Hue

My not-quite-first thought upon arriving in Hue was, what the f* are we doing in Hue? The truth is, you really never know what's worth a visit. There are things every guidebook and every person recommends that you'll hate or at least dismiss. Luckily, Hue wasn't that place. Well, Hue itself maybe; but the surrounding countryside made it worth the stop.

We wouldn't figure that out until the next day, though, and in the meantime, we weren't thrilled with Hue, especially after the peaceful, small-town feel of Hoi An. The motorcycles were relentless (I got stuck in the middle of the street during our walk, and only wanted to avoid street crossings for the remainder of our stay), and the hawkers were in our face. We made it to dinner with just a few street-crossings, and it was an amazing, "authentic" (you know I hate that word), local, open-air vegetarian place. The waiter was very patient with us, and we just kept ordering and ordering (Jay tried to stop me but I really was that hungry).

The next day, we hired a driver (through our hotel) to take us around to the surrounding sites. We found, throughout our travels, that three was the magic number: it cost about the same to hire our own transit, guide, etc. as to go with a group tour. He dropped us off at our first site--Khai Dinh's tomb--and I was at peace with having come to Hue.

On the way to the next site, we stopped at a shop to roll some incense and buy some crap.

And then, Tu Duc tomb. The tomb itself didn't compare to Khai Dinh, but the grounds were beautiful. They reminded us of Kyoto.

Then, we went to the multi-tiered pagoda, which didn't leave much of an impression (though the surrounding views were amazing).

And on to the Citadel.

So that was Hue. We were ready to leave for Hanoi.