Hanging around the Imperial City

We had a relatively relaxed start to this morning, though the noise as we ate breakfast, was certainly not very relaxed. It would seem that come the weekend, all and sundry in Vietnam, make their way to our hotel, to have a buffet breakfast. Compared to yesterday morning, when there were five people in the restaurant, including us, there were about 100 this morning.

People or no people, there was plenty of food to be had, and plenty of mango to eat too. That was the most important thing.

Having had our fill of breakfast delights, we took to the streets, and headed for the Forbidden City of Hue, which was a short 20 minute walk away. By the time that we arrived, the limited cloud cover that existed as we left the hotel had boiled off, and we were both well and truly warm. Hot is a better description. We both looked like we had just stepped out the shower, having worn our clothes in. This is Vietnam however, and there were plenty of other tourist, looking just like us.

For those that have been to the Forbidden City in Beijing, the Forbidden City in Hue is similar - but different. Unlike in Beijing, you can move about Hue, without having to fight through a sea of people. There is also plenty of green space in Hue, unlike in Beijing, where every bit of ground has been tiled over for many, many, years. The green space has been helped somewhat through the efforts of the French, and the Americans after them. Sadly the enlightened powers of the Western world so fit on multiple occasions to bomb the Forbidden City in Hue. Check the photos for a look at what its like. It is also a much, much, better experience than Beijing,

After spending many hours wandering the avenues, and parks of the Forbidden City, decided to have a wander around the Citadel. That's the old town that exists within the walls of the city. The Forbidden City, is just a small part of the Citadel as a whole. For the most part, the buildings within the greater Citadel, are no different to those that we have seen earlier in our travels through Vietnam. They are mostly modern, and those that aren't, are old purely because whoever owns them, doesn't have the money to tart them up.

On our travels, we happened upon a few bodies of water, which were sizable, stagnant, and stinking. We took this as a sign to take our leave from the Citadel, and head back to the hotel. On the way, we passed out of the Citadel, through a different gate, and had an ice cream at the local trivalent of McDonalds, for 3,000VND per ice cream. That is a pittance in anyone's book.

Getting back to the hotel, Courtney was dispatched to the spa to get a massage, ahead of our trip back out for dinner. After an hour of having the accumulated stress and strained kneaded out of her, her brain had similarly been massaged into a state of calm/sleep. But we needed to get some dinner, and so out into the dark night we went.

Having settled on a local place round the corner from the hotel, we got a table, and got ourselves seated. Unfortunately, as with many smaller restaurants, the place had no online menu, and Courtney had not been able to do the same checks as she might otherwise have. The end result, was very little on the menu suitable for vegetarians.

We ordered something small though, which turned into something pretty large when it actually arrived. It had a bit of pork in it, which on first glance, looked rather penis-y. And given the price, it would not have been a surprise if the pork, was in fact, the dismembered member of Babe, former pig in the city. In the end, it was ground pork that made been molded into the shape of a phallus, and then sliced into more manageable, bite-sized pieces, leaving just the tip intact for show. Courtney was unimpressed with so much in the food, though I cannot fault the taste.

Having finished the pork, we headed on to another restaurant for Courtney to get something a bit more vegetarian friendly - tofu and eggplant. It wasn't even penis shaped.Read more