This is the Phu'o'c Kien (foo-uhkg kee-en) Assembly hall:
Note the amount of incense in the altar. There was a ridiculous amount of incense constantly being burned everywhere in Hoi An. It seemed like every shopkeeper burned had a few sticks constantly burning stuck in cracks in the sidewalk in front of their shop, or they would burn bowls full of scented wood of some kind... everywhere. We constantly wondered what each store's incense budget was... or if they were given an allotment from the city once a week or something. We asked a guide about it in Hue, and he said that in Central Vietnam, a lot of people's ancestors died in the war, and many people burn incense for them. They also put out offerings of goods that their ancestors liked - fruit, cigarettes, a small bottle of whiskey....
These are cones of incense hanging from the ceiling. They're huge - maybe 3-4 feet tall, and spiraled that way, who knows how long that rod of incense is. By the way, all of those cones (and more not shown) are lit and slowly burning away... underneath each of them are little piles of ash that get swept away from time to time. Sometimes a bit would drop on you as you walked underneath!
For dinner, we went here:
This is a very famous tourist restaurant called BaLe Well, which is located right near the Ba Le well.... oddly enough, they don't make the Cao Lau noodles that use the well water! Every tourist guidebook says that you must go here, and from the looks of the place, people listen because the place has a huge outdoor covered seating area. The guidebooks all say that locals go there too, but to me, it just seemed like everyone seated around us were Vietnamese tourists - I know they were Viet because of the language used speaking to the staff, but I thought they were tourists because they all (as did we) had to be shown what to do. They don't really have a menu, other than for drinks - because they bring you everything they make for a set price.
Here is most of the stuff we got - all this, and other stuff later, for about $7 per person - not bad, but relatively very expensive compared to local food places.
At the top left of the photo above, underneath the bowl of sauce, is a stack of thin rice papers - they're very flexible even while dry. You take two of them, add in lettuce leaves and some herbs, the meat from a satay skewer or sausage (nem), some pickles, and a spring roll, then fold like a taco, dip into the sauce and eat. Or, take the rice paper, put in a small pancake (banh xeo), add herbs and pickles and dip/eat.
Bottom to top: spring rolls (cha gio or also called ram cuon (rrggrrahm gkoo-ahn) - not greasy at all; nuoc tuong (noo-uhk too-uhm) sauce; banh xeo (buhng see-ow); rice papers.
The sauce was very interesting. It is a murky mix of pork liver, garlic and hoisin, and who knows what else... it is thick, a little chunky, and very savory - and quite delicious, especially when slathered on everything.
The banh xeo was a little disappointing after having a great example in Saigon. These were much smaller, and by comparison not crispy at all, actually quite greasy - like they had been sitting around, which they probably were. This place is a factory - right after you sit down and order drinks, they basically bring everything all at once - so you know it wasn't made to order for you. If you're there when it's very busy, you might get fresh ones, but we were there on the early side and the place was maybe 1/4 full... so these were waiting around.
L-R: Lettuce, herbs and cucumber; nem nuong (nehm noo-uhmg) which is the sausage and thit nuong (t-heet noo-uhmg) which is the grilled slices of pork; pickles. Both the nem and satay were very good. All of the veggies and herbs came from the Tra Que Vegetable Village (which we visited, and I'll discuss later) - herbs included diep ca (zee-ep kah) which is fish mint (not a huge fan), very small thai basil leaves, cilantro and a little weedy looking herb which I found here and there but never got a name for it - it didn't have much flavor but was a little astringent - good with fatty foods. I figured I'd see it in Hue as well, and try to take a sprig or two home (I came prepared) but sadly, didn't see any outside of Hoi An so I never got to bring any home...
Here's my first "taco":
Here's a shot of them making the banh xeo...
