A tourist boat, identical to ours, heading south down the Perfume River to explore the emperors’ tombs

We first came to Hue (pronounced “hway”) in December 2001, and now we’re back in March 2015. Average December rainfall in Hue is about 14.6 inches, while average March rainfall is 2.4 inches. Thus the difference in our experiences of the two visits is explained. During the first visit we couldn’t wait to get out and away from the constant, cold rain. This trip we encountered a beautiful city along the Perfume River and would have gladly stayed another day or two more if we didn’t already have plans in Hanoi.

Entrance to one of the mausoleums. I’m sure I was supposed to know which emperor’s final resting place this was…

Another beautiful mausoleum, another imposing pagoda

Much of the historic splendor is to be seen in the tombs emperors built for themselves along the Perfume River, so the best way to see several of them is by hiring a boat and heading upriver, which is what we did. Not much to say about it except a very pleasant few hours plying the Perfume River and walking through mausoleums of the old emperors.

The next day we wandered around the remains of the citadel, the old walled city that included the Imperial Enclosure and Forbidden Purple City that was the center of royal life (not to be confused with the temples and mausoleums down the Perfume River, which were the center of royal death…). One of the most remarkable items in the complex is a car, the car that Thích Quảng Đức, a Buddhist monk, drove to a key intersection in Saigon and immolated himself.

A remarkable piece of history parked inside the Citadel. This is the car the Buddhist monk Thích Quảng Đức drove to his self-immolation.

It’s probably impossible to overstate the impact his death had on the dawning awareness the world – and Americans in particular – had about the nature of our allies in South Vietnam. As David Halberstam, who had been tipped off that “something” was going to happen at the intersection, later wrote, “I was to see that sight again, but once was enough. Flames were coming from a

Malcolm Browne’s Pulitzer Prize-winning photo of Thích Quảng Đức’s self-immolation. It’s not hard to understand the visceral impact the photo’s publication had.

Under pressure from the U.S. Government South Vietnamese President Diem claimed the government would pursue negotiations with the Buddhists to ensure their rights. The administration’s real perspective, though, was articulated by Diem’s sister-in-law, the notorious Madame Nhu, who effectively served as the bachelor Diem’s First Lady; she was eager “to clap hands at seeing another monk barbecue show.” She probably could have used a better PR advisor; both Diem and her brother would soon be executed in a U.S.-supported coup.

Beyond those tourist activities, food is always high on our list of important activities. While in Hue we stumbled on one of the best Indian restaurants we’ve ever found, had a great lunch in a beautiful colonial French building, and otherwise had a very pleasant couple days in Hue, finally replacing our long-held sense that Hue was a cold, rainy city to be avoided. Now on to Hanoi.

Mark enjoying the boat ride down the Perfume River

Larger boats for tour groups tied up ashore

Cute girls fanning the cutest puppy ever

Jim photo bombing a group of Singaporean women touring one of the mausoleums

The tombs all have places for Buddhists to worship

And more worshipping

Passing scenes of everyday life on the Perfume River

Posing, wearing an orange shirt you’ve probably seen before. One of the joys of living out of a suitcase is escaping any concerns that I wear the same stuff too much. It’s all I have!

Outside Hue’s Citadel looking in

A restored passageway in the Forbidden Purple City, Hue’s royal enclosure. Much of it was destroyed during the War, particularly during the Tet offensive, but they are constantly restoring what’s left standing.

Mark enjoying a classy lunch in a beautiful French colonial building

A Banana Blossom salad, surrounded by a carrot garnish, remarkably cut in one single piece

The happy couple in Hoi An celebrating 10,000 days since their first date

Hoi An is a smallish city in Central Vietnam on the South China Sea coast and along the Thu Bon River. We were here in late 2001 and remembered a lovely city but were honestly unprepared for how much we would enjoy it this time around. Whether the city has just gotten a lot more beautiful in these 13 years or we had just not appreciated it enough I can’t say, but this is a seriously beautiful place.

We did a poor job of capturing the beauty of Hoi An, but this is just a hint of the joys to be discovered

We love local markets and just stumbled onto this one

Today the city is vibrant, beautiful, atmospheric, and one of the wealthiest cities in the country. For tourists it’s particularly notable as a center of custom tailoring; there are hundreds and hundreds of shops throughout the city that promise the best clothes you’ll ever have. We fell for that in 2001, but these days I don’t really need any bespoke T-shirts. For us, the treat was the wonderful food we found.

One of the best meals we’ve ever had – anywhere, any time, at any price – was a $23 lunch at a little place called Baby Mustard a couple kilometers outside Hoi An. It’s set right next to a large community garden and after we ordered salads to start the meal we saw a woman out snipping greens from the garden. That’s fresh!

We order our salads and she goes out to cut the greens. Wow!

On a scale of 1-10, we thought both our salads were 10s. Then we got our main dishes, fish for me and chicken for Mark. Again, two home runs. They were unbelievable. All in a very simple bamboo-constructed open air dining area with the simplest kitchen you can imagine. Just great, local produce with lots of garlic, lemongrass, mint, and other Vietnamese herbs and spices.

Part of what we liked about the experience was the 10- or 15-minute bike ride (on bikes provided by our hotel) out past rice fields to the restaurant. So the next day we got back on our bikes and headed back out there. Now, our experience is that going back to a great restaurant experience is usually disappointing; it’s never as good the second time. Not so with Baby Mustard; our dishes again were just fantastic.

Our first two dishes at Baby Mustard, beef in a spicy tomato sauce on fresh greens in back and green mango with chicken in front. Both unbelievable.

Holy Mackerel – fish wrapped in banana leaves with huge amounts of garlic, lemongrass, and other good things. Even that “plain” salad of tomatoes and onions on the plate was spectacular.

This was more of the community garden adjacent to Baby Mustard. I wanna go back!

Dinners in town were great, too, though it would be unfair to compare them to those lunches. And we found a great bar – Q Bar – where the bartender made great Manhattans without any lessons or cues from us. We compared that to the place we went the first night where the bartender made us martinis and, after shaking the drink poured the whole thing, ice and all, into the martini glasses. He did remember to put olives in the drink, but when he delivered them we saw that they were black olives. That’s just sad.

A beautiful city, great food, a beautiful bar; what else can you ask for? Oh yeah, we had a really nice hotel, too, just opened a couple months ago, with a beautiful pool for a little afternoon relaxation. So Hoi An was a hit.

Hai, the bartender at Q Bar, shaking our Manhattans. So we’d walk in and say “Hi Hai.” So much fun.

Just a sample of the decor at Q Bar. It was really gorgeous, and good cocktails were like $6 each. We couldn’t figure out why it wasn’t packed…

Another shot from the market

Our hotel, with a lovely pool for those hot afternoons. Open for just a couple months, it was very pleasant.

On top of it all, the old town of Hoi An is just four miles or so from great beaches. One day I walked out here and sat in the sand to read … before going back for a pretty much perfect lunch.

More great food, in this case chicken in lemongrass

And calamari in mint and stuff. Can you tell we liked these dishes?

Finally, you have to save the best for last. As we went through the market this woman wanted her picture taken with Mark. We knew she would expect to be paid for her photo shoot – you see she has Mark in a death grip lest he get away without paying – so this cost us a buck. Totally worth it.