs started rumbling again (clams were not enough). We found a mall (yes) with lots of lights, so we went in and ended up going to a fast food place. We got our food to go because the place was having a birthday party FULL of screaming children. There was also an ice rink in the food court. I don't know.

We went back to the hostel, ate our food, and went to bed early. It had been a big day.

The next morning, after breakfast on the roof of the hostel (chocolate banana pancakes!), Sylvan drove the motorbike back to Hoi An while I took a taxi to the train station and went to Hue. For the 4 hour journey, I had a sleeper car (not sure why). I shared the car with a 50-year-old Vietnamese man. Throughout the ride, he sort of summoned up the courage to ask me questions. What your name? How old? Where you from? Where you go? You like Vietnam?

It was cute. When the food trolley came by, he bought me water and then shared his rice cake thing with me. And then he bought me corn. And then he gave me his Facebook info and email address. Nicest man ever.

I got off the train in Hue and took a cab to the hostel where I relaxed and researched for a while until Sylvan showed up. He came and we played pool in the hostel before venturing out. We walked across the river and went to see the market, which was shutting down. We did see...a rat. We kept walking around that side of the river until we found the restaurant I was looking for. Lac Thanh. It is run by a deaf mute guy who creates his own bottle openers and makes awesome food for cheap. And all of it's true (although the deaf mute part is a bit shady because I swear he was yelling at one point). He made us some amazing pancakes with meat and bean sprouts and we rolled things up in egg rolls with greens and dipped them in peanut sauce and we were just so happy. On the way back to the hostel we stopped at a cafe that had booths in the shape of tea cups and drank milkshakes and ate cake. We played more pool at the hostel and then went to bed.

We had signed up for a tour for our one day in Hue. We got picked up from the hostel at 8:30 and driven on motorbikes to the dragon boats. We met the rest of the group on the boat and took a cruise down the river. We brought the plastic chairs out to the front of the boat for the best view but had to bring them back in during the police boat check in, which is a thing. Then we were able to bring them back out again. Don't worry, none of it is strange...

Our first stop was at a garden house. We learned about the walls in front of the houses to keep the spirits out because spirits only travel in straight lines apparently. So only the strong ones can get through the wall. Then there was a small pond behind that because if the spirits get through the wall, they'll float over the pond and realize they don't have a reflection so they must be a spirit, and they'll be like, "yeah, I should probably go to the beyond." Then there's the house. Everything also faces south for feng shui. We explored the house and drank some tea. When we got back on the boat there was a PUPPY. I played with it, and I loved it forever.

The second stop was a temple. Turns out there are always three buddhas in these temples to symbolize human form, animal form, and nirvana. I was covered in bed bug bites from Da Nang (I think), so after exploring the temple, I bought some tiger balm. Tiger balm 4LYFE. It's like this menthol eucalyptus balm that I just rubbed all over my legs and it itched my bites for me with a cooling/burning effect. I was so happy. I got back on the boat and played with the puppy some more.

The third stop was a women's temple. It had beautiful views of the river and we got to walk around that one for a while. Then it was lunch time on the boat. We ate tofu, beans, and rice. The tofu had been marinated in something and was the best I've ever had. We continued to cruise down the river until we got off the boat and onto a bus to see the tombs.

The first tomb belonged to the second emperor of Vietnam and was 23,000 hectares of land. The actual location of the tomb itself is unknown because 200 men buried 4 coffins somewhere on the land and then all killed themselves to keep the secret. There are a series of pavilions and temples leading up to the "tomb" entrance, but where it is beyond that is a mystery. Boy, is it elaborate, though.

I didn't go to the other three tombs because it cost 100,000 dong for each, and they were all less extravagant. We just sat with people on our tour and hung out at cafes. The tour ended, and Sylvan went back to the hostel while I traveled on to the citadel. It was 4:30, and the sun was starting to set. Hue used to be the capital of Vietnam before it split, and the king lived within the citadel walls until 1945. A lot of the citadel was destroyed in the American War and the French War. Nonetheless, what was standing was still beautiful. The entrances were elaborate and there were temples everywhere and fields where buildings used to be. There was a forbidden city (no longer forbidden). I walked around for about an hour and a half. I went back to the hostel, met Sylvan, and we went back out to Lac Thanh for dinner and then the cafe for dessert. Same same as the night before. We went to bed early because we had a wicked early bus to catch the next morning to Phong Nha.

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Comments

[D MJ Binkley]

Vietnam to vineyards!
I've enjoyed this blog and a few of your past blogs this morning. You've got a good life and we are very excited about your new job starting in March! We will continue to read and follow your adventure. We are excited because it looks like we will get to do some traveling in Feb & March.