Hue (and dang, that’s Dane!)

Hue has everything. Historic sites, food selection for adventurous appetites, hustlers, and amazing culture.

We visited the Imperial City, a walled enclosure within the Citadel of the city of Huế, the former imperial capital of Vietnam during the Nguyễn dynasty. Within its walls are palaces that housed the imperial family. The decor on the walls, ceiling and floors are swirly, elaborate, and ornate—better told with pictures rather than words.

We sought out a bicycle shop only to find it closed so we headed to another. Only one other person was in the shop—Hey whoa! Is that you Dane?? (the cycle tourist we met the other day). In this country of millions, in this city of a half million, we manage to meet up with Dane once more, in a city almost a hundred kilometres away from where we first met! We also discovered ironically, that we are headed to the same location tomorrow.

As we sat at dinner tonight, a young man approached us looking for a monetary donation. We made a little contribution to alleviate his circumstances, whatever they may be. As he hobbled away, grateful for a little kindness, we noticed he moved with the aid of crutches and had only one leg. In a country where motorcycles rule, cars are beyond reach for many and public transit is poor, we could only imagine the mobility difficulties he must encounter. We are very aware of our own fortunate lives that allow us to adventure these far away places.

There are hustlers here. We have been offered taxi service on the back of motorcycles (both of us….on one motorcycle!), coaxed into bars, night spots and restaurants, and pressed to take rides on cycle rickshaws, propelled by petite Vietnamese people. (Really? Randy and I together probably weigh the same as three Vietnamese!)

Food—it’s always a topic of great interest to us and we are open to trying new things—but in our quest for some street food we found deep fried chicken feet to be out of our comfort zone. Just bein’ honest!