Hue has been a really quick stop on our march northwards. We probably would’ve spent longer here, but we’re trying to get to Hanoi asap to get our Chinese visa in order. We arrived yesterday afternoon and spent the rest of the day exploring the town a bit. There were a ton of motorbikes like everywhere in Vietnam, but for a large city it seemed pretty quiet. Despite not having the quaint colonial atmosphere of Hoi An, it was a pleasant place to walk around. The buildings and architecture were plain and unattractive, but the streets and trees were decorated with lanterns. Decorations adorned the city and buildings in anticipation of a holiday, although I never quite got what it was about. We walked down to the small Contemporary Arts Museum. It was closed for the holiday, but we found a guard and paid him a little bit to let us in. It was just a small little gallery of just a couple rooms, but Joylani thought it was okay. We searched around for food for awhile until we decided to just eat at the next place we saw. So we sweatily walked into a local place on a sidestreet. Most the tables were occupied by groups of men around tables full of empty beer bottles. The waitresses giggled and urged each other to take our order. Finally one of them was pressured into approaching the foreigners and she took our order, which was accomplished by randomly mispronouncing two random menu items (since the entire menu was in Viet). Luckily, we ended up with a plate full of vegetables and another of pork. After we got some rice, it turned out to be a pretty good meal. I felt pretty fortunate having not known what we were ordering. On a sidenote, Vietnamese speak less English than most places we’ve gone. On top of that, I think their English is among the worst we’ve heard. On the other hand, I’ve pronounced some things that I’ve read or heard and they cannot understand me at all. Something about the sounds, tones, and inflections of English and Vietnamese language make them extremely different and difficult for a speaker of one to learn/speak the other and vice versa.

We got up pretty early this morning and headed to the walled citadel across the river from our hotel. Inside the citadel was another moat and walled fortress, known as the Imperial City. It is the main attraction in Hue and for good reason. The old stone walls and ornate but imposing wood gate was cool. Inside was different from anything we’ve seen on this trip. Architecturally and stylistically, it became clear that we’ve moved into the Chinese sphere of influence. The old writing was in Chinese characters and the architecture and gardens resembled East Asian style much more than Thai or Khmer influences. There wasn’t anything that really stood out, but it was enjoyable walking within the large stone walls, gardens, and old wooden houses and halls. Its nice to have a little change of scenery as we begin moving out of SEA into East Asia. After the Imperial City, it was back to hotel to pack-up. Now we’re just killing some time until our bus to Hanoi tonight. I dislike rushing through places and Hue was a rush, but we saw the main attraction and explored about as much of the town as we probably would’ve if we had stayed for a few days.