Hue in the rain

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Nov 8 Hue

Arrived here yesterday afternoon and were picked up at the airport. Totally uneventful except that all the low lying areas are flooded…and it is still raining. Our hotel/hostel is hidden away down a narrow, muddy back ally but otherwise it is a nice enough place. Clean, with hot water, what more can we ask for.

This morning we booked into a river cruise to see more tombs, and bit of the area. It was mainly for something to do that kept us partly out of the rain. Otherwise, not an especially exciting day. Keep the notes coming from home, it’s good to hear from everybody.

Nov 10 Today is our travel day to Hoi An. We leave on the afternoon bus for a four hour ride. Not looking forward to it.
Yesterday we spent most of the day exploring the Citadel, which is the emperor’s palace. It is a huge place but was mostly destroyed by American bombs. It is gradually being rebuilt now because of tourism. Apparently the Vietnamese people do not learn about their history in school. The past is basically forgotten and would be completely gone if not for the interest of the tourist. Right now it is all about making a buck or two.

Speaking of which, we had our first grossed out experience last night. We decided to break our rule of eating only in places with lots of other customers. The place we chose we had walked by a number of times and the staff was always very friendly, so we thought to give it a try. It was a small family run restaurant and we were the only customer (a mistake not to be made again). Anyways, we were sitting there drinking our beer, listening to the cook chopping our veggies, and to the searing of the griddle when I caught a movement out of the corner of my eye. You never saw two people get up and leave a restaurant as fast as we did when we saw that rat scurry towards the kitchen.
The next restaurant we stopped at was very busy.

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Photos

Perfume River
a good meter above normal

Dragon Boat
Did our day cruise on this one

Tomb
One of many

Citadel
Back part of it that was severly bombed

Citadel
Near the front, has been rstored

Comments

[Gorva]

Qualicum Beach in the sun
Hi Janise and Darrel Have just caught up with your blogs. Especially enjoyed your trekking Sapa entry. Glad to hear things are going well and that you are seeing such a beautiful country. We are enjoying being at home getting into our routines, seeing friends and sewing. It took several days to get over jet lag etc. I am working on my pictures and will enter the China album on my blog when it is finished. It is good to reflect on all the we saw! Last week I went to Vancouver to visit my Aunt and work on cleaning up her condo. That is such a huge chore that it gets quite discouraging. Two brothers were helping which makes it easier. My aunt is actually looking a little better though living in extended care must be awfully depressing. We are doing some "getting ready for Christmas" activities -making antipasta and Christmas cake. Jennifer and Kathleen will be here so must be sure to have all the baking done! I am not into shopping or writing cards yet I guess that will have to done as well. Did the duvets get to Jalyn yet? It is wonderful, so light and yet cozy and warm, I am glad we got the lightweight one we don't need anything warmer. Now that I have figured it out we will stay in touch with your blogs. Happy trails!! - Val and Gord

[Sue]

finally an update from you...
Hello, I was starting to get worried we hadn't heard in awhile... omg a rat, I would have been flying out of that eatery as well.. lol.. sounds like you are having a great time.. lots of rain in these pics tho it was freezing today, -2 with strong winds.. which I believe said it was about -20 with the wind chill... so yes winter is here.. so you folks enjoy yourselves.. not much new from here, Mike and I have both had a bit of a bug, I'm feeling better but Mike still not himself.. anyways Janise thanks for the update and will ttysoon.. Sue