Oh man what a day. First of all, I sweated my balls off today. And that’s saying something.

Breakfast at the hostel was great. Not free, but as always the portion size was perfect. Eggs, toast, fruit, and coffee. 

I had a nice chat with a hostel employee about her dream of becoming a teacher. She wants to teach English, literature not the language. In California. That’s a big dream.

I wandered down to the waterfront on the way to pre-buy my next train ticket. Lots of sculpture in the park. 

Some old guy asked me to buy him a coffee lol so I did. We talked for a while. He said that because he was in the army in the war his kids had a hard time getting jobs. He had some negative comments about the Communist Party. That really surprised me. I’m guessing that he wasn’t a north Vietnamese soldier or a party member, ever.

Food and coffee are cheaper here than in Hanoi, if that’s possible. A coffee is only 10,000 dong, not 20 or more.

The Citadel neighborhood surrounds The Hue Imperial Palace. I spent a few hours there. We bombed the hell out of that place in the late 60’s and they are still rebuilding. It’ll take a while; we did a thorough job of it.

Lunch was the local specialty Bun Bo Hue. Pretty good!

Next was a short walk to an art gallery. Not really a gallery, bc nothing was for sale. But interesting still. No pics of the art of course.

More riverfront walking until the boat-trip sellers chased me away. I found a thoroughly disreputable street and strolled for a while. This little stand in an interesting alley was selling battered deep-fried banana slices.  For 2000 dong I was served this magical treat on an old calendar page as a napkin. Fantastic! Just a little later I found bubble tea, but not just bubble tea. Popping Tea. I can’t describe it.

Ok I’ll try.

Milk tea with ice, white tapioca balls, a shot of espresso, 8 different kinds of jellies, some chunks of soft stuff that taste kinda like strawberry&vanilla&banana&chocolate…it was nothing more or less than a banana split flavored iced bubble tea espresso shake.

UNBELIEVABLE for only one buck.

So at this point I’m full of snacks, and it’s awesome.

On the way back, I finally see what passes for the Walmart and buy toothpaste and a dragonfruit, and conditioner for my rat’s nest, and by that I mean hair. Why are other countries mega-marts so cool?

I return to find clean clothes and the dragonfruit makes a tasty dinner.

Life is good.

Here’s todays pictures 

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