travel | Hen Hao Mianbao

Picking up from where we left off…

Nick and I left Hanoi via train. I was very nervous about this, having taken the train in China many times, with sometimes less-than-lovely experiences. It can be fun if you’re in a group, but not often as a twosome. Anyway, turns out our train was pretty much a foreigners-only train. We shared a soft sleeper (which P.S. China hard sleeper>Vietnam soft sleeper) with a nice couple around our age from Chicago. I chatted them up quite a bit, apologizing for doing so, and blaming it on the two cups of coffee a day. For Vietnamese coffee that’s basically like 4 espressos.

Also, can we stop for a minute and discuss Vietnamese coffee? Sorry, American friends, but I have to be that guy who says they prefer something that they tried on their travels to an exotic land. My love for Vietnamese coffee began last year when we went to Cambodia. If that terrible island (KR) we were on did anything right, it was serving iced Vietnamese coffee. With sweetened condensed milk. I mean, how did this never occur to me? That was a morning staple everyday for the rest of that trip. Anyway, I was really looking forward to having the coffee again, and it did not let me down. The smell and taste is completely different than Western coffee. It smells like the offspring of coffee and hot cocoa (more chocolatey than a mocha). The taste is sweeter. And the coffee itself, as I said, is much stronger. Did I mention we got two pounds for $8? Yeah, it’s at least that for one pound back home (but hey, at least it’s available!) The good thing is, for me at least, it will last twice as long as regular coffee because I can only drink half a cup. Otherwise, I’d be bouncing off the walls. Basically, try it if you like coffee. And if you prefer tea, at least have the decency to try Thai iced tea.

Seriously, try it.

Sorry about that. I just feel very strongly (pun intended) about that coffee.

Where was I? Oh right, the train. I fell asleep about a half hour after leaving the station. And woke up about 10 hours later. Much needed sleep. Got to Hue at around 9 a.m., with our ride waiting for us. We only had enough time for a quick trip to check in at the hotel, and then we were out again. We asked the guide to take us to have banh xeo, which we saw on “No Reservations,” and were told that Hoi An was the best place for it. It’s basically a savory pancake stuffed with shrimp and pork, which you dip into fish sauce. They were a bit skimpy on the filling, but it was still good.

Savory goodness

After breakfast, we headed to the pier to take a dragon boat to the other side of the city. We learned a crap-ton of history on that little ride. Thankfully it was repeated later. We were (of course) faced with that awkward moment where the boat lady guilted us into buying stuff from her. But can you really refuse someone who is forced to live on a tiny boat with her whole family? Plus, it’s not like it was as awkward as our guide telling us very loudly how he hates America after finding out where we are from.

Our wobbly little boat

On the dragon boat, old city on the right, new city on the left

On the other side, we saw the old Chinese pagoda (Thiên Mụ), the symbol of Hue. We also saw a bonzai garden, the car of the famous monk who self-immolated in the 1960s, a king’s tomb, and the Royal Citadel, including lots of spots that were blown up by the Americans in the war. We even got to sneak in and see a traditional song and dance performance.

View of the pagoda from the river

View of the river from the pagoda side. On the left is the Hue countryside.

Bonzai garden

Oldest tree in the bonsai garden

Falling over from exhaustion once again, we were back to the hotel. We reeeally didn’t feel like finding a restaurant, so we decided to grab a famous street sandwich, banh mi (a combo of tons of stuffing, including pickles, sprouts, and paté on a baguette) and order dessert from room service. The sandwich wasn’t bad. Definitely not my favorite, but it was like $0.50, so you can’t really complain.