Hip Hip Hué

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So, after the longest we'd spent apart for 3 months, Hugh returned with a collection of photographs and I had nearly finished my book!

On our last full day in Hoi An we started off with an early morning alarm to go down the road to see the fish market - even at 6am the streets were full of people and motorbikes and by the river there was chaotic activity as people bargained over boxes full of fish being unloaded from the boats. The space was very tight and we certainly felt like we were in the way as we were crashed into by crates and trolleys - the other end of the scale from the fish market in Tokyo but still fascinating.

The day continued on a food theme with a large breakfast back at the hotel and then our cookery class. We'd chosen a nearby restaurant which trains disadvantaged youngsters in the catering industry. This was set up by an Australian but the restaurant is managed by Thien and Viet who provided the class for us. Thien started by taking us back to the market to explain the various ingredients that they use in Vietnamese cooking, pointing out herbs, vegetables, fruit, meat and fish items, a number of which were unfamiliar. Viet is the chef at the restaurant and on our return he showed/helped us to cook a fantastic lunch including one of the local specialities, Hoi An pancakes. Hoi An has a number of special dishes, most of which have a recipe known only by a single family, but the pancakes was one that could be passed on! In addition, we had our own version of the Generation Game as Viet showed us how to carve flowers out of various vegetables - I think we made a good effort overall (see photos)!

Following a huge feast we spent a couple of hours seeing some of the interesting houses in Hoi An that we had not made it to yet - it's a World Heritage Site & has some Chinese Assembly Halls built by various Chinese groups when they traded there many years ago. And finally Hugh got me onto a bike at the end of the day to see if I could still do it. The answer was clearly no as I wobbled my way down the street and had to push the bike over a bridge to a nearby, quiet (we hoped) island. We did a quick (actually, very slow) turn around the island with me having to stop for every child/motorbike/chicken that looked like it might come within 50 yards of me and made our ignominious return to the hotel. So there, now I can admit it in public - I can't ride a bike!

We'd had lots of plans to get off early the next morning to see a museum in Danang before we had to catch our train but we'd rather got used to the slower way of life in Hoi An and couldn't get ourself going. So, apart from nipping out for a sandwich it was a late morning car (11.30am!) to Danang station and what was supposed to be a spectacular train trip to Hué. We had booked 'soft seat' tickets, the nearest there is to first class (for all of $2.60), so were a bit shocked when we fought our way onto the carriage which was full of people who had probably been in it for well over 24 hours with stuff everywhere and probably slightly more people than seats. The seats were old and battered with many of them stuck in the laid back position making it almost impossible for me to get in, never mind Hugh! However, once we'd found the right seat and persuaded the little old lady in front to push up her seat we settled in. As anticipated we were on the wrong side of the train facing backwards and, as the windows were filthy and the sky very hazy, it wasn't the best view and we spent some of our time squating in the corridor to look through a small open window. The track almost hangs over the sea at some points with steep hills up the other side of the train and you can see how it would be quite spectacular in the sun! Saying that, it was really rather something and also quite an engineering feat. The most amazing part of the whole trip, though, was when we realised that people were actually jumping on and off the train while it was moving and hanging onto the doors for some distance in between. While Hugh was leaning out to take a picture of the train going around a bend in the mountain a girl appeared below him clinging on for dear life before jumping off just before the tunnel - madness!

Hué was the capital of Vietnam for many years and has lots of history. It also has a reputation for very poor weather due to its location just north of the mountains and it was grey and misty when we arrived. We should have thought more about this before we settled down to dinner at an outside table but luckily we were just onto pudding when the drizzle turned to real rain and we dashed inside. Still not sure what happened to the 2 large groups that were still eating their dinner!

The following day we set off on what turned out to be an extended boat trip to visit the tombs of various kings that are scattered around the Perfume River. Another misty day meant that the river trip was maybe not as scenic as it might be and the whole trip made me feel like we were being scammed at every turn, eg. lunch was included but they handed round a menu with prices on, they wanted to take our tickets after we had been to each of the sites - as guessed, it turned out they usually tried to sell them on again, they also tried to force expensive drinks on us. It's the standard tourist merry-go-round but does get a bit tiring when you are suspicious of everything offered to you.

Some of the tombs were pretty spectacular though, in both design and location, and we learned quite a lot about some of the ruling dynasties in Vietnam. More history the following day as we headed to the citadel where the country was ruled from for many years. This has a number of beautiful temples and court buildings but many were destroyed during the Tet Offensive - you can still see the bullet holes in some of the remaining walls and it looks pretty much like you might imagine the site of a relatively recent war might look.

Lunch was at a nearby restaurant run by a deaf and mute family, apparently another branch own the restaurant next door but you should only eat in one or the other! The food was fantastic if a little slow - yet another success in our gourmet tour of Vietnam. I don't think I've said much about the food yet, except for our cooking, but we have been stuffing ourselves silly over the last few weeks with really tasty meals, especially fish, often in tatty looking places that you would certainly bypass at home. The only thing we haven't managed to find is good ice-cream.....!

