www.la-residence-hue.com "Travelers pass through Hanoi and Saigon, but vacationers come to Central Vietnam," says Phan Trong Minh, the general manager of La Ré sidence Hôtel & Spa in Hue.

2. Previous page: The Quang Trieu
(Cantonese) Assembly Hall, originally
built as a place for merchants to
gather, is now a must-visit attraction
for visitors to Hoi An. Left: Marblestatue shops are prevalent in Da
Nang, located on Vietnam’s central
coast, south of the imperial city of
Hue. Below: A home in Hoi An
doubles as a porcelain showcase.
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REDISCOVERING VIETNAM
CULTURE RICH AND POSTCARD PERFECT, A REGAL COUNTRY GETS NEW LIFE
WRITTEN BY BILL KEITH
PHOTOGRAPHED BY DOUGLAS FRIEDMAN
F
ran Lebowitz once said, “You’re
only as good as your last hairc ut .” I f t h at ’s t he c a s e, my
l i fe’s br ig ht , sh i n i ng mome nt
came cour tesy of a man named
Vi n h on the f ront porch of his
house on Han Thuyen Street in
Hue, Viet nam, and it cost just
$2 . 50. I’ve h a d ple nt y of b a d
haircuts in cities where language
barriers weren’t an issue and my
practitioner had more than scissors and a st raight razor at his
disposal. Still, when Vin h dug
into my nearly shoulder-length
hair without so much as wetting
it, I was full of excitement instead
of fear. Why? Because this experience felt authentic.
My job has sent me to many
of the world’s most far-f lung hot
spots, and I’ve been presented
with plenty of local customs and
r it uals, i ndigenous delicacies,
and site-specific spa treatments
that too often feel like they were
ginned up for wide-eyed honeymooners. Even exotic destinations
like Thailand, Tahiti and Bali begin to lose their luster. Phrases
l i ke “ t i me -honored t r a d it ion”
start to sound meaningless. But
throughout my few days in central
Vietnam, whether I was at a historic landmark or contemporary
crafts fair or roadside pho stand,
not a moment felt par t icularly
forced or hackneyed.
I was happy to f ind out that
Vietnam doesn’t subscribe to the
“why on Earth would you leave
“WHEN WE ARE
NOT SURE, WE
ARE ALIVE.”
—GRAHAM GREENE

3. Right: Buddhist monks worship in the citadel in Hue,
the former imperial capital
city of Vietnam previously restricted to the ruling family.
Opposite page: A look at a
pagoda inside the grounds
of the once-forbidden city,
which is now undergoing an
extensive renovation.
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of vacationing. And eschewing the
more obvious excursions to Hanoi in the north and Saigon in the
south in favor of the central cities of Da Nang, Hoi An and Hue
not only diminishes your chances
of running into an ex-boss on the
beach or getting stuck behind a
school group in an ancient grotto,
it also means you’re getting the
best of both regions—without all
of the congestion. “Travelers pass
th rough Hanoi and Saigon, but
vacationers come to central Vietnam,” says Phan Trong Minh, the
general manager of La Résidence
Hôtel and Spa in Hue. “We have
the dy namism of Saigon i n Da
Nang, the profound heritage of Hanoi in Hue and Hoi An, plus all the
incredible leisure opportunities.”
Ah yes, the leisure. While it’s
true I passed serious time in pagodas, mingled with merchants and
hiked along the Ho Chi Minh trail,
I also clocked many
hours spa-hopping in
lagoon-side treatment
rooms and sunbathing along untouched
beaches. Once home
to “China Beach,” the
well-known camp for
American GIs during
the Vietnam War, the
road f rom Da Na ng
to Hue is no stranger to R & R. Also, in
the past year, luxury
brands A man and Banyan Tree
have opened their first Vietnamese proper ties to great success,
attracting a sophisticated guest
who wants a singular experience.
“The people we’re getting now
aren’t really here for a taste of
Vietnam; they’re here to indulge
in the central coast,” says Anthony Gill, general manager of the
Nam Hai resort in Hoi An, the ne
plus ultra of luxur y proper ties,
which opened in 2006 and won a
Travel + Leisure Design Award
for Best Resort and a Condé Nast
Traveller Best Overseas Spa Hotel
distinction. “They’re here to log
hours on the beach and the golf
cou rse, a nd t hen when t hey’re
primed, they head out for a day’s
adventure among Hue’s renowned
palaces and tombs or out to see
what t he a ncient Cha m people
worked up in stone at My Son,
t ravel up into the Highlands or
explore the world-renowned cave
system at Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park.”
W hat’s happening in cent ral
Vietnam isn’t comparable to anything else. As Gill puts it: “If what
you’re after is access to the ocean,
then comparisons to Phuket are

