Bánh Bèo at Hang Me

It was almost lunch time when we finished touring the Tomb of Khai Dinh. We quickly made our way back to Huế where we are to have our lunch before we head off to Danang City and beyond. One of the places that was recommended by the guide books was Hang Me.

Forgot the Name of this Dish

The name is pronounced as “hang meh” nor “hang mee”. It was more like a small roadside stall, but it actually has room for customers to sit inside. Again, they are probably aware of their fame, since they already have English menus ready for foreigners like us. However, we don’t really know what to order here so we asked out guides for some recommendations.

Something the Looks like Chee Cheong Fun

Apparently, the place is popular for their rice cakes, so we decided to order that. Our guides also ordered some other stuff for us to try. Hopefully, it won’t be too expensive. Considering it is lunchtime, there weren’t really too many people eating at this time. Maybe the Vietnamese do not eat this for lunch. Hang Me specializes in Hue specialty food, particularly rice cakes, and Huế rice cakes are know all over Vietnam.

I Don't Know What it is, just Eat

Anyway, our food came out and, lo and behold, it came out in one huge woven platter, commonly used for cleaning rice. The dish is called bánh bèo. The rice cake itself was distributed into smaller plastic platters commonly used for soy sauce. Each rice cake came with its own cracker and what I thought were shrimp shavings. When dipped in the fish sauce and chili, it turned out to be quite tasty. Of course one tiny platter of rice cake will never satisfy me, so I proceeded to devour my share of the rice cakes.

Bánh Nam

Our guides other orders also came in but they were more of less the same thing, only varying in the proportion of ingredients each dish uses. So effectively, it uses rice cake or some form of rice, shrimp and the orange stuff they keep using, i think it is crab roe.

Some of the dishes will come wrapped in rice paper. Others will come wrapped in banana leaves. But they more of less taste similar to each other. Honestly, I’m not really a big fan of these kinds of food, whether or not they come from Vietnam, however, it does not taste bad either. If I do not like it, I would just drown it in fish sauce and swallow. Regardless, this is an interesting introduction to the less known food of Vietnam. It is definitely worth a try.

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Khai Dinh's Tomb

Our next stop after the Tu Duc’s Tomb is the impressive imperial tomb of Khai Dinh. The tomb is further down the road from the Hue and is situated on a hillside where one can see the surrounding countryside. By the time we got there, the sun was already high up and blazing hot. This won’t be the best time to take pictures of the place. What’s more the sun was a little behind the structures, so there were really terrible lighting conditions.

Entrance to the Courtyard

The tomb of Khai Dinh in stark contrast to the relatively simple tomb of Tu Duc, was an ornate combination of Chinese, Vietnamese, European and even Cham architecture. The entrance gate is adorned with intricately carved dragons. Unlike Tu Duc’s tomb, this place was not intended to be a palace or residence. There were no parks nor lakes here. However, it is built along the hillside so it still has fabulous views.

Temple Housing the Tomb

Along the way to the tomb after climbing a flight of stairs, are smaller than life statues of soldiers standing guard by the tomb. This is not unlike the statues found at Qin Shi Huang’s Tomb in Xi’an, China. However, unlike in Xi’an, these soldier’s can be counted. At the end of the courtyard is another intricately designed stone house.

Khai Dinh Bronze Statue

Up another flight of stairs is the structure housing the tomb itself. The way it is designed it feels more like a palace than a tomb. In contrast to the other material the place is made of, this one uses a lot of white concrete. It is possible to go inside the main temple and admire the amazing interiors inside. There is a bronze statue of Khai Dinh there and somewhere behind it is the tomb itself.

Vietnamese Kid Posing

While visiting this place it astounded me to find out that this place was not even a century old as it was finished in the early half of the 20th century. I thought that places like this have to be at least several centuries old.

At the time of our visit, there were already a lot of people so it is best to avoid them by either coming very early or coming very late. The place is small enough to cover in an hour or two. Then again, coming in the afternoon might be a better idea so as to get better lighting conditions.

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Gate to the Courtyard

We sped through the highway from the Thien Mu Pagoda following the Perfume River. Again we needed to cross the river through that chokepoint of a bridge. We then followed the highway from the bridge to the outskirts of Hue. It was already mid-morning and the sun was already quite high up. It would have been scorching hot if it we weren’t riding on motorcycles.

