Hue

I like the central coast city of Hue and have been there many times over the years. After a four year gap, I recently visited this charming city again and definitely got my fill of Hue food. We enjoyed very much our stay with La Residence Hotel, fabulously located on the river and within easy walking distance of lots of great street foo

We walked along the Perfume River/ Sông Hương to have breakfast, starting with Bún Hến (clam noodles) and Cơm Hến (clam rice) at 2 Trương Định St. The vendors were pretty funny when it came to bill time. There was quite a long conversation before they decided to charge us 20,000VND - $1 per bowl. I have no problem at all with the price but I did realise that the Hue locals were only charged half what we payed. I said I'm Vietnamese too, you know :). I suggested to her that if she was poor, she should ask me and other people, they probably wouldn't mind donating or loaning her some but cheating is not a good way to do busines

Further along the road, we dropped into two different coffee places where we paid just 7.000VND (35c). It was not the best coffee but it was nice to be treated as a Vietnamese again :). After getting our caffeine hit, we headed to hue's main market, the Dong Ba Market just over the Trang Tien Bridge. As we headed across, I saw a middle aged woman walking along selling bean curd drink. I ordered two bowls and I was ripped off again. I was so upset but just gave her my money and walked away. It seems that Hue people have changed so much, only thinking about instant cash and taking advantage of tourists as much as possible. I felt sad more than angry with them. I've chatted with friends since and they all had similar stories when they visited Hue. Some are even refusing to return, which is a pity!

Anyway, things improved after that. The highlight of my short vacation was the Bún Mắm Nêm from an old lady who has been sitting outside 15 Phan Đăng Lưu St for more than 30 years. It's only 15,000VND (75c) but it was so satisfying after a long walk around the fascinating Đông Ba Market. I have to say that the noodles were really spicy; I was sweating and tears were running from my eyes by the time I'd finished my bowl of noodles. It was fantastic! A second highlight was Huyen Anh restaurant, where they serve grilled beef with noodles and herbs. It was so yummy

Later in the evenings, we normally headed out for supper, too. Two snacks I was really impressed with were Banh Ep (a rice pancake with egg, served with green mango and herbs) and Bang Trang Trung (a crunchy rice cracker with egg, pate, potato and herbs). Of course, I slept very well at night after eating so much each day.

 

By the end of the trip, I'd completely forgotten about getting ripped off. But one thing I have yet to discover in Hue is really good Bun Bo Hue. We had a couple of bowls but I honestly don't think they were as good as what I've had in Hoi An or Nha Trang. When I go back, I'm going to do more research on that one.

 

 

 

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Boat Trip Along Perfume River In Hue

While in Hue, we stopped at Khuyen Trang Cafe for a drink and to hire a motorbike. We noticed that they also sold tickets for boat trips for only 25,000Vnd so we decided to take a boat trip the next day. We got picked up at the cafe at 8am by two beautiful young girls who drove us to the boat dock on their motorbikes, where the adventure would start. We were part of a group of over ten people who were already on the boat, including the tour guide, Nghia. His English wasn't great but he was very friendly and a bit shy.

Our first stop on the trip was Thien Mu Pagoda. This is such an old and beautiful pagoda located on a hill, right on the right bank of the Huong River. We spent 45 minutes taking photos and listening to Nghia talking about the pagoda's great history.

Tu Duc tomb was the second stop and this was the best stop for the whole trip because the tomb was amazingly beautiful, old and huge. We had to pay 20,000Vnd for a return trip from the boat dock to the Khai Dinh tomb by motorbike and 30,000Vnd to enter compared to 55,000Vnd for western tourists.

Khai Dinh tomb was the third stop and we stayed there over an hour walking around. The chambers inside the building were quite incredible, with lots of mosaic work.

Next up was Hon Chen temple which is not as interesting perhaps because I've been here before. It's a small temple right by the river, up about 100 steps. I think it was just a convenient place to get us off the boat so the staff could prepare and set up for lunch.

Minh Mang tomb was the last stop before heading back to the city. This one is also surrounded by huge and beautiful pavilions and gardens. We spent about an hour here before the rain came down. All the way back on the boat, it poured. Lucky for us!

We had such a great day seeing the tombs and learning a bit of history for only 25,000Vnd, which included a lunch of veggies, eggs and meat. The tour guide had a tough day coping with all of our questions but we offered him drinks and a tip at the end. Thank you very much Nghia for a lovely day.

