I finally made it to Hue this am after an overnight bus from Hanoi. I couldn't wait to get out of Hanoi! I can't think of a worse town I've visited in all my travels. Just one scam after another and not friendly people. I also left just as Typhoon Su-Thien made landfall. It's still raining here, but not near as bad as Hanoi. Widespread disruptions are reported and I'm just thankful I didn't get stuck in that awful city. I went on a tour of Halong Bay, which was pretty with karstformations in the water, but again, the tour was one huge rip off and a total waste of my time and money. Hue is described as the intellectual, cultural and spiritual heart of Vietnam. I was so tired when I arrived in Hue this am that I just checked into my hotel and went to bed. Later I rented a bike and checked out the city and ran some errands. There's a DMZ zone I wanted to see, but it's about 50 or 60 miles from town so I decided to stay in town tomorrow and explore the many pagodas, tombs and citadel. It's pretty hot and muggy and rainy here- feeling the effects of the typhoon. My hotel is very nice with a pool and large breakfast for $9/night. Supposed to have a balcony also, but my room wasn't ready since I checked in at 7 am, so I got a room without a balcony. But at that point I didn't care what my room looked like. I just wanted a bed! The overnight bus would have been ok if they hadn't insisted on blasting 90's pop music half the night and waking us up at 5:50 am with the Macarena playing at ear-splitting decibels. It's nice to be in a room by myself after a month and a half of sharing space.
