It's pretty amazing in that my desire to be witty in my last post, I closed with that mention of the word 'guey' in Spanish. In case you don't know, that word can mean many things. Mostly it's used between good friends as a way to say a little spicier version of 'dude'. But it's also used as a minor insult when someone has done something stupid. For example, booking a hotel room for only one night when it should've been two. So my little play on words turned out ot be somewhat prophetic as I spent the first moments of my arrival here searching for another hotel because the one where I spent last night is full tonight. Done, and with a pool, no less. By the way, the first one ($35- yikes!) was easily the best one yet. A huge king-size bed and for the first time on this trip, I actually slept the entire night without being awakened by a rooster, a moped horn or any number of the other possibilities. Nice place...each room has a DVD player and downstairs there's an impressive library of pirated DVD's to use for free. Oh and on the map they hand out, there is a little section entitled Tips for Travelers that has a a hilarious list of suggestions for crossing the road. The best part is where it tells you not to panic if you should get stuck and above all, do not go back! Ironically, crossing the street in Hue is child's play compared to HCMC! Seriously...or maybe it's like with the chopsticks, you just get used to it.
So the train yesterday was thankfully my last in this country. It was less than three hours, but a pretty miserable experience despite passing by some incredible scenery along the coast. Sadly, this particular train should've been the best one of all. The first 20 minutes we just sat in the train waiting to get going and without A/C. Remember the scene in Schindler's List where the poor souls are on the train and Schindler pitties them by hosing down the train with water? Granted, not remotely the same thing, but that's the first thing that came to mind. And even after we got going and the A/C came on, it wasn't anywhere near as meat-locker like as the buses tend to be here. At some point I noticed that there were a set of bare feet inches from the back of my head. Lovely. I had to try to explain to the woman that really, lovely though you may think your feet to be, they really shouldn't be propped up anywhere near that close to a stranger's head. Didn't do a whole lot of good. I was thrilled to walk out of the station and on to yet another dude's motorbike for a 20,000 dong ride to the hotel.
The food continues to be very good, however. Ate a French restaurant last night and had roast duck and a Hue specialty. Can't remember the name, but they were almost like little tamales: gelatinous rice with bits of shrimp steamed in banana leaves and dipped in fish sauce. Yum! Had a mango tart for dessert. And wached it all down with a Huda beer- a local beer. I don't just try the local food! I also partake of the potent potables.
This morning I headed across the Perfume River to the citadel and the forbidden city within it. Very impressive stuff. Not as big as the one in Beijing, but nicer in many ways. Saw some very elegant old buildings and relics and tried to keep cool. It is repugnantly hot and humid, which is why I am in here only sweating a little as compared to buckets were I to be outdoors instead. I'm going to head out to some dude's tomb in a little bit and catch the susnset there. The ladies I ate with last night insisted that I must go there as it's quite the photogenic place. We'll see.
Tomorrow I will complete the Vietnamese travel trifecta by flying to Hanoi (buses and trains were the other two). I'll be there for three nights (yes, I double checked the reservation confirmation, by the way) before (expired visa willing) I'll head over to China.
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