Joss Sticks

At one point our guides stopped by the highway for a while to let us appreciate the making of joss sticks. The joss sticks weren’t really anything worth writing home about. Probably the only interesting thing about them is how colorful they were. Additionally, they were arranged something like a bouquet of flowers. When they placed them on the rack, side by side it was quite pretty. After a few shots, we continued on our way to our destination.

Pavillion by the Lake

We got to view a lot of the Vietnam countryside, as it passes through some relatively unpopulated areas of Vietnam. The road seemed to go higher and higher up a gentle slope. It seems that we are going up a mountain. We knew we got there when we saw all the tour buses from the city.

Royal Palace

This is the site of Emperor Tu Duc’s tomb. It is one of the monuments of Hue inscribed into the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites. After paying the entrance fee, we entered the place. Our guides will be waiting for us when we finish touring the place. What greeted us inside was a small lake filled with water lilies. A couple of Chinese style buildings and pavillions also border the lake. It really makes a very picturesque scene.

Hallway in the Palace

This used to be the vacation spot for the Emperor, so it was no wonder that this place feels much like a palace. The gates into the inner sections are quite impressive. As is the pavillion by the small lake. I’m sure the Emperor would have had a relaxing time just contemplating by the lake.

The Tomb of Emperor Tu Duc

Further in is the royal palace itself. This royal palace feel significantly smaller than the one in Hue, this is just a vacation palace anyway. There were also some living quarters, allocated to his favored wives and concubines. Finally, behind the all this is the tomb of the Emperor himself. The tomb area itself was surprisingly modest for an emperor. However, it still has that air that someone important is buried there. It might be interesting to note that the stone tablet here is the largest in Vietnam.

Somewhere here are the tombs for an empress and another emperor though considerably less impressive. The entire complex was built in the late 1800s. Again, I find it quite fascinating that structures like this were built so close to the 20th century. I guess at this time western civilization still has hardly touched this area.

Marker Near the Tomb

The Tomb of Tu Duc is a worthwhile visit. There weren’t too many people at the time, I guess one just needs to be there early to beat the crowds. Plus, the place is big enough to accomodate big crowds. There is no easy way to get there other than having your own transportation though.

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Thien Mu Pagoda

I had a wonderful night’s sleep at the Ngoc Mai Hotel. Our guides, Le Tien and Cuong were early and ready to take us around. First on the agenda is breakfast. One of the famous food of Huế is called Bún bò Huế. It is a noodle dish with meat splashed with some chili oil. It was actually nearby a Huế television channel. When we got there, the place was already crawling with people, including young professionals working nearby. Unlike the previous night, this place seem to be really popular with the locals.

Noodles for Breakfast

We managed to get seats and our guides ordered noodles for us. And for the first time, they ate with us. Normally they just watched us eat. I guess that goes to show how good this place is. The bowl is filled with delicious soup made from the meat. I was a little annoyed eating my bowl since the meat I got was actually a whole bone, so I had carve the meat out from the bone with my chopsticks. No mean feat considering how slippery the bone is. The noodle dish come with the obligatory fresh vegetables and bean sprouts that make Vietnamese cuisine so delightful.

Crossing the Perfume River

After that tasty meal we headed out to our destination – the Thien Mu Pagoda alongside the Perfume River. It is just outside the city of Hue and all we have to do is follow the train tracks to get to the pagoda. The city of Hue is built around the Perfume River, so it is easy to get there. Well, maybe not. We were perched behind our guides’ motorcycles and we always have to hang on for dear life. Make no mistake, our guides are very safe drivers and even provided helmets for us to use. It is just that I am not used to riding motorcycles that I’m a little wary of riding them.

Going up to the Thien Mu Pagoda

We reached a bridge that will cross the Perfume River. Apparently, this is a bottleneck as traffic slows to a crawl. So slow that our guides had to literally drag the motorcycles with their feet to cross the bridge. I wonder why the Vietnamese authorities haven’t thought of widening the bridge since so much traffic is going through it. If you look at the map, it would seem the this bridge is the only bridge within the area.

Behind the Pagoda

After crossing the bridge there was a brand new highway and somehow it was very windy. So windy, that we almost felt like toppling over. Fortunately, our guides were good drivers that there was no danger of that ever happening. The pagoda was just at the end of the highway, following the Perfume River.

