The Hue (a city pronounced h-way) to the North

I woke up from a hot and sweaty nap to taxi and motorbike drivers on me like a bag of chips to use their service.  Yet another fiasco haggling - we ended up on a motorbike and when we arrived they said the price we agreed upon was per person, not 2 people, which was a total lie. It just never ends.  They wanted an extra 30,000 dong ($1.50) for both of us; I gave them 10,000 and we walked away. Marj watched our stuff while I walked around looking for a place; my final stop I was greeted by this adorable lady with a gorgeous smile and warm face and I was sold.  The price was perfect also.  We settled in and began the search for food because we were starving.  Much of our search we talked about how it's impossible to find food here and I'm talking anything: a stall, street food, canteens, restaurants, whatevs - this is absurdly different from Thailand where people are practically shoving food down your throat and then you walk 50 feet and there's more.  Another reason I feel lucky for serving in Thailand.  Vietnamese food is great, but overall, nothing in SE Asia compares to Thai food.

After over 1 hour of aimlessly searching, we stop at a cafe for some iced coffee.  We begin talking to this young Vietnamese guy, Le, who tells us about tours he gives.  In and outside of Hue there is tons of war history. Hue is very close to the Ben Hai River which separated the north from the south for years before and throughout the war.  There were many brutal battles fought there meaning a large American presence.  Marj and I have been soaking up this history as much as we can and really wanted to get out of the city and see where much of the war went down.  Le was telling us about his services that included everything we wanted and then some.  We wanted to do it on motorbike again but only had 2 days for a 3 day ride, so Le said it must be done in a car.  It was not necessarily in our budget so we wanted to think about it first.  We hadn't eaten yet and I don't know about you, but my brain doesn't function when my stomach is growling. Le told us of this vegetarian place that was next to a temple.  He said it started with serving monks from the temple but many locals go there too because its delicious, cheap Vietnamese food and portions are plentiful.  Music to my ears.

The restaurant did not disappoint.  It was by far the best vegetarian restaurant I'd been to on my travels.  With full bellies Marj and I agreed that this tour with Le would be worth it - much of what we had learned from locals and other guides was through the eyes of Southern Vietnamese whose families fought side by side with Americans.  We were curious to speak with and learn through a different set of eyes, and Le was Northern Vietnamese. 7am the next day we set off with Le and the driver, Tan.  We drove over this bridge, one we had become all too familiar with the day before looking for food, but this time we learned we were crossing Perfume River.  There are 2 stories behind this name: 1) the river begins in the North where there are many flowers causing the water to have a beautiful scent 2) (my preference) There was a young couple in love whose families didn't want them together.  The young man had to go into the army and was killed.  The girl, unwilling to live without her love, jumped into the river to die and her love for him made the river smell beautiful, hence the name, Perfume River.  Sad, but romantic.

This bridge led us to 2 days of emotions, beauty, answers to some questions and some more questions.  It's a lot of information so I will post the next 2 days as a separate blog.