Hue

We entered Hue on our last legs, after not more then a few salvos of microsleep in the local night bus. The weather consorted with our general mood and provided a constant light drizzle.
So we took it easy and did only some light sightseeing in Hue, the city on the Perfume River (a tremendous euphemism). We spent the most of the time squeezing ourselves through the vibrant market, catching up on our neglected contact to the people at home and checking out the rather mediocre nightlife of Hue. All the while we were consoling ourselves for the bad weather with pastries - whose tastiness is probably one of the last marks left by the former french colonization.

After getting back into Zen mode, we felt ready for the top dog of Hues sightseeing attractions: the Royal Palace. We've read the glorifying homage in our tourist guide and noticed that people were coming from faraway places just to see the Royal Garden and the infamous Forbidden city, so we were really anxious what this place would have in stock for us. But what really lifted our expectations was the opulent entry fee.
Four back-breaking hours later we called our tour off. The forbidden garden was a heap of overgrown stones, some historical temples seemed as if they had been built in the 90ies, there actually was a tennis court right in the very center of the ancient palace, and Stevie was grumpy because he didn't get to see his promised elephants.
At least you could have your picture taken with a royal entourage for 100.000 Dong...

We fled to Hoi An the next morning.

Get bored at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/stephan_mittas/sets/72157611948014613/