December 30th   Last  full day in Hue

I had a really nice thing happen today. When I got back to the hotel this afternoon and went about checking out since it was my last night there, the manager said he wanted to take me to some "special food." I finished checking out, freshened up and got ready for the scooter. I'm a pro at putting the helmet on and off now and after the foot pegs were down, I hopped on and we were off.

We went to a place down in the backpacker area, which surprised me, since usually the food is not that good in those areas. This little hole in the wall place is famous for it's presentation of authentic Hue cuisine. My host Son (his surname) ordered and the food magically appeared almost instantly.

We had Ban Beo. These are tiny dishes of steamed rice topped with pork crackling and shavings of freshly cooked shrimp. You scoop out a spoonful and dip it in a mild sauce. Yummy.

Also Banh Ram. It is a crispy piece of deep fried rice, on top of which is heaped a fat slab of steamed rice with cooked shrimp inside. Scattered all over these are shavings of freshly cooked shrimp. The combination of textures is amazing, and the shrimp gives a lot of flavor. These also are dipped into a different sauce. It is the lower dish in the photo below.

Banh Uot is rolled steamed rice crepes which are soft, and comes with shavings of freshly cooked shrimp and again is dipped into a mild sauce. These are rather tastless and limp. It is the top dish in the photo above.

 We also had a savory quiche type dish, without the crust. Cooked egg with shrimp is what it looked like.
 

Another dish was  Banh Nam.  This is a soft rice crepe on a banana leaf with shrimp topping. The leaf is folded and steamed.  Again, one scoops it up with a spoon and dips it into the mild sauce.





The food was delicate and mild, with subtle flavors, not like most of the other Hue food I'd had. It was attractively presented and the restaurant itself was quite clean. The leftovers came home and were given to the hotel staff members.
During the dinner conversation, which was a little hard because my Vietnamese is nil and his English is limited, Son told me he is 37, has been married 2 years to a former receptionist at the hotel. They have a 6 month old boy now. He has been manager of the Victory Hotel for 3 years and makes a monthly salary of $300.

Granted, this is a 2-3 star, small hotel, I think about 20 rooms at most, but that seems like a paltry salary to me. He is very outgoing and friendly and goes out of his way to be helpful to all the guests and treats the staff with respect. But what do I know of the economic structure of this country? He said he thought it was good money. "He's not poor, but not rich," is what he told me.

You might be wondering why he took me out to dinner. Well, near as I can figure out, they haven't had anyone stay this long in their hotel before. (8 nights) I guess it must be something really different for them. Also, I've expressed interest in the local  food, took a cooking class and generally interacted with the staff. They all call me, "Madame." Don't take that too seriously, as the touts along the street selling junk also call me, "Madame."  Perhaps I'm the oldest single woman traveling alone that they've seen.
I've had a great time here, doing my usual walking around and seeing everything there is to see (might be an exaggeration) in Hue. Staying this amount of time has let me become familiar with the city and what it has to offer. I've been really fortunate to stay where the staff is so nice.

December 28th,  Hue (Hway)  Cooking Class

This morning I'd signed up for a local cooking class, put on by a restaurant down in the backpacker ghetto area. A young man arrived at my hotel on his motorbike to take me to the class. It was a sad looking scooter, but I'm game, so I hopped on and off we went, in the wrong direction. He figured it out after a few minutes and continued in the right direction. As we were slowly cruising down one street, another motorbike driver was pulling out into traffic on our right side. My driver T-boned the other guy's scooter, which went down. Ours stayed mostly upright, we got off, shook ourselves out, looked for damage and then continued on. All in the life of a scooter rider.
I'm smiling in this photo, before I knew the skill level of this guy.
At the restaurant I was given a little booklet with the recipes we were going to make and a place to make notes. I looked them over and then hopped on a different scooter, with the female chef, over the Perfume River to the big Dong Ba marketplace. We walked amongst the vendors, stopping at the ones she knew to get the best ingredients.
Here's the pork lady, a little blurry.

The best shrimp.

Cooked rice noodles.

Sliced banana flower, sprouts, lettuces.

A few fresh mushrooms.

Beef with bones department. That's different than beef without bones department.

Scootering back across the Trang Tien bridge.

Vegetable oil, fish sauce, water.

Pepper, chili, sugar, chicken powder.

Rice paper.

Lemon grass, green onions, carrots, cabbage.

Garlic, chili, sprouts.

Peanut butter, toasted sesame seeds, toasted peanuts.


Finished products. Fresh and fried spring rolls.

Hue beef noodle soup.

I didn't get a picture of one of Hue's most famous dishes, Banh Khoai, which is a fried pancake stuffed with pork, shrimp, carrots and sprouts. Too busy cooking and eating!
It's pretty hard to see, but some people go to Dong Ba market by boat across the Perfume River and walk up the shore to the marketplace.

