Hue 2016 - Dong Ba Market

Towards the East of the Citadel - at the junction of Dong Ba Canal and the Perfume River - you will find Dong Ba Market - the biggest day market in Hue. The hue market complex contains hundreds of stalls from fresh produce, fish, meat and groceries to clothing, household items, tourist trinkets to even gold jewelry.  

Like most Asian markets - Dong Ba is a chaotic maze of stalls mashed against each other. To the first time visitor, it makes no sense. But there is usually order in the chaos and if you follow your nose you will usually end up where you want to go.

The market is home to a large number of food stalls. We stopped over for some snacks and the best thing we had was an iced dessert - the locals call it "Che". It is translated as sweet soup - which we mistakenly heard as "squid soup". That was a constant source of amusement for the rest of our trip.

Che or sweet soup is a local dessert sort of like the familiar "ice kacang" in Malaysia. You can pick the ingredients which are usually mung bean stew, kidney beans, tapioca, jelly, fresh fruits, etc. which are mixed together and served in a syrup either hot or cold. The one we had at Dong Ba market was one of the best.