April 20, 2012

April 13 we flew to Hue where there are tombs, temples, palaces, and pagodas. It's situated on the beautiful Perfume River and we checked into the magnificent 5 star  Imperial Hotel and were met by Ms. Hoai who is Director of Marketing and the neice of one of Ron's Ph.D. students at Texas Tech, Hai Nguyen. It's one of the finest hotels in all of Vietnam. She took us to lunch on the 3rd floor and we had a fabulous meal which was pre-arranged. They just kept bringing course after course.

One of the courses.

After lunch, she offered us a driver and we crossed over the Perfume River to the Citadel. It was built to protect the Vietnamese emperors from outside invaders in the early 19th century. It was also the site of some of the most fierce fighting during the French and American wars in Vietnam.

That evening we met Hoai again and had dinner at the Japanese restaurant in the hotel and then sat on the King's Panorama Bar on the rooftop to watch the beautiful city of Hue at night.

The next day was a tour of tombs. First was the tomb of Tu Duc. He was the emperor from 1848-1883, had 104 wives, countless concubines and no offspring. Then we saw the tomb of Khai Dinh. He was the emperor from 1916 to 1925. When he died his son Bao Dai took over the reign at only 14.  It was said that construction of his flamboyant tomb took 11 years to build which was 2 years longer than his reign. This is a hillside momument and boy were there tons of steps! Of course, it was probably 110 degrees and we were sweating up a storm. Elaine was a real trooper though climbing all those stairs with a new artificial knee!

The pagoda where Thich Quang Duc studied was next. He was the man in 1963 who self-immolated in downtown Saigon to protest President Diem's persecution of the Buddhist religion.

Back to the fabulous Imperial Hotel for lunch. This time it was also pre-arranged and we had Bun Bo Hue. That's soup with beef, onion, noodles and spices from Hue. The evening was special because Ron has been wanting me to see the DMZ Bar since taking his students there for the past several summers. We ate and drank outside at this downtown establishment with people from all over the world. Fun.

The next day we had a driver again, and he drove us to Hoi An, stopping at Da Nang and we went to the Cham museum where artifacts from the local Cham ruins are housed. It's not a very large museum but fascinating to see all the stuff dating from the 5th to 15th centuries.

In Hoi An we stayed at the Hoi An Hotel. The city has narrow car (and motorbike) free streets. It's located by the South China Sea (called the East Sea by Vietnamese) and it has beautiful beaches. We took a walking tour checking out handicraft workshops, a Japanese covered bridge, and several museums. There's lots of Japanese and Chinese influences on the buildings. The temperatures were steamy but it's a beautiful little city.

We were sweating like crazy and our guide had a jacket on!

A street in Hoi An

We strolled over to 41 Le Loi street where they have pet worms who build cocoons then they take the cocoons and boil them till silk comes out. Then they spin it and make beautiful clothes in any style you want. I had them make me a dress, Elaine fashioned a blouse, and Ron ordered 3 pairs of pants, and 2 shirts. The next day - they were done.

I even bought a blouse right off the rack that fit me perfectly.

We flew home Tuesday from the brand new Da Nang airport.