The next day, Thinh's aunt let us borrow her car and driver, so we went to Hoi An. Hoi An, according to Thinh is one of the best places to shop because there are a lot of handmade things there. (Carvings, clothing, lanters, paintings etc.) I got a lot of presents for people in Hoi An. We had meat on lemongrass stalks, pork stew, pork wrapped in leaves, and other things for lunch. Mmm. We also took a boat out on the water, which gave us a neat view of Hoi An and gave us a chance to watch this random fisherman that was there. Before we left we got this meat-filled mochi sweet ginger soup dish from a street vendor. Yum! I think it was one of my favorite foods.
On the way home, we stopped at Marble Mountain (Ve Tham Quan Ngu Hanh Son...sorry, I don't know how to do the accent marks). The mountain isn't actually that high, but there's a lot of walking around and climbing to do in order to see the different statues and temples there. A lot of them are hidden in caves. We had a great view of the surrounding area from the top, but my favorite thing was the temple inside one of the caves. We had to climb through this little crack in the antechamber of the cave in order to get to the main area. (It's supposed to be something like going to heaven. There's also a cave where you climb down and it's like going to hell, but that one was closed off.) My pictures, unfortunately, didn't turn out that well because of the lack of lighting. In another cave (that we didn't even know existed until two old ladies told us), there was a huge Buddha statue in the regular sitting position, but the old ladies told us to climb up next to it and look behind it, and right directly behind it was a reclining Buddha. Thinh and I both though it was really odd that they'd put a new sculpture of the sitting Buddha right in front of the reclining one. That was definitely tiring, but worth it.
That night, I was measured for my dress. Thinh's aunt gave me white and lavender silk to make it from, so we took that to the tailor. For dinner, we had pan fried noodles and things, but the kicker was the fruit and the frog. The fruit was this potato shaped thing that was about the size of my fist and looked like a kiwi without fuzz, but the inside was an orange-yellow color and had a honey-like aftertaste. I tried to look it up online, but I couldn't find it since I don't know its name. I also ate frog...which actually does taste like chicken but has an almost fish-like texture. I couldn't eat very much of it because, well frankly, it still looked like frog and it was kind of creeping me out.
On the 27th, we made our trip to Hue. I'd been warned about the dangers of motorbikes and things, but honestly, the bus is way more terrifying than the motorbikes. I trust Thinh and his cousins, so the motorbikes felt safe, but the buses are usually overfilled with people, and because there aren't as many rules of the road in Vietnam, it's pretty scary. Anyway, after that horrible bus ride, we had lunch with Thinh's cousin. Hue is known for its vegetarian food, and it was really good. Afterwards, we went to the Tomb of Tu Duc, who was an emperor of Vietnam. It was gigantic. I don't think we got around to seeing all of it. According to Thinh, the emperor wanted to make it really big, but it would have taken around seven years to complete, so in order to save money, he made the builders finish it in three years. He was the last emperor of Vietnam, and (again according to Thinh) he wrote his own history on a stone monument that is usually reserved for the heir to write. Anyway, it was really amazing stone work and there was also a lot of mosaic work.
We hurried off to another tomb after that. (Thinh rented a motorbike, so it was a lot easier to get around. ) This one was Ve Tham Quan Lang Khai Dinh (the Tomb of Khai Dinh). It was built on a hill, and had really amazing stone work. It's not an old tomb, so everything is very intact and fairly new, but even so, this was my favorite place to look at. I was amazed enough at the intricate relief and sculpture stone work, but inside the tomb the mosaics were absolutely stunning. The entire room was covered in mosaic work and the ceiling was painted with dragons. We weren't supposed to take pictures, but everyone did anyway. Too amazing to not capture on film.
Lastly, we went to a temple. I don't remember the name of the temple, but the person who built it built it in the memory of his mother. After all of the sightseeing we did, it was a nice way to finish it all off. The sunset was great. =D
We ate at an excellent Indian restaurant for dinner. After that I just relaxed in our hotel room (which only costed $15!). We didn't get a chance to go to the citadel, so we had to leave that for the next day...
