Hoi An and Hue (7/16-7/18)

Yet another 30 minute flight north along the Vietnam coast brings us to the Town of Hoi An, where we spent the majority of our time at fittings in tailor shops. Later we enjoyed a 3 hour drive north to the former capital city of Hue, where we visited tombs and palaces, took a boat along the Perfume River, and Dan got a haircut in a open air barber shop!

Read below for all the details, and view our photos!!
Hoi An, click here.
Hue, click here.

Kimberly

HOI AN

An authentic small town with Chinese and Japanese influenced architecture. Many of the buildings are protected as historical sites--as the city was recently recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage site. As the majority of the buildings cannot be renovated due to the building restrictions, local people don't want to live in these old houses, and instead sell them to businesses....who open up shop to th tourists. This explains the plethora of tailor shops waiting to make custom made suits, shirts, dresses, and more. All shops are not created equal and we learned the hard way by buying from multiple stores before realizing that paying a little more guaranteed the quality (material & tailoring).

Shopping summary:

Best experience - Yaly Couture: where all the staff wore matching outfits that changed depending on what day you went. Everything we had made was done perfectly. I wish I had discovered this place earlier because all I could get made was one dress. Dan loved his dress shirts here so much that he got three more made to pick up the next morning. (Cost: $45 for a sundress/cocktail dress, $12-19 for a dress shirt)

Worst experience - Ke Gallery - Dan bought shoes that don't really fit even though they measured his feet on day 1 and re-fit the shoes the next day. The insoles say "Souvenir Hoi An" Should've known better... ($7 for a pair of silk Chinese patterned sandals, $20 for Dan's pleather dress shoes)

We also discovered several other low-end tailor shops where we got a bunch of other clothes made for really cheap ($80 for a suit, $10 for a dress shirt, $15 for a sundress, and $50 for a silk evening gown...)

After our hectic shopping spree, we did manage to squeeze in a morning bike ride to the beautiful Cua Dai beach just outside of town. The sand stretches over 30km to the next major town, Danang.

Throughout our stay in Hoi An we walked through the narrow streets and alley ways. We explored a couple buildings noted for their unique architecture and historical significance. The family Tran house, built in 1808(?) houses the ashes of family ancestors, as well as the placentas of all the babies in the family (supposedly, so that even when people move away from Hoi An, they can never forget where they came from). We also paid a visit to the Museum of Trade Ceramics, which displayed ancient and modern ceramics which put Hoi An on the map as a major trading hub in the 19th century.

HUE

Three hours north by car brought us to the town of Hue significant for its royal history as well as its role in the Vietnam War (aka the American War as it is known here).

Our first night in Hue, we arrived too late to visit any of the sites, so instead we wandered around looking for a place for Dan to get a (desperately needed) haircut. We found a (reasonably) clean looking open-air barber shop (as opposed to the places that are literally barber's chairs on the sidewalk with a mirror attached to a tree). There was one woman there who spoke enough English that we trusted her near Dan's head with the razor and scissors...all in all, I think it actually turned out quite nice--especially for 30,000 Dong ($1.80)!

The next morning, we got an early start, as we had all the sights to visit, and a 3:00pm flight to catch! We walked down to the river, where we negotiated for our very own "Dragon Boat" to take us on a cruise down the Perfume River, but not on the usual 6 hour tour, but just to one tomb and then back. It was a little nerve-wracking, because it was hardly clear if the people understood what we were asking for...and we couldn't afford to take a 6 hour cruise...since our taxi to the airport left in five!

The cruise went smoothly and was really nice. We passed a famous pagoda (Thien Mu) along the way, and saw lots of river activity. People were dregding something up from the river (mainly by using their feet to spin these metal wheels), and then taking it along the river on small boats. (The stacks of dirt were taller than the boats!)

Our boat arrived at the dock to the tomb of Tu Duc, one of Vietnam's most celebrated Emperors. We were a few kilometers from the tomb still, and the protocol is to hire a motorcycle to take you to the tomb and then back to the boat. OK, I've never been on a motorcycle before, so the first few minutes were quite scary (especially as I didn't feel it was entirely appropriate to be hugging the random Vietnamese man responsible for not crashing and killing us both. So, instead, I held into his shoulders...I'm sure that did a lot of good!). After I got comfortable on the bike though, it was a really lovely experience to be wizzing by the Vietnamese countryside, with the wind in my hair...

The Tu Duc tomb complex was really interesting, as it is the ceremonial tomb area for several Vietnamese Emperors and also one of the few tomb complexes that was completed prior to the Emperor's death...so it was where he lived for the last 16 years of his life as well. His reign was rather unfortunate: his kingdom struggled under French colonialism, he fought a coup d'etat by members of his own family, and although he had 104 wives, he left no heir.

After we finished the tomb tour, we were worried we would be running too short on time to spend another 1 1/2 hours relaxing on our river cruise back to Hue. So we decided it made more sense to take a taxi back and just pay off the boat, even though we didn't use him for the full trip. Easier said than done though, especially as the boat was a 3km moto ride away.... We were worried that no one would understand what we wanted to do, so we decided what would be most clear would be if I stayed at the tomb and Dan moto'd back to the boat to pay him off...this way they would understand that we were not taking the boat back and (hopefully) the moto would return Dan to me at the tomb area. It actually worked surprisingly well, though I was relieved when I saw Dan returning on the moto at the tomb. The only catch was that there were no taxis at the tomb, so we had no choice but to take motos all the way back to Hue. I was starting to get comfortable on the motorbikes though, so I thought this would be kind of fun! My moto driver was great and made sure not to take turns too fast as to scare me (maybe it was a giveaway that I was cautiously holding onto his shoulders like an idiot?), but Dan's driver was apparently a bit more aggressive--causing Dan to wince a few times, but no crashes or problems.

We arrived safely in Hue and went straight to the Citadel, the area housing the former Imperial City, the capital from 1802 to 1945. It is also the place where the Viet Cong took over during the infamous Tet Offensive in 1968--and thus the area of the heaviest fighting during the Vietnam War. Viet Cong Guerrillas attacked American and South Vietnamese forces at Hue, and took the city. Americans eventually re-captured Hue, but at terrific cost.

We decided to hire a guide to take us around the former Imperial Palace, and I'm glad we did. She did a wonderful job of describing some of the subtleties of the palace (like, for example the different doorways for different people: one for the Emperor, one for Mandarins or officals, one for other people, and then one for women!) She also explained the layout of the palace before the destruction during the war, and showed where buildings used to stand (which is useful as almost all of the structures were destroyed by American bombings).

After our short tour of the former capital, we negotiated with a cyclo driver to take us back to our hotel. After bargaining hard, we got the price down to 20,000 VND....the driver opened with 80,000....

And then we were off to Hanoi...