The Thien Mu Pagoda was a honestly quiet disappointing. It wasn’t really that tall, nor that ornate. It is only 7 stories high and it can’t be climbed by the public. Regardless, it stands there elegantly on top of a rise, overlooking the Perfume River. It was built in the early 1600s and the name means “Heavenly Lady” – a name, which I strongly suspect, is actually Chinese in origin. Through the years, this pagoda, has stood the test of time and has become the symbol of the city of Hue.

On the Banks of the Perfume River

Going down from the pagoda, is the shore of the delightful Perfume River. It is known as Sông Hương by the locals. This is probably the first time I’ve seen a river that I really liked. The river seems to be clean and alive. It doesn’t seem to be heavily silted and seems to be quite deep thus giving that nice blue color. Traditional fishing boats can be seen cruising the river. It really is an attractive scene. Little wonder that it had attracted Vietnam’s artists for centuries. As for the name, it is said that flowers from upstream trees and forests fall into the river waters and carry them downstream, thus giving a “perfume”-like aroma. To me, the name is quite romantic.

Art on the Tourist Boats

There were quite a number of tour groups at the Thien Mu Pagoda. But not enough to bother me. There were old women in traditional costumes hanging around the river area. I wanted to take some pictures of them when they started to ask for money. I said no and walked back up and zoomed at her instead. I find it irritating to have these kind of touts.

After admiring the scenery for a few moments, we were once again on our way.

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As the show at the main square in front of the Imperial Citadel in Hue ended. The throngs of people gathered there started to go home. Most of these people are locals and brought their own transportation – motorcyles. Pretty much everyone here has their own motorcycles, everyone except us!

Fortunately, there were a lot of drivers near the entrance of the Citadel waiting for passengers. We wanted to go back to the hotel and told them so. But it seems like they don’t understand English at all. But even if they didn’t seem to know where Ngoc Mai Hotel was, after agreeing to our price, they agreed to take us.

Imperial Citadel at Night

The transportation is called a cyclo. It is basically a tuk-tuk with the carriage in front of the driver rather than behind the driver. It was a rather interesting way designing it. I didn’t notice any locals riding cyclos. Probably because almost everybody has their own motorcycles so they didn’t need them. Oh yeah, did I mention that they cyclo we hired was human powered? Yes, it has a bicycle behind the carriage.

After the drivers took us in their cyclos, we were on our way. On the roads of Hue right after the festivities, it was like a sea of motorcycles on the road. Motorcycles would be jostling for every square inch of the road just to get ahead of the next guy. Sometimes some of the motorcycles were a little too close to each other for comfort. And here we were, tourists on their human-powered cyclo’s trying to find their way back to the hotel. It was amazing that they magically do not run into each other considering the chaos that is in the street right now. Now, I’m beginning to understand why they designed the cyclos with the passenger side first. This is to protect the driver in case of an accident!

Our drivers were talking to each other in Vietnamese and looking at the hotel’s business card we gave them for directions, but it seemed that they have no idea where the hotel was! Remember that the hotel was brand new and was not in the center of Hue, so it was little wonder that they do not know of the place. All I could hear from our drivers was “Ngoc Mai”, “Ngoc Mai”, being repeated continuously. It was so amusing that they sounded like parrots repeating what the other driver was saying.

Chaos on the Street

When we were clear of the city center, it became quite clear that we were lost. The relentless “Ngoc Mai” of our drivers were becoming more irritating with each passing minute and we were getting worried on how to get back to the hotel. All of a sudden someone on a motorcycle ran beside our cyclo. He smiled at us, and I was wondering who it was. It was our guide, Le Tien! Talk about coincidence! I could not imagine that we would be able to find us amidst the chaos on the street. It was a huge relief to see him!

Now with someone to tell our drivers where to find our hotel, they started driving with more purpose now. Le Tien left us and went on ahead to meet us at the hotel. Maybe we should have just asked him to lead our drivers to the hotel. It seems like we were really off course and we starting to pass by communities with rice fields. At one point it was really dark along the road, I shouted to my friend that we were probably about to get mugged and I held fast to my tripod to whack any attempt. To our relief, we were not mugged but rather we were actually right on track.

Our drivers kept saying with the little English they know, “Very far, very far”. This is not our fault, as they didn’t know where the place is and traveled quite haphazardly. However, we pitied them since they did work very hard for this and my friend and I decided that we will double the agreed amount when we get to the hotel. Lo and behold, we soon arrived at Ngoc Mai Hotel, to the relief of us and our drivers. As we were about to express our appreciation for their hard work, the driver said the fare is now double. To our consternation, we explained to them that they agreed to the amount and it was not our fault they got lost. I wasn’t really sure if they got what we mean, but we gave them the double fare we planned on giving them anyway.