4. Above: A marble sculpture
on the central coast near Da
Nang. Much of the marble
and limestone mining in the
nearby mountains has been
stopped, but it continues
elsewhere in the country.
apt. But we’re more than a beach,
the way Bali is more than a beach.
There’s tremendous cultural depth
here that resonates as deeply as
1,500 years. It’s this combination
of culturally profound and fantastically f un—I thin k we’re on to
something new here on the central
coast, something the rest of the
world is just waking up to now.”
A journey typically begins in Da
Nang, thanks to daily direct flights
from Seoul and f lights four times
a week from Singapore and Hong
Kong. Singapore Airlines and Cathay Pacific offer fantastic service
from the U.S. through Changi air-
port, where you can grab a short
flight on SilkAir, the regional wing
of Singapore Airlines. Besides being the area’s commercial capital,
Da Nang is also home to the Marble
Mountains, a cluster of five hills
that have provided the raw material
for many of Vietnam’s celebrated
stone car vi ngs. W hile you may
not need a life-size Jesus or a fivefoot-tall Buddha statue, a trip to the
500-year-old stonecutters’ village
is worth a visit for sheer spectacle,
as is the 156-step climb atop one
of the peaks, which takes you into
Huyen Khong, a jaw-dropping grotto that has served as both a place
of worship and a hospital for the
Vietcong during the American War.
Just 18 miles down the beach
f rom Da Na ng l ie s t he a ncie nt
city of Hoi An, a merchant capital whose charm is as palpable as
the 16th-cent ur y-st yle car vings
ador ni ng hu nd reds of t wo - and
three-stor y, Chinese-inf luenced
structures that now do triple duty
as residences, museums and commercial spaces. The cit y is also
home turf for Saigon-born, Texastrained celebrity chef Duc Tran,
whose cuisine at MangoRooms will
force you to reconsider the phrase
Asian fusion.
But for me, Hue was the understated showstopper. The political,
cult u ral and religious center of
the country from 1802
t o 1945, it’s home t o
the Ng uyen dy nast y’s
For bidde n Cit y. Now
you can spend all day
getting lost among the
square citadel’s striking gates, temples and
palaces—but then you’d
never make it to Emperor Tu Duc’s tomb, set
inside a pine forest dotted with pagodas, pavilions and ponds just five
miles outside the city. It
was there I caught sight
of mon k s per for m i ng
their daily rituals (before working in a quick
game of soccer).
Hiring a local guide
here — or any where in
this par t of the cou nt r y — is a wor t hwh i le
ex p e nd it u r e, a nd t he
one reg ret I have is
not a r r a ng i ng a me al
at what’s called a fami ly r e s t au r a nt . For
about $40 per person,
a private chef will not
on ly prepa re a feast
fo r yo u r g r o u p , h e’l l a l s o e xplain how and why he’s prepared
it and, more likely than not, give
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Left: A view of the countryside at the Phong Nha-Ke
Bang National Park, where numerous grottoes and
caves, including the largest one in the world, helped
secure its status as a UNESCO World Heritage Site
in 2003.
Left: The Huyen Khong grotto, located in the Marble Mountains, is illuminated through the ceiling by sunlight. Top: The
governor’s residence of Hue was renovated to become the boutique hotel La Résidence. Above: Along China Beach lies the
Nam Hai resort, where guests dip into personal infinity pools.

5. “WALK AS IF YOU ARE KISSING THE EARTH WITH YOUR FEET.”
you pointers on where to spend
the rest of your evening.
“People from the center of Vietnam are relatively new to international tourism,” says La Résidence’s Phan Trong Mi n h. “It’s
all fresh to us, so we lack the jadedness that naturally comes from
long ex p os u re t o i nt e r n at ion al
peoples. There is an ear nestness
to the people who work at my hotel. We feel this incredible responsibility to tell this city’s story to
people who visit, and we know we
only have a short time to make a
deep impression.”
And speaking of deep impressions, did I mention I’ve got a guy
who gives a mean haircut and face
massage for just $2.50? There were
no lot us petals strewn about his
porch and he didn’t offer me locally
sourced lemongrass tea, but he did
call me 007 when I left. And judging by the line of local guys who
had gathered behind me to get the
same treatment, I’d say I got the
authenticity I was looking for.
LE ARN MORE ABOUT VIETNAM’S HIDDEN
TRE A SU RES ONLINE AT DUJOU R .COM
Left: Outside of Hue, in the demilitarized zone of Vietnam,
a reunification monument stands on the edge of the Ben Hai
River, which once marked the border between north and south
Vietnam. Above: The Marble Mountains, located in Da Nang, are
named for the five elements: metal, water, wood, fire, and earth.
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—ZEN MASTER THICH NHAT HANH