Another perk of our nicer hotel was breakfast on the top floor with a beautiful view of the river and the walls of the palace in the distance. We ate a combination of western and Vietnamese foods, with fruit juice and super-coffee, and then hit the road.
We covered some of the same territory as yesterday until we crossed the wide river on a busy and very modern bridge. There were only two bridges in the area, so we picked the closest one and went across to the palace side of the river. From there we walked around the front and entered one of two tunnels that immediately followed bridges over a moat and then continued through thick walls.
Once we got inside the outer walls the terrain changed dramatically. There was a lot of open space, with ancient architecture and some remnants of the wars that had been fought here over the years. The weather was cloudy, and the ground was still wet from yesterday’s rain. We just kind of followed the wide pathways to the center point of the inner structure. We paid eight American dollars to get in, and then walked around the grounds of the inner palace.
Inside was a little more ornate than the outside. The gates were beautifully decorated with thousands of pieces of broken colored tile, and things kind of naturally led to the emperor’s sitting room. From his very ornate throne you could look out the front door and see through the outer gates all the way out to the huge flagpole at the very front of the fortress walls.
After passing through the emperor’s room we entered the forbidden city. It had been heavily bombed during the war with America, and walking around was sometimes a little tricky. Even now there was debris laying around, and various structures were undergoing restoration. There was no particular route that was recommended, so we just walked all over the place. I enjoyed walking behind a building and discovering a reflection pond that had some fish jumping out of the water now and then.
We walked to the back gate and then walked back around the grounds just outside the inner walls. Some of the gardens out here between the two walls were really beautiful, and I went a little picture crazy here.
At one point I jumped over a small trench to get a picture, but when I jumped back my foot landed on the slippery ground and my other foot went into the trench and banged against the rocky wall. Ouch! I pulled myself up and looked at the damage, but it was just a scape a few inches below my knee. I had no problem walking, so we kept going. This little episode ended up coming back to haunt me later, though.
We finished up with the palace – I had taken a million pictures and we thought it might be fun to check out the rest of the city, so we went out into the outer city by crossing another bridge to the east. We picked up some local sweets to take back to Hain and her mother in Hanoi, and then eventually made our way to the restaurant that Kuniko had picked out for lunch.
The place was off the beaten path, but it was in a huge house surrounded by gardens and fountains made of limestone. We were only the second customers there – a pair of Japanese people were wrapping up their lunch as we arrived.
For Christmas my aunt and uncle had sent some money for us to use for a special meal in Vietnam, so we decided that today’s meal was on them. This seemed like an appropriate way to use the money. This place was recommended because of the creativity of the food. Apparently the former emperor of this area was a particularly picky eater, and because of this the food of the area was predominantly vegetarian, and usually spicier than other Vietnamese food. The cook at this restaurant was a local celebrity because of her adherence to that traditional style.
We ordered a course of dishes and some beers, and then settled back to enjoy the meal. Another pair of people came to eat, both westerners like me. They didn’t seem to friendly, however, and ignored my smile and nod as they walked by.
I took pictures of all the dishes, so it’s best to go check them out on page 4 of the picture gallery. The food was beautifully presented, and the host was nice enough to explain each dish and its significance as she brought them. There was a pineapple carved into the shape of a bird (a phoenix?) with spring rolls as feathers, a hollowed-out pineapple with spears that had different fried vegetables impaled on them, a dragon made out of papaya salad, a fried fish in the shape of an eye, and a tree that had specially spiced meatballs hanging from each branch.
While we ate and drank and ate some more I noticed that a lady and a guy with a TV camera had arrived and were walking around filming the garden and the exterior of the restaurant. Our server asked us if it would be OK if they filmed a scene or two of all of the customers eating, and we (like the other customers) said of course – no problem. Kuniko and I were giggling a little and enjoying our food while they filmed – just trying not to look too retarded. We were getting to the end of our meal, and we were stuffed.
Then the server came back and asked us another favor. She said she would serve us a dish that wasn’t on the menu, and if we would please try it on camera and give our reaction. We said sure, and they said that they were going to prepare and they’d bring the food shortly. The Japanese couple had left by then, and I think the other couple had been a little rude to the restaurant’s cat so they were out.
Kuniko and I were joking around and getting our TV faces ready when the food started arriving. The server had said “a dish”, but I guess the chef wanted the camera to see a table full of food, so they brought three dishes. One was a plate full of delicious translucent rice cakes that had meat and vegetables embedded inside and then wrapped in a thick green leaf. She also brought the Vietnamese version of gyoza – but you could actually see through the outer shell. Finally for the centerpiece they brought an elephant – the body of the elephant was made up of minced pork and garlic, and the ears, trunk and tail were all vegetables.
The cameraman showed up, and off camera the server showed us how to properly assemble the food. Then they started filming us eating. It was a lot of pressure to unwrap the rice cakes and then fold them up and eat them with chopsticks (Vietnamese chopsticks are much thicker than Japanese ones) and eat without spilling. I thought I did a good job. The TV lady asked me in English what I thought of the food, and I gave my opinion. They did two takes, and we had to keep eating the whole time – it was hard work.
They told us to enjoy the food compliments of the chef, who graced us with an appearance towards the end of our meal. She was a really sweet old lady, who said “Thank you, thank you” to us in heavily accented English. We both really liked the elephant-shaped meat, and ate a lot – giving us garlic breath for the rest of the day.
Finally after we could eat no more they brought us the bill (thanks Nancy and Lynn!) and we walked off to get some badly needed exercise. In the afternoon we walked all over a touristy part of town, stopping for another drip coffee with condensed milk, and then we finally took a break at our hotel.
Before our dinner we went back to the supermarket to buy a few interesting things to bring back to Hanoi, and when we paid in cash the only change we got was two pieces of candy. The value of the dong is so low that at some point they don’t have coins small enough to represent your change. Many stores just round up, but this store paid us in candy. Apparently one piece of candy is worth 200 dong.
It was dinner time, and we weren’t hungry, but here we were in the culinary capital of Vietnam on our last night. We had to go out there and eat. So we did. The restaurant was similar to the one we had been to last night, except that the food was a little more diverse. There was live traditional Vietnamese music, and as we ate and drank, more and more tourists came in. I enjoyed the dinner and the dessert really hit the spot – a three flavor ice cream sundae with coconut ice cream.
Finally we decided to call it a night, and we (once again) brought our swollen bellies back to the hotel to try to build some kind of sense of hunger again for the next day. My knee had swollen up a bit from walking around on it so much, so I iced it down and then we hit the hay.
Tomorrow it is back to Hanoi, a shady taxi ride, and our introduction to our last hotel of the trip, the Sofitel Metropole.