Banh Khoai Hanh Signboard

Now we are starving. Fortunately, our guides Le Tien and Cuong are already there. We went up the hotel and freshened up and came back down to get our guides to bring us to some authentic Vietnamese food place. Of course we did not come unprepared as we have already done some research on what nice places to eat in Hue were. One of these recommended places as Banh Khoai Hanh. We asked Le Tien if he knew the place and it seems it is quite well known.

It is in a small street just off a main street of Hue. Actually the street was quite dark but the place itself was lit. It is a simple store with seats for guests. In fact, you can actually see them prepare food ride across the room. It seems the place is more for foreigners than locals as they have prepared English menus for tourists. Apparently they are aware of their popularity and are prepared to take advantage of it.

We ordered their specialty banh khoai, which is basically a crispy pancake made from rice flour and fried with egg. Inside is a delicious mix of pork, shrimp, vegetables and bean sprouts. The nice fish sauce adds much more flavor to the already delicious combination. The crispy pancake has a nice text giving a nice experience eating it.

Another thing we tried at Banh Khoai Hanh was their nem lui, which is minced pork on a stick of lemon grass. It is as good as it looks, very tasty. The stick is pulled out and the meat is put inside provided rice paper along with some fresh vegetables and fish sauce, not unlike a spring roll. These two are probably what one must eat when in Hue. Meanwhile, our guides just sat with us and talked.

Nem Lui

After that very tasty meal when we were billed with a price which was more than what we expected. Come to think of it we didn’t check the price before we ordered. Since a place that looked like this shouldn’t be too expensive. It seems that they bill foreigners much more than locals. And our guides seemed to be aware of this, it was just disappointing that they did not tell us sooner. Well, to be fair, they didn’t charge us an arm and a leg but something more what we imagined. We’ll just charge this to experience.

I’m sure there are a lot more places to eat dinner in Hue. Eating at Banh Khoai Hanh was nice, but the surprising bill left us with a bad aftertaste. Besides, our hosts didn’t seem terribly friendly either. Caveat emptor.

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The Citadel

We stepped outside the Ngoc Mai Hotel wondering how to get to the Hue’s UNESCO World Heritage sites. Our guides still haven’t arrived yet. Fortunately, there were some locals with motorcycles asking us whether we wanted to go there. Of course we agreed. The ride took around 15 minutes from the hotel to the main square where the temple complex is. There is a lot of activity in the area and a lot of tourists too. But most of the tourists were Vietnamese. There were a handful of Caucasians too but not a lot.

Inside the Royal Palace

We are currently at the Imperial Citadel Đại Nội, one of the UNESCO World Heritage sites of Hue. This is a palace/temple complex built by the Nguyen Dynasty as recently as two hundred years ago. Actually that was quite surprising, as I wasn’t expecting these temples to be built so recently. Unlike the temples of maybe China whose temples, have existed for a millennia or two. Regardless, the temples of Hue have that unmistakable Chinese feel, signs that China had such a huge influence in the history and culture of Vietnam. If one were to transport the temple to somewhere in China, it would look totally at home.

Fixing up the Lanterns

After paying the entrance fee, we entered the palace grounds. This place used to be the seat of power when Hue was the capital of Vietnam at that time. The Nguyen emperors had these temples built for their use. It was also during this time that Hue because the academic and cultural capital of Vietnam. The palace is surrounded by a moat, still with water, and with a carpet of water lilies covering it. The water lilies made the otherwise boring moat come to life with color.

Citadel at Dusk

The Ngọ Môn gate at the entrance was a beautiful sight. It has all the markings of Chinese design complete with Chinese characters. One could actually climb up and walk to it and get a good view of the surrounding area. There are huge drums on top presumably for defense. The central door of the gate and the bridge crossing the moat is reserved exclusively for the emperor.

Lights On for the Festival

Further in the complex is the royal palace Thái Hòa itself. As expected it is truly magnificent in its design. Even the columns are exquisitely carved with dragons. Little wonder why Hue became the cultural capital of Vietnam for a while. I found it amazing to see that the palace was so well preserved considering that Vietnam was in civil war just a couple of decades ago. The people have done a great job preserving such as precious treasure. The palace is where the emperors would hold court and receive foreign dignitaries.

