United States - Never Heard of It

Our bus from Hoi An to Hue was a nice large bus with good air conditioning, and not too crowded. We made a stop at the Marble Mountain in the Hoi An area and another random stop because we were ahead of schedule (there's no sense in actually getting somewhere early).

Although we coincidentally timed our visit to Hue during their big Hue Festival, we did not partake in any of the festival events (it wasn't clear to us what events were actually happening). Known for its conical hats, I had wanted to buy one - the conical hat is still in every day use for locals. We headed to one of the local markets via cyclos (a driver on a bike with a seat in front)- it's a maze of sellers of all sorts of stuff, from produce to general merchandise to souvenirs. An English speaking woman approached us and asked us what we were looking for - as we didn't have the patience to wander aimlessly, we expressed our need and she led us to a cousin's store. Engaging in conversation she complimented me - saying I have a "very nice shape," which Jeremy found amusing. I purchased two conical shadow hats - they show every day shadow images on the inside of the hat when held to the light.

Taking it easy for the remainder of the day, we signed up for a city tour for the following day. We saw:

• Citadel - seat of the former imperial government
• Tu Duc Tomb
• Minh Mang Tomb - overrated - very similar to Tu Duc, but Lonely Planet said it was the most magnificent
• Khai Dinh Tomb - really magnificent, but unfortunately no pictures are allowed inside
• Thien Mu Pagoda - supposed to be beautiful, but it is undergoing construction, and from the looks of it, it's more rebuilding instead of renovation which is unfortunate
• Tu Hieu Pagoda - very beautiful and serene. When we visited, the monks were praying.
• Conical hat and incense making stalls

We also had lunch at a Pagoda. While set up for tourists, Jeremy and I really enjoyed the lunch. It was probably the first really tasty meal we've had in Vietnam. They also had the squatting toilets with water used to manually flush - we've taken to carrying around our own roll of TP. We also had a dragon boat ride on the Perfume River - not worthwhile, especially since we were ready to crash and just wanted to get back to the hotel to rest.

Apart from us, there was one other American (rare, as we run into more Europeans than anyone else), two Chinese, and three Vietnamese. One of the Vietnamese women asked Jeremy where we were from. Saying U.S., the woman stared back at him with a blank look. Trying different words, like United States or America, the woman still did not seem to register the country. Jeremy even tried explaining Canada (which she seemed to understand) and that our country was below Canada - but nothing. We found this amusing, especially since the US$ is a secondary currency here, oh, and a little war that we were involved in a few decades back.

That night we headed to Little Italy, an Italian restaurant recommended by the LP. It used to be just down our street, but had moved because a hotel is being built there. I found this entertaining, but there is a sign saying Little Italy has temporarily moved, and they have a guy sitting out there, ready to show you where the new location is - I absolutely loved this. He sits out there every night, just waiting for people to walk by. So he took us to the new location, which was only one block away. We had pizza - while not the best, I was in heaven simply because it wasn't a noodle or rice dish.

Hue was not quite as touristy as Hoi An, and we seemed to better understand why it is a World Heritage Site. We left Hue this morning, and are now in Ha Noi, our last stop on our Vietnam travels.