Hue

Hue is the formal imperial capital of the Nguyen Dynasty.  Coming from Hoi An (see last post) it was a major change.  No cafes, tourists and little trace of Westernization.  There isn't that much to see in the city itself, except for the Old Town.  In reality though, the "Old Town" is not very old, except for the Purple Forbidden City inside it.  The Purple Forbidden City was modeled after the Chinese Forbidden City, though built only 200 years ago.  Unfortunately, so many temples and buildings inside have been destroyed by bombings, there isn't much to look at.  Overall, it was sadly underwhelming.  

A related experience was visited the DMZ (De-Militarized Zone) with my dad.  While riding the bus through the Vietnam countryside, we spotted countless bomb craters, now being used as fish ponds or mosquito breeding grounds.  We then reached the tunnels.  These 4-6 feet tall burrows some 20 feet underground were used by the Northern Vietnamese to escape artillery from the South.  Families lived holes not much bigger than your average bathroom, and much shorter in height.  We moved in and out of the tunnels, sometimes along the sea, other times ducking and weaving through the claustrophobic spaces.  There was a kitchen, a maternity room, (where at least 2 babies were born) and even a place to watch movies and sing!  Sorta makes you wonder what they watched...
Hue was definitely interesting city.  It felt like China in a way.  Friendly people, bad drivers and Forbidden Cities.  

Our last few days in Vietnam were spent lounging around Hanoi again.  We tried limiting our visits to Highlander this time, but we couldn't help it.  I think we ate their 10 times already...

The night train out of Vietnam was horrible to say the least.  Following the great Chinese tradition of doing things a bit weirdly.  We were required to wake up at 2 am for customs, stand outside in the cold weather for half an hour before boarding the train again to sleep...at least until they wake you up 2 hours later for baggage check.  This raises two questions: why are these things separate, and why can't we do it before we get on the train?  Well, "It's China."  (With some Vietnam.)