Restaurants In Hue Part II

We drove around the city and wanted to find Hue food for ourselves in the end. Finally, we found some food stalls in Truong Dinh street which had a couple of beautiful small dishes, which are what we were indeed looking for. We tried Com Hen and Bun Hen, two of the most famous dishes in Hue and we just loved them. They were so good and I couldn’t believe my ears when I heard the price, only 12,000Vnd for 4 bowls. People from the shop were so nice and friendly and they didn’t rip me off. In fact I feel like I ripped them off!

We were so excited about finding that place; we drove further along that street and found another small restaurant which sold all types of Hue food. We tried them all until we couldn’t fit anything else in our now huge stomachs. Another surprise with the total bill only 66,000vnd including three Huda beers. Isn't that amazingly cheap?

Here are my recommendations for good restaurants in Hue:
1. Ba Cam in Truong Dinh Street
2. Ba Hoa 7 Truong Dinh Street
3. Lac Thien 6 Dinh Tien Hoang Street

Restaurants In Hue Part I

Hue people have a very special accent which is sweet and soft but a bit difficult to understand if you come from other areas. In Hue recently, there were many times that I had to ask for the locals to repeat themselves and I felt so embarrassed.

I love Hue food and people kept talking about the Am Phu restaurant where real traditional Hue food is sold. Well, we went there and they didn’t serve Hue food that evening at all. We tried some normal Vietnamese dishes anyway, but they were nothing special unfortunately. The man who ran the restaurant was a bit grumpy, too.

So, the next evening, we asked some Hue people about the real Hue food and they recommended the Ong Tao restaurant. After half an hour following crazy directions from a few different people, we ended up at the restaurant. It was the same result - that they only served normal Vietnamese food which is available all over the country. I asked the waiter why the restaurant had a sign advertising traditional Hue food. He said that they served boiled meat with shrimp sauce, and that’s the only one dish. Strange? We left this big empty two storey restaurant after ordering a drink and some peanuts. Still no Hue food!

I called the tour guide from our river tour and asked him about Hue food again. He told me that we should go to the Hue restaurant near the Ong Tao restaurant. We found the place and I asked the staff and they said they only serve Hue food during the afternoon. We wondered why they only sell their beautiful Hue traditional food during the day. We were disappointed about this situation and decided to just walk into any restaurant we saw along the street. Luckily, not long after, we found Lac Thien restaurant where they sell some traditional dishes. This is a really special restaurant which is run by a deaf family. It has been open for years and is very popular for both locals and tourists.

Tobe continued

Hue

We spent four hours on the Sinh Café bus to Hue. We had the most careful driver who drove from 30kms to 40kms per hour meaning we could have been in Hue in an hour. Anyway, during the journey the bus stopped at Marble Mountain and Lang Co Beach before heading to Hue. Lang Co Beach is quite a nice beach, very clean with not many tourists around. Marble Mountain was a bit boring for me, maybe because I’ve been there before.

Over the years, I've heard so many people mention the Thanh Noi hotel, which is apparently one of the most quiet, old and beautiful hotels in town. This hotel is located in the citadel area, five minutes by motorbike from the centre of Hue which was just perfect for me as I need real quiet for relaxing. Anyway, we made the wrong choice as the hotel staff were terrible and the swimming pool was very cloudy. Some workmen started banging the wall at 7am and of course, the whole hotel was woken up. Oh my gosh, I couldn’t stand that at all. I told myself to calm down and get out of the hotel until the evening and just think about the beauty of Hue only.

Hue is a beautiful, charming and green city. There are so many old trees and old houses around, the food was great. I ate so much of it in just two nights. I love Bun Bo Hue, Banh Nam, Banh Bot Loc, Banh Hoi, Che and Huda Beer. I think I put on weight heaps during this holiday.

Architecture in Hue

I fell in love with Hue again recently. The feeling of history is so strong there with so many really old houses in the city and along the Huong River. There are now quite a few modern houses around but the good thing I saw was that people try to maintain the old houses and structures. There are some houses and historical temples in need of renovation and the government should invest money to help the community in Hue to do it.

We loved riding around the Hue streets taking photos of the streets, which are so green and nice. But I was also quite shocked by how many ugly houses built in the city center, even really big hotels which have appeared which has ruined the character of Hue a bit. Some of these houses and their color really do not suit this historical city. I saw green houses, pink houses in between the beautiful old houses or between old French villas. They look strange and really stand out. I wonder if the local planners worry about this?