Find your way to Hué

MANILA, Philippines — I remember a restaurant by this name in a mall and people called it “yew” or “hyou”(as in a color or hue)…but it is actually “hu-wey” or Hué, after the cultural and historical city in Vietnam which was also its ancient capital.

I found my way through Hong Kong and Hanoi then finally Hué. Arriving at night, you hardly see its charm but you get the feeling it is a green city with all the trees along the way to the center of town from Phu Bai airport.

When in Hué, stay at the Indochine Palace. It is centrally-located and reminds one of a building in Paris, replete with balconies and a white/grey finish. But the good feeling doesn’t stop there. The staff, the food and the rooms all speak five-star, and one cannot go wrong checking out this hotel and making it your home base in the central Vietnamese city.

The next day, after breakfast at Le Brasserie, book a hotel car and an English-speaking guide to take you to at least two of Hué’s tourist spots: the Citadel and the Pagoda.

The Citadel is a fortress built over 200 years ago and is the king’s palace housing the main building plus the gateway to the Forbidden City (it is now leveled to the ground unfortunately).

A walk around the Citadel gives you the history of the kings who lived there, including the most famous No. 2 who had 500 wives and bore 142 children.

Unicorns guard the various gates around the palace. Like European castles, it has a moat around it and several layers – three to be exact – of stone and hard structures, physically protecting the leader from enemy invasion.

There also is the exclusive meeting room where only men are allowed  (feudalism was patriarchal and mysogynist) and where whispers even at the far end of the room were audible to the king (talk about paranoia), making all subjects very careful about what they have to say or express within the room’s confines.

One can spend an hour or two around the Citadel and admire the history that has been preserved, no wonder the city is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

At the Pagoda, one can get a good picturesque view of the Perfume River and then climb its steep steps to a sanctuary for Buddhists to pray in.

There are tourist traps of stores around, but I suggest you buy elsewhere if you are looking for souvenirs.

What about food? Well,  Hué is famous for its version of pho called Bun Bo Hué – a black peppery beef broth with rice noodles and slices of tender beef and beef meatballs. It’s nice drizzled with lime and some chili or sweet sauce.

I also enjoyed the rice pancake – you can request for vegetarian filling or pork meat loaf and shrimps, wrapped in a pancake and deep fried, then served with a tame peanut sauce. It’s called Bahn Khoai Sot dau phung Kieu Hué. Or just say Bahn Khoai.

Yet another treat at Indochine Palace are the salads – banana heart blossom with shrimps or roast duck or beef, fig leaf salad, fig leaf iced tea and many variations of spring rolls, fresh and fried.

At a cultural dinner at the Hué Culture Museum we were treated to a special vegan dinner, starting with pomelo salad served on rice crackers; a millet rice dumpling wrapped in banana leaves filled with mushrooms; a Hué style noodle soup with all the fixins like peanuts and rice cakes, vegetables served in patrician homes before;  a Vietnamese truffle rice served in a bamboo shell and a multicolor dessert with watermelon seeds (butong pakwan) and glutinous flour that reminds one of the famous Turkish delight (gooey sweet and dusted with sugar).

Just like other developing Vietnamese cities, Hué has many motorcycles as well as cyclos or rickshaw-type tourist vehicles pulled by a man that takes you around the city.

I did not get a chance to walk around this time, but surely saw a lot in one quick morning tour by car.

If you have enough time, try the spa massage after your city tour. Go for a swim then book a Swedish or Thai massage. The Indochine spoils like no other. After an hour of massage, a fruit plate and a cup of warm lemongrass tea was waiting for me.

What a short but sweet way to see Hué.