Behind the palace is an area full of red lanterns. I was curious as to what the purpose of those lanterns were, when we were informed that these were a actually fireworks for the night’s festival. Actually, there are a couple of buildings in a state disrepair. It seems they were destroyed in the civil war.

There were more and more people coming in the Citadel and were gathering in the open area. In another part of the complex were some performances showing traditional dances. I wasn’t really interested in them we hung around for a while to see if something will happen.

Huge Bell

By this time, the sun had already set and the palace was all lit up. The temple now looked even more impressive with the lights turned on. Combine that with the slowly darkening sky and the water of the moat, it really makes for a beautiful scene.

Outside the Citadel, was also another performance area, this is more like a concert more than anything else. Not wanting to lose myself in the huge crowd gathered at the performance area we decided to go back to the hotel.

For you readers, it may be interesting to see how big the complex actually was if you look at the map and zoom back a little bit. Only after seeing the scale of how big the imperial citadel was can one truly admire their skill in building this icon of Hue.

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Cozy Bedroom of Ngoc Mai Hotel

We have been whisked away by our hosts from the Hue train station to their hotel named Ngoc Mai Hotel. Our plan of finding our own hotel torn to shreds. At least we have cars. We sped through the central Hue area and into the outskirts of the city. There is noticably less development here. There isn’t much around the area, but at least the area was quiet.

The Bathroom

Ngoc Mai Hotel seems to be a newly built hotel. Little did we know, we arrived just in time for a festival in Hue. That would explain why there are so many visitors. It was also fortunate for us to already have a place since it would be difficult to find a place to stay with so much competition. We didn’t anticipate that there will be a festival on the very day that we are coming. So even though this hotel is a little out of the way, it was better than having to sleep outside.

The Lobby

Actually, inside it wasn’t really that bad at all. The hotel certainly isn’t 5 Star by any means but it isn’t too shabby either. The place is sparklingly clean. The bedroom was well made up and the bathroom was spotless. Downstairs the lobby was likewise spotless. There is also water for us to refill our water bottles.

Dining Area

The staff spoke okay English, not as good as our guides but we got what we needed. From our bedroom we can see the surrounding area. It is more in a residential area than a tourist area. Behind the houses are rice fields, so I would expect the air to be much fresher in this area. Not being on the main road it is noticeably more quiet than on the main road. We took a few moments to freshen up from the long journey and set out to explore Hue!

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Train to Hue

The train station in Danang City is pretty small for the third largest city in Vietnam. There is a waiting a area and a ticket purchasing area off to the side. Fortunately, there the lady at the counter can speak good English. We got ourselves tickets to the Ancient capital of Hue. One of the locations of Vietnam’s UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

Vietnamese "Balut" or Duck's Egg

The train itself is nothing to write home about. The seats were simple but comfortable enough. It was surprisingly airconditioned and quite clean. “Quite” because I could still see leftovers of some snacks that were consumed by the previous passengers. After a few minutes of waiting, the train roared to life. It was my first time to ride a real train. Not the ultra-modern types you see in Hong Kong or Singapore. Actually when the train started to move, you could hardly feel it at all. There is a little disorientation because you see the surroundings move but do not feel the train moving at all.

The train would pass by several tunnels along the way to Hue, slowly climbing up scenic mountains alongside the sea. It is quite impressive how the Vietnamese have maintained this transport system despite all they have been through.

Train Station at Hue

The train cars have LCD TVs showing some VCD. It wasn’t really terribly interested in it and quickly fell asleep. The sound of a vendor along the aisles woke me up and I was feeling hungry too. She was selling some kind of Vietnamese snack. Without thinking twice we bought some. It turned out to be duck’s egg. This duck egg complete with duck fetus was made infamous by the Philippines where it is locally known as “balut”. It has been featured in shows like Fear Factor and is more or less universally reviled wherever it is mentioned. I’m no stranger to “balut” so I devoured mine, fetus and all.

Soon we arrived a the station of Hue and we got off. Just like the station in Danang. Hue is likewise unimpressive. But a lot of people seem to be getting off here. After taking a few snaps, we headed outside the station where a big sign from our accomodation is waiting for us.

I was half expecting them to be using motorcycles to fetch us. But this time we were surprised with a car. Our hosts whisked us to their car and headed to the hotel. Now this is traveling in style in Vietnam!

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