Vietnam Day 2 - Hue

 07/07/2023

This was Pavilion Hotel's buffet breakfast.

The spread was good though their ham taste weird.

Traditional vietnamese rice rolls which I somehow never tried.

Had porridge to go with a plate of omelette and too much bacon.

After breakfast our guide picked us up.  Drove along the coastline on the way to Hue city.

Beautiful blue sky and beach which Singapore doesn't have.

Enjoyed the view before reaching destination.

Blur mountain outlines looked very dreamy.

Pics good enough to use as desktop pic.

Driving up to Hai Van Pass, a 21km scenic route to the mountain.

Saw the Lonely Pine Tree and the view behind it was stunning.

Also saw a couple of idiots taking photos in the middle of the road.

Hubby with our guide.  Both wearing outfits with color co-ordination lolxx...

Lonely tree with a never lonely person.

BEAUTIFUL de.

Giant rocks for youngsters to climb up for insta photos, we obviously didn't go for it.

We had coffee at the top of the mountain.

It was un-timely that we bumped into a group of tourists which hoarded onto the photo spots, so we didn't take much photos here.

The sky was soooooooo blue.

Many sat on this "Love" to take photos, I decided not to risk rolling over and down the mountain.

Moving on, we saw clouds really low.

Lang Co Bay was very picturesque.

We should had requested to wait for the train lolxx...

Looking super slim here.

I was told the huts were restaurants, the whole thing was just sibei swee.  But the sun I buay tahan.

There were a few photo spots, a random guy came to collect about S$1 from us.

The next stop was Incense Village, which was just a road with 2 rows of shops nicely decorated for tourists to take photos, also selling a bit of incense.

It was too scorching hot to go anywhere else, this was the only shop went into.  Should had check out others, haiz...

The incense were kinda dusty looking, but looked ok with a bit of photo filter.

The costume rental for photo was really cheap, about S$2 or S$3 with accessories.  But there was a faint foul smell, so I guessed they didn't wash for every customer?  We paid the "photographer" around S$3 to take a couple of photos for us, very "lao ya" but at least we had some photos together.

Moving on, another 15mins drive or so to Thien Mu Temple (Temple of the Celestial Lady). This was very very old build since 1601. The temple sat on the Hà Khê hill, the view from here was gorgeous. The sky and water were so beautiful in Hue sia.

Everything looked very chinese.

Walked farther in, bo lang liao and we almost had the whole place to ourselves.

Giant bonsai.

I took a lot of photos at this area, but later I realized it actually a tomb of a monk, so I deleted all pics except for this from far.

Guide brought us to a hidden gem for a special light meal.

It was a short drive but the lanes were very narrow with numerous turns, left to right and right to left, super confusing lolxx...

Rice rolls in all patterns.

If I am not wrong, these were specialities of Hue.  It done by an elderly uncle who's father was a chef for the royal family.   He cooked for a few customers a day for leisure not for business.

Very soft and the sauce was salty and very spicy, yumz...

Transparent rice cake with big dried shrimp inside, so special.

Crispy dough topped with soft rice cake with crushed peanut.

One of the kampong chicken roaming around while we were eating.

Tasted like otah with chee chiong fun.

Another 20mins drive to Imperial City Hue, a UNESCO site.

The main palace was under renovation which was a great disappointment.

  The buggy tour ride needed another 1 hour of waiting, so we went on foot and the best we cover was a quarter of this Imperial palace.

At this point we were kinda angry that our guide didn't make necessary arrangements for us.

We roamed around under the roots.

Please don't ask me for the names of these various areas lolxx...

PapaVoo didn't like it (he don't like historical sites, he's more of a city person) but he helped me took a lot of nice photos heehee...

Saw traditional costume rental which was a lot nicer than those at Incense Village (cost more of course) but I was melting in sweat, had to give up the idea before kena heat stroke.

We left the Imperial palace from Cửa Hiển Nhơn (顯仁門) (east gate).

Before going back to Da Nang, guide took us to try

Bún bò Huế (noodle soup), was only VND35.000.

Enjoying local vibes and life saving ice cold Pepsi.

Generous serve of pork ribs and pork slices.  My old man was too warm to feel hungry lolxx...

Back to Da Nang, the guide brought us to the most expensive spa in town, Cham Spa.  But it's quite good lah, 2hrs massage with hot stone VND2100,000 (about S$120) inclusive of dinner for 2pax.

That's the most sexy pic of naked me in bath tub lolxx...

Old man "wooo" and "aaaaaaarrrr" during the hot stone massage, I almost died laughing.

Their cafe was nicely decorated with koi ponds.

They had swings by their small swimming pool.

Dinner in the spa.

My chicken drum was tough and dry, so I fed the cat.

PapaVoo had beef slices with rice, he said was nice.

Complete dinner with drinks and a small pudding dessert.

Looking at the fish while waiting for our pick up.

The next day, we explored Da Nang and enjoyed the Fireworks Festival.

Hope to churn out the next post ASAP.  I am running out of time (again as always) cos in less than 2 months' time..... we are flying to TURKIYE!

People thought it was risky to go free and easy, people didn't quite "approve" it.  What I actually appreciate is a simple "Have an enjoyable and safe trip!"  if there isn't anything constructive to say.   While cold blankets are detesting, I am not affected.   Super duper happy on cloud 9 as I put things together into an itinerary for our dream destination.

So, if you are travelling, I wish you good trip during this autumn and coming winter, no matter where, no matter how many days.  Thank you for reading.