It was a fun experience and I can hardly wait to hit the Asia market to get the ingredients and try these recipes at home.

Monday, December 27   Hue, (Hway) Vietnam
This is my 4th day in Hue, The first two were sunny and rather steamy, but yesterday and today are rainy and cool. I've managed to walk around most of the downtown area on my usual exploration walks. The city is divided by the Perfume River, with one side of the river the downtown, business and commerce side, once a French enclave, and the other side the Citadel with more of the local flavor. Note the birdcages hanging from the street sign.
The Citadel, which was begun in 1804 by Emperor Gia Long, is a major historical site. It is modeled after the Forbidden City in Bejing and the resemblence is startling. I was immediately struck by the similarities once I was past the first moat. The Flag Tower is Vietnam's tallest flagpole.

Inside are a vast assortment of buildings, some restored, some not. The Emperor's Reading Room seemed like a perfect place for an afternoon of book reading, complete with moat and pleasant garden. I think book club members would like it.

To enter, you go through one of 10 gates, each one narrow for only one car width. 

I was lucky enough to see the Citadel on a sunny day. The next day with the guide, it was windy, rainy and cold. These folks are wearing instant rain gear, purchased from hawkish vendors.

There are many tombs near Hue. These mausoleums are along the banks of the Perfume River and were planned by the Emperors during their lifetime. All have some differences architecturally, but also share the five essential elements: stele pavilion (accomplishments), temple for worship, emperor's remains, honor courtyard with statues, and a lotus pond.

The last pagoda we visited was literally on the banks of the Perfume River. It is a favorite with locals, to bring their sweetie out to the Tower of Love, and perhaps propose. Our guide was planning to do that soon, so it was a special place for him.

We finished the day as nightfall was approaching by a ride on the dragon boat back to the docks at Hue.

More Hue flavor. Just when you think you've seen everything at the marketplace, something new turn up. Always fascinating. I love outdoor markets!

Monday, December 20th     Handicraft villages near Hanoi.

Today I went on an excursion to the handicraft villages nearby Hanoi. Each one was within a half-hour drive from downtown. I had a driver and a guide as these were definitely off the beaten path.
These "villages" are really just a street or two, or perhaps a house or two, dedicated to making one type of craft. The ones that I chose to see have pretty much been replaced by factory production, so it was slim pickin's to even find someone producing the craft.

First we went to two places that produce lacquer ware. The lacquer ware production was deemed to be hazardous to your health by the government and now is produced in a factory with better controls for the toxic resin. What I saw was the finishing process, the final hand sanding. These lacquered products are all over in the shops, so the factory must be turning them out by the boxful.

I did see a 12 year old boy working with hot resin in this workshop. I asked about why he wasn't in school and it was because he might be working there part-time in the morning and going to school in the afternoon, or if his family is poor and needs him to work, he's working instead of being schooled.

We wandered around some alleys and unexpectedly came on these beautiful papier mache figures. Evidently they are for some kind of a religious celebration and are burned as part of it. You can see the bamboo frame which is flamable.

My guide was interested in temples and it seemed that each community had their own. About a dozen elderly ladies dressed in black were seated in front of a Buddah chanting to a drum. Here's their shoes outside the back door. I thought it would be disrespectful to take their picture inside the temple.

In one alley, we saw some wooden products, mainly wooden candle holders.

The silk producing area was mainly shops selling silk clothing. There is one remaining factory here, and it's looms and other equipment came from Japan. The noise was deafening, but was ignored by the workers. Those of you familiar with silkworms know that the one filament from unwinding the silkworm cocoon is not strong enough to weave. One machine was taking several silk strands and winding them together onto spools, so that they are strong enough to be woven. The looms had stiff paper punched out cards that were the program for that particular woven pattern.

There was not very much bamboo basket weaving going on, but we did see some materials and finished products. Each one of these baskets takes one man 1 and 1/2 days to finish, with the lid and coloring, a full two days handwork for one basket.


It was a search to find anyone working on conical hats, but at last we spotted two places. It is either young or older women who make these by hand, everyone else has a better paying steady job.

In one home that works on bamboo items there was a really friendly, proud older woman who had amazing all brown teeth. Notice she's keeping her mouth closed when she had her photo taken. I wished I had a Polaroid to give her to keep.

It was a fun and informative day. I think that the Vietnam tourist board could beef up these areas a little and make them destination spots for tourists. It would improve the local economy of those who participated.

What I was really interested in, but is not offered anywhere is a tour of the many factories that we passed by. Those "made in Vietnam" labels are produced right here, but the factories are not open to the public.
Merry Christmas to everyone!  I'm off to Hue on Thursday.