The Citadel at Hue and Hanoi

The Citadel - the ancient Imperial Palace in Hue, is a walled city that very much reminded me of the Forbidden City in Beijing. The gates and walls, as well as the moat that surrounds the complex is similar in designed to that of the Forbidden City. Unfortunately, most of it laid in ruins, having been destroyed during the Tet offensive. The few buildings that we did see though were impressive. We walked around the complex as best as we can in the heat. We literally "shade-hopped," scurrying from one shady spot to another. It's difficult to look put together in this weather, but we saw a girl in a beautiful sundress, matching jewelry and sunglasses looking cool as can be. She could have be strolling around Paris. It looked as if she were immuned to the heat. It made us all feel dumpy.

The entire time we were at the Citadel, we watched storm clouds rolling in. Half the sky looked completely dark. We barely made it out of there before this massive storm hit, ruining out afternoon plans of lounging by the pool at the 5-star hotel near where we were staying. The sky just opened up. Unfortunately for me, rainwater flooded my room at the hotel, drenching my stuff. It could have been a lot worse, but getting the hotel to do my laundry in time for our flight to Hanoi was a disaster. Customer service just does not exist in the developing world. My travel documents (but not my passport which I carried with me) also disappeared. The whole experience was aggravating.

For dinner, we decided to go to this restaurant called Lac Thien, which is run by a deaf-mute family that is supposed to be famous. It seriously looked like a hole-in-the-wall. The funny thing was there are 3 deaf-mute restaurants right next to each other, each claiming to be the original. Lonely Planet claimed Lac Thuen is the original, while Rouge Guide claimed Lac Thien is the original. I guess we will never know. The food was mediocre but the experience was interesting. They gave us wooden bottle openers and showed us how to use them. People take pictures with it around the world and send it back to them and they post them around the restaurant.

We arrived in Hanoi early this morning. It's a hectic city filled with people on motorbikes. We're staying in the Old Quarter right next to Hoan Kiem lake. It's Sunday night and there are tons of couples zipping along on their motorbikes with the girls perched on the backs. Some of them even ride sidesaddle. It's amazing they don't fly off. I thought it was crazy in HCMC, but in Hanoi, the sheer number of motorbikes is even more astonishing. Some of the streets are quite wide and motorbikes more than 10 deep come at you in all directions. Walking across the street is dangerous. I seriously feel like I'm risking my life each time. We do it in groups - you're supposed to calmly walk across as the motorbikes come at you, and trust that they will go around you and not hit you (they do not stop for you). But I think we are getting the hang of it. We've survived so far.

We saw a water puppetry show - a uniquely Hanoi experience. Supposedly the farmers invented it in the past to entertain themselves during the rainy season. They make marionette puppets dance and move on water. It was fun to watch but must have been uncomfortable for the puppet masters who had to stand in waist-deep water the entire time.

We booked a tour to go to Halong Bay and Cat Ba Island for the next 3 days. We're sleeping on a "junk" boat for one night, and on Cat Ba Island the 2nd. It's supposed to be amazing, with lots of caves and coves to explore, beautiful beaches and a national park. We're going to spend a chunk of the 2nd day kayaking.

We have to get up early tomorrow in search of bottled water to buy and liquor for the boat. 2+ weeks in Southeast Asia has toughened me. The need to constantly negotiate in order to prevent yourself from being ripped-off left and right is tiring and has made us all paranoid. Now, we will literally argue over the cost of a bottle of water even though the difference is less than 50 cents (but it sounds like a lot in Vietnamese dongs - the conversion is 16,000 dongs to a dollar). I can't wait to go back to a place where prices are set and are the same for everyone. Unfortunately for me Beijing will not be one of those places. But at least I will speak the language.