Tomb to Traffic

The next day in Hoi An we went on a expedition to the most extensive Champa ruins in Vietnam at My Son. Compared to the contemporaneous ruins of Angkor they were a mere heap of bricks. But the construction techniques have not yet been deciphered; it was all built of mortarless brick construction and much of it has survived six tropical centuries. The finale of Hoi An was a wonderful meal at Bale Well. There is a set menu of several kinds of barbequed meats on a stick served with crepes, greens and herbs to be rolled in banh trang (paper rice sheets) and dipped in peanut sauce. Delectable! Especially with a Bia Saigon (beer) to wash it all down.
The next morn we departed for Hue. The first day in Hue we spent walking the old Imperial Citadel and Palace. The buildings were damaged during the American War and many are completely gone but multinational efforts in the last twenty years have restored a few of them. Of coarse in Hue, it was required we eat Bun Bo Hue (Hue-style beef noodle soup) but sans the blood cubes for me. Nothing in the States I have had under this name can compare to what we got on the street for 15,000 dong ($0.90 USD). That night we had another local speciality- a round of snacks- I cannot find a food reference for these. Banh it, banh beo, banh ram and banh loc is the list- they are steamed dishes of rice or tapioca flour with shrimp or pork, herbs and fish sauce. The latter two are in banana leaves and the other in small bowls. Difficult to explain but good tasting. Our second Hue day was spent on a river tour of the the tombs of the Nguyen dynasty and the nearby temples. The tombs were impressive compound complete with gardens, lakes, streams, temples and scaled-down palaces - they were a microcosm of the real world in imperial Vietnam. The tomb of Tu Duc was especially impressive- he was a barren king and so dedicated much energy to the construction of his final resting place with he also used as a resting place while still living, retreating there to compose poetry and walk under the pine trees.
We left Hue on a night bus to Hanoi. Our first encounter with Hanoi was being dropped in the outskirts to a pack of motorcycle taxis. We found a ride into the Old Quarter and searched for lodging but it was early and most people had not checked out yet. We had coffee and secured a room before setting out on foot to the Temple of the Sword Restored and the Temple of Literature. The walk was long but kept us on our toes (sorry) dodging motorbikes, street vendors, heaps of rubbish and other obstacles. We have become experts in navigating across a river of motorbikes and taxis when crossing the street. Our tight schedule has caused us to choose Halong Bay over Sapa (bummer) so we found some reasonable tribal craft deals to scoop up some colorful hill tribe artifacts before going on the overnight boat trip into the famous scenery of HaLong Bay.
The trip began in the AM by boading a minibus with a gang of Aussies hungover from the night before. They turned out to be our mates on the boat, too. Included were some university students, a lush fisherman, an environmental consulatant, backpackers, a Korean tourist, a Brit, two Polish ladies who are on holiday from teaching in Mongolia and a Kiwi (New Zealander) in the dozen of our boat party. It turn out to be a rollicking good time with beers, liquor, seafood galore and beautiful scenery amongst some good folks.
We spent the night on the boat then return to Hanoi the next day. It was afternoon so we found better accommodation and set out on mission for the good eats- banh cuon (steamed rice pancake? with ground pork and fish sauce) on the street. The lady was even selling homemade hooch and gave me a free sample, wahoo!
Today we stayed in Hanoi again and tried to go to Ho Chi Minh's mausoleum but it was closed. We did make it to the Vietnamese Museum of Ethnology which I am glad not to have missed. There were many of the hill-tribe crafts and artifacts of daily life on display as well as houses constructed by the tribesmen themselves on-site.
Then we tracked down a restaurant in guide book as "a spring roll lovers delight." Well it was not our delight as it fell well short of expectations- it was fancy and fashionable with little substance and inflated prices (though half US prices). We sauntered back to homebase then set out for a beverage and supplies. We returned and booked our ticket to Nanning (China) for tomorrow. So we will say goodbye to Vietnam and Ni hao to the Middle Kingdom.

Sorry, I could not make it to Sapa to see the the Hill-tribes or to Dien Bien Phu, maybe next time. But I did make it to Dien Bien Phu Street in Hanoi so I have a photo for my military historian friends.