We began our day, by far the best buffet breakfast Hoi An could offer, for the last time as we were reluctantly leaving the beautiful hotel and city. Once we had all finished our rounds up and back to the different foods that were served in the buffet, we endured the hard task of cleaning the “bomb site” that we called hotel rooms. Our bags were soon rushed out of the door and packed onto yet another bus as we began our travel to Hue.
On the way to Hue we stopped off at a historical site called the Hai Van pass which was on top of a mountain covered in dense and tropical bushland and shrubbery. The road that takes us to the site was almost as exciting and thrilling as a roller coaster as it bends and turns. “Woooo’s” and “ahhhh’s” were gushing out of almost everyone’s mouths as we would almost skim the sides of the railing on the side of the road. The trip up was also filled with disgust and confusion as we passed a small truck, no bigger than our bus, filled to the brim with live pigs. Many people in the group were shocked to see this however, we all now see the realty of the foods that we consume as well as the other side of Vietnamese culture and cuisine. 
While visiting the Hai Van pass we learnt about some of the history including how it was developed originally in the14th century; however, the station that we visited was built during the French ruling in Vietnam. The purpose of the station was to check people’s tickets when visiting the two halves of the country as the station was used as a border between North and South of Vietnam.
After a refreshing venture around the old and run-down station, we piled back onto the cool bus. For lunch we stopped at a small restaurant and enjoyed cuisine such as fried rice, noodles and dumplings. After the lunch stop our final destination was Hue, to a four star hotel called Asia Hotel. After getting settled into our rooms we set off for a walk around Hue to learn about some of the history and culture of the city. On the walk we stopped at a river called the Houng (Perfume) River. We saw small boats that were decorated like dragons as well as tourist boats. People would often use the river as a form of transportation as well as a tourist activity, to see the Citadel. We also learnt that Hue was the original capital city of Vienam before Hanoi came to be the current capital.
Tonight was the night for the dinner of all dinners, the Emperor’s dinner. After a quick swim in the hotel pool or down-time for others, we all headed off on foot to a traditional, historical style restaurant. Upon arrival we were all handed robes and caps that were, as you can imagine, extremely flattering. All but two were given these robes as the other two lucky members were chosen to be the Emperor and Empress for the night, these two being Nic and Gemma. Nic was dressed in a lovely gold robe with an extravagant hat to match the equally extravagant robe as well as Gemma’s eye-catching red number with a wild gold and red hat. As the night commenced we entered in two lines as if we were part of the upper-class, Vietnamese society in ancient times. The Royals sat at the front of the room on a separate table, looking down on the “peasants” as they would have during ancient times. The meal started off with a tasteful sweet potato soup with a side of entertainment that was very common in ancient Vietnam including many of the traditional instruments. As the night went on the food kept rolling in as well as the wonderful songs and entertainment that was performed.
After the lovely meal the group reluctantly slipped out of their colourful robes and arrived back at the hotel for a good night’s rest.
-Rose and Nilab
Hope all is well back in Australia!
