going a-Hue

We spent the weekend in Hue, a former capitol of Viet Nam, which is a 5-hour train ride north of Tam Ky. It's where Tamra and Summer (from New Zealand) are volunteering for GVN and where Chris, Mai and Megan live. We had plenty to see and crammed what we could into two days, but like Hoi An, we will have to return to see all we wanted to see.

We visited the Citadel for several hours on Sunday, but we still didn't see all of it. The place is enormous and we wanted to take our time to read the signs, take photos and really just soak in the grandeur of the place. Unfortunately, we were also soaking up the rain as it sprinkled the entire time were were there. Still, it was very nice and an enjoyable excursion for all of us. Some of the old sites have been incredibly boring for the kids, but this one maintained their attention a bit better (plus I think I'm getting better at picking out the interesting "hey, look at that" sort of things). UNESCO is funding renovations on the Imperial City and already the improvements are visible. It'll be amazingly beautiful as the work continues.

We managed to convince another Westerner to take our photo in front of one of the building (you know, the requisite posed photo) and then we did the usual chit-chat: where are you from? how long are you here? And found out that the photographer and her friend were from New Jersey and, amazingly, their tour guide was from little ol' Tam Ky. We raved about the city and how much we love it. He was so excited to have us know about his city; it was great fun.

It was a great trip and here's a brief rundown of the places we ate:

La Boulangerie (20 Hung Vuong).
A little French-style bakery that sells some lovely little pastries. We bought them every day we were in Hue and loved everything we got. There are a variety of styles including croissants and pastries filled with chocolate, mango, apple and banana. Delicious and run by a charity that educates local orphans in a skill that can provide a living for them after graduation. Great prices for delicious food.

Minh & Coco (3b Hung Vuong)
A typical little cafe with about half Western/half local clientele. I had a banana pancake, the kids both ate the omelette with bacon. The hot chocolate (ca cao nong) was pretty good and she served a chocolate syrup with the pancake. Pretty good and a decent price. We ate there with friends and for the 5 of us, it only tallied up to 78,000VND.

Huyen Anh (52/1 Kim Long)
Delicious two-dish restaurant where we were the only Westerners (and felt more comfortable!). They serve banh uot thit nuong and bun thit nuong. Very good. Especially the banh uot (pork and greens rolled in a rice wrapper and dipped into sauce). Stuart and I were big fans and between us, we ate 26 of them (S=16, T=10). Yum! We were treated to dinner by Chris and Mai, so I don't know the price, but considering it's way off the tourist trail, it had to be quite reasonable.

Omar Khayyam's (34 Nguyen Tri Phuong)
Our first night in Hue we had dinner at Omar's at the suggestion of a friend. It was good food, though a bit spicy for my kids' taste. The curry was sweet and the garlic naan was more butter than garlic, but maybe they messed up the order. It ended up costing about 150,000VND. A deal compared to prices in Hoi An.


We slept all three night at the Phu An Hotel (42 Nguyen Tri Phuong, www.phuanhotel.com)and were delightfully suprised for once. The room was larger than others we've stayed in and didn't smell in the least bit bad. There was a large window, two bed (queen and twin), a bathtub that actually plugged up and a small balcony. It was wonderful and if we can make it back to Hue, we'll go again. We were picked up at the train station for no additional cost and breakfast came with the room price ($15/night). We didn't like the eggs (they tasted like they had been cooked in thrice-used oil), but the socola sua nong (hot cocoa) and fruit drinks were delicious and we paired them with the french pastries on the last morning there.

We didn't make it on the tour we'd hoped for. The rain cut out any desire to spend 5 hours on the back of a motobike. But the sun is coming out more and by the time we get back up there, the weather should be cooperating on a more regular basis, I hope, and we'll do it then.

----
In other news, the other volunteers are all leaving. Claire is going to Nepal to work in another orphanage. Leah heads home to Australia today and Jo is heading to Ha Noi to meet up with her boyfriend on Friday. So, tomorrow the new volunteers, one from Denmark, one from Sweden, come in. Let's hope we all get along as well as we did this month. We had a wonderful time and I will never forget them. My kids made a new best friend in Jo and I will forever appreciate the time she spent with them so I could do homework or take a nap or go to the internet. It's tough saying goodbye so often.