Central Vietnam

This post is a tricky one. We have almost 450 pictures from the two cities we visited (Hue and Hoi An) and as we flipped through them, we realized that some folks might like them and others may find them boring. So, we decided to just post a ton of them (many without specific captions or descriptions) and you can make up your own mind!

Hue (pronounced "Hu-way", as we learned, much to our embarrassment), was the old imperial capital of Vietnam. As such, there are many ruins and tombs throughout the area.

That is the moat and walls around the Citadel, the largest of Hue's imperial ruins. Alexis downloaded a self-guided tour (via 30+ internet screenshots), and while she is an excellent tour guide, our knowledge of the sights is pretty basic, at best. But the many temples, ruins, living quarters and gardens were certainly impressive to look at!

With the grounds almost entirely to ourselves, we took turns taking pictures of each other.

While we're starting to feel like broken records, the beauty of much of this was impossible to capture, but especially so with respect to the fascinating and intricate artwork and detail on many of the roof decorations.

We're also suckers for the following...animal-shaped shrubs:

Lone horses grazing amongst ancient ruins:

And your typical imperial tennis court:

We swear - there was a sign that said "Imperial Tennis Court" and it was smack in the middle of this:

And this:

And also this:

And while we were ultimately chased out by the dwindling sunlight (who knew it got dark at 5:15 pm??), we were treated to one last beautiful scene as we exited.

And that was just day 1! The following day, we took a day-trip to some of the tombs and temples that were located outside the city center.

We visited three emperors' tombs, and while they had many similar characteristics, they were also very different. The first was expansive, covering lots of real estate and included tombs for the queen and other family members, as well as the emperor.

The grounds also served as the emperor's summer getaway from the Citadel, complete with a lake and waterfall:

The second tomb we visited was built into the side of a hill and was much smaller.

But had many intricate sculptures and mosiacs.

The final tomb was a combination of the prior two - medium-sized, some nice lanscaping and more simple pieces of art.

While we did have one more stop at a pagoda on the top of a hill, overlooking downtown Hue and the Perfume River, at this point of the post you probably feel the same way about pictures of imperial ruins that Al felt about the ruins at this point in our day...

...so we're going to move on to Hoi An.

We took the train - aka the "Reunification Express" - from Hue to Hoi An. The views were fantastic, but we opted for the air-conditioned car, so the windows didn't open for picture taking purposes. So while we were comfortable, the pictures didn't quite come out as well as we hoped.

We also got to see the "dragon bridge" in Da Nang, which currently holds the distinguished title for "Coolest Bridge of the Trip," but was sadly another picture that needed to be taken from a moving vehicle.

Hoi An is a cute town, just about 5 km from the beach. It is well-known for its shopping and custom tailors - we took part in both.

While the clothes came out great, we're not sure if they are up to speed on their current fashion trends. Alexis ordered a dress with short sleeves, but at her fitting, one arm had a full-length sleeve and the other arm had no sleeve at all. While Alexis laughed, the tailor tried to convince her that this one-sleeve only approach is the rage right now. Sadly - and much to Mike's dismay - the long sleeve was ultimately removed.

We also took our second cooking class of the trip. While not nearly as good or as much fun as our class with crazy Chef Tan in Ho Chi Minh City, the food was quite tasty. Some highlights...shrimp dumpling soup:

Vietnamese rice pancakes:

BBQ chicken and mango salad:

While the cooking itself was decent, the pre-cooking activities were quite fun, including a boat trip to the market:

Mike's favorite part was the ferry with the motorbikes, rather than any of the food.

Alexis also got to try her hand at making rice noodles - she was the most impressive of the group.

And finally, we had a chance to sample some local cuisine, including steamed pig brain, duck egg embryo, and a number of salads, each with a special main ingredient: pig ear, jellyfish and silkworm. Mike has come a long way from someone who didn't even eat fish 10 years ago! In fact, he had what he claims was the best meal of the trip so far...whole snapper steamed in a banana leaf.

And it cost $6. The restaurant was just down the street from the beach and in a typical Vietnamese family-owned restaurant. The restaurant was on the ground floor and the entire family lived upstairs. All family members played some role in creating and serving the meal and when you went to use the restroom, all of their toothbrushes were in there! Just made the place more charming.

So to summarize, in Hoi An, we ate, shopped and drank...and speaking of drinking, during the abundant 2-for-1 happy hours around town, they just went ahead and brought you the two drinks when you ordered the first!

Needless to say, we loved it. And just like that, it was time to head north to Hanoi and Halong Bay.