Then back on the trains - this time an overnight, taking around 13 hours, to Hanoi. I think we were both a little apprehensive after our last train experience as we had only been able to get 'hard sleeper' tickets and were unsure what it would be like. The carriages have 6 beds in, 3 up each side, but when we got on there were only 2 men in the carriage who turned out to be very friendly and interesting. Thinh was a lecturer in Economics at a Polytechnic in Hanoi and Doan was, we think, a Buddhist monk. Thinh spoke reasonable English, though had lived in Paris for a year so spoke better French, but Doan could only remember a few words from school. We had some interesting conversation about all sorts of things in England and Vietnam but were eventually asked the two questions we've come to dread - are we married and do we have children! And the next question when we answer no.....why not? The answers to these questions are difficult to explain to Vietnamese as marriage and children are very important and most people do both while quite young. Viet and Thien in the restaurant in Hoi An were engaged and were probably only in their early 20s - Thien explained how important is was for them to marry and have a family and that they would live with Viet's family when they were married. We still haven't worked out suitable answers that don't leave people looking bemused or sorry for us except to say that it is not unusual in the UK.

Unfortunately things got a bit cosier in the carriage a couple of hours into the trip as 2 more people joined us at the next station. They proceeded to put their bedding on and lie down on the bottom and middle bunk opposite ours, going straight to sleep, even though it was only around 6pm. This left the seat on our side to be shared between 4 people which, when one is the size of Hugh, is not possible so we took it in turns to stand in the corridor until Thinh and Doan went to bed, which was still very early.

I had already established, from sitting on the bed, that 'hard' really did mean hard and so put off going to bed until quite late. For some reason the others didn't want to turn out all the lights either so it was a fitful night spent trying to find a comfortable way to lie without the light in your eyes. Still, at least the noise of the train was almost enough to cover up the snoring! However, I still woke without the alarm not long after 5am and stood by the dark window watching Vietnam wake up, or should I say, go to work - the number of heavily laden motorbikes and bicycles making their way towards Hanoi at that ungodly hour was amazing.

There are lots of warnings in guidebooks and on websites about scams in Hanoi, the most common involving taxi drivers so we were cautious on arrival at the station. Not cautious enough it seems as, after a very short ride during which the taxi meter had spun around like a mad thing we shouted at the driver to stop and let us out and he accepted half of what was on the meter, rather sheepishly. Luckily the next taxi had an unfixed meter and took us to the right hotel and did not try to sell us anything.

Being only 6am the hotel still had people in all the rooms so we left our stuff and went for a wander around Hanoi, hoping to find breakfast. Sunday morning in the old quarter is very peaceful although plenty of people were up and about around the large lake just nearby doing their exercises/jogging/tai chi/playing badminton. We were a little early for breakfast it seemed unless we wanted noodle soup on a street corner - as mentioned before I can't quite face an Asian breakfast most mornings. Still, eventually we found a little Parisian cafe and indulged ourselves for a while. Luckily we could get into the hotel after breakfast so washed off the train dirt and headed out again.

Hanoi's old quarter has lots of narrow streets with narrow buildings - one room wide, mostly now hotels, shops and restaurants. The motorbike chaos continues here but because the streets are so narrow, just walking down them is difficult because there is very little pavement and what there is has bikes parked on it or shops spilling over (or sometimes motorbikes riding along it!). Motorbikes come up behind you hooting assuming that you can tell it is you that's being hooted at when there are hundreds of bikes and lots of people and it could be any one of them (not that I get wound up by it of course.....!).

Apart from visit to the temple on the island in the middle of the lake looking for the huge turtles that are supposed to live in the lake, the day largely revolved around food (again!) though sadly the searched for 'right on' cake and coffee shop did not materialise. Still we found good coffee and muffins elsewhere eventually!

I will leave you there as we have a dinner date which I'm quite excited about and will tell you all about next time. Hope you're all well and enjoying Christmas lunches/parties etc - we look forward to hearing any gossip....go on please!

Lots of love

S + H xx

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Comments

[Jonathan]

Bloody Hell You Two
Do you never stop? And its not just the eating I'm talking about... How you haven't collapsed from exhaustion I'll never know. Still it sounds like you're having fun and seeing lots of interesting things - dried fish for instance! How are things going generally with the language? Do enough people speak enough English for you to get by or do you have a handy "Travel the World with 20 Phrases" book? Cold in Manchester. But then it is nearly Xmas... J x

[Mike]

not cycling
Hi Sarah - you always said you couldn't cycle because of the Sheffield hills. Perhaps you should have been brought up on a quiet flat island! My cycling was curtailed on Friday when my bike was stolen from the shed at work. My last ride on it was a very fast 25 mins from Botley to catch Dave Rees' retirement presentation. Colin will also be 60 in April (surely not!) and is going part-time. He was excellent as 'Sir' in the Dresser at the OFS last week. Love reading about your travels especially the cookery class this time. What a great way to get to know people. Keep enjoying the food!

[Hugh and Sarah]

Phrasebook
We did buy a South East Asia phrasebook after the success of the Russian Phrasebook I was given by my team at work, but so far it has only made one brief appearance on the train from Hué to Hanoi. Enough people speak English and most of the languages are tonal so it's a bit dangerous to try! H.