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Published: June 22nd 2010
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We woke up to no power; this is becoming very normal in Vietnam as we have been told most of the power comes from hydropower plants and the rivers are low since it is the start of rainy season here. Be thankful for living in the USA and only losing power when a big thunderstorm knocks it out.
After breakfast we walked 15 minutes from our hotel to the Citadel and were sweated wet at 9am. WOW I can’t even explain the heat here, Florida in August times 10 is the only thing that comes to mind.
The Citadel is one of the major tourist attractions in Hue and was built in 1804 by the Emperor Gia Long. The Citadel was also bombed during the American War, as it is called here in Vietnam. Strange since in the USA it is always referred to as the Vietnam War.
When we arrived at the Citadel I decided we didn’t need to see every corner as it is quite large. I was very hot and decided I was over being white when I was almost forced into a photo with a young boy. His father said “Hello” in a awkward
way and pushed his son next to me. I had a sunbrella(umbrella but used to block the sun) and just said “No” and walked away. I guess it is time to go back to the USA. I am over having my photo taken just for being white. I was dumbfounded also as there are more white people in Vietnam than I have seen all year in Shenzhen. So why did they want their photo with me? Oh well I probably didn’t make that mans day but it was just too hot and I was over having my photo being taken for the year.
After being at the Citadel for over 2 hours we saw everything and had lunch at Bar Why Not? The food was good; I had a BBQ Chicken sandwich and Pete ate a French Dip sandwich. After eating we headed back to the hotel hoping the power was back on and it was. We showered, read our books and relaxed in the AC from 1pm until we went out for dinner.
In Sapa we met Laura, a Canadian, she advised we hit up Little Italy restaurant in Hue and it was also in Lonely Planet.
The food was good. We ate brushetta, a mixed salad, lasagna and had ice cream for dessert. The ice cream was funny as they went to the corner market and bought a cup of ice cream and served it straight from the market. Gotta love Vietnam.
Later that night we heard screaming from Eric ,who is from LA and we met at breakfast, at 1am someone must have done him wrong. He was screaming “Get the F*#k out of here“ “Why did you let him in here?” and lots of commotion in the lobby. Our room was on the 2nd floor but the stairwell was open from the lobby and each floor had only 2 rooms. This woke me up and scared me as Pete was robbed at knife point the night before. Lets just say I was ready to get out of Hue and even Vietnam at this point.
We never found out what happened to Eric but can only imagine.
Enjoy the photos of the Citadel.
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clare
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Martin's mom is who I am! I had to laugh--altho I know not funny. at your frustration with being shoved into picture etc. all the time as Staci complains of this too. Sounds like you've hit a bad time to visit Vietnam due to the extremely high humidity....stay safe!