1-4-11: Hue

Today was just an extension of yesterday since we slept on the bus, or
didn't really sleep on the bus. We were dropped off at 9 or so by the
Google Hotel. The original plan was to find a bus to Bach Ma National
Park straight away so we didn't waste any time in the city. However,
when we rolled into Hue, we were confronted with the reality of Hue
being the wettest city in Vietnam. The sky was greyed out and a misty
rain was falling, with plenty of water already deposited on the
streets and making vast puddles. Visibility in the mountains would be
zero and the leeches would be out in force. One of us is scared of
leeches. We shift gears and start looking for a place to sit down and
get our bearings. Both cyclo drivers and hotel touts are aggressive
here, making just walking down the street a chore. We found Minh and
Coco's Mini-Restaurant from the guidebook and ordered
some...breakfast? Robert got pho ga and I got a strange concoction of
glass noodles and white root vegetable. Mine was less than tasty, but
I was thankful for a place to sit down and a toilet to squat over.

Navigator Ned got us to a hotel, an "inn" rather, Hung Vuong Inn to be
exact. The decor in the downstairs restaurant was pleasing and
something about the lime green walls of the room appealed to us -
we'll take it. $10/night, balcony and windows overlooking the street,
a/c, cursed tv and...wi-fi!! The only thing it doesn't have is
consistent hot water. Who would have thunk it?? A nice, new,
well-maintained building without good hot water? Of course we didn't
figure this out until much later. I hung out in the room, writing,
while Robert discovered the post office and mailed some post cards.
Robert was the first to discover the lacking of hot water. We found
the circuit breaker switch by the lights and flipped it, but it
tripped after about two minutes and only heated the water enough to
take the chill off slightly. It was an unpleasant shower, the other of
us manning the circuit to keep it flipped. It seems like our lodging
is usually similar to finding a comfortable position on a sleeping
bus: ahh, this feels great....except- I cant feel my toes. There is
always one thing wrong with our lodging, but this place has excellent
wi-fi and that goes a long way in my book.

Then it started raining. A lot. It rained all afternoon, keeping us
in, venturing only so far as the hotel restaurant downstairs. We did
enjoy the local beer, Huda, which costs only fifty cents for a 450mL
bottle. We also enjoyed the vegetarian pizza. The seasonings were a
little strange, but the crust and cheese were spot on. After a feeding
we retreated to our room to watch the deluge from the safety of our
porch. We didn't get out of the hotel until dark.

We wanted food and we were headed towards a group of three
restaurants, each run by members of the same extended family, many of
whom are deaf. One of the places is run by a man named Trung. His
claim to fame is simple, but ingenious: a bottle opener made from a
scrap of wood and a bolt. Opening a beer requires only one quick
karate chop motion.
He keeps plenty of raw materials on hand and fashions one for any and
all who order a beer from him. Robert coveted his opener so much that
he immediately stashed it in the bag, refusing to leave it lying
exposed on the table during dinner. The food was fine, but the people
and atmosphere was better. Talking to Trung with hand gestures and big
smiles was a treat, not to mention chatting with all the other
extremely friendly members of his clan. Robert was especially drawn to
the four-legged puppy friend who was shamelessly begging and scurrying
underfoot. Warm goodbyes, despite the fairly hard sell of a motorbike
tour after dinner (complete with photo books and notes left by happy
customers).

It was an uneventful lazy recovery day after our restless night on a
sleeper bus. Until...

Ding-dong! Rap-rap-rap! Door opening?!?!!?!! Who is at our door in the
middle of the night? I throw on a towel and answer the door they had
just opened uninvited. (we had left the key on the outside of the
door, so i suppose it was partly our fault) My heart is pounding,
WTF?? There is a hotel staff member and three police officers, making
my heart beat more. They wanted to check our passports, which I fetch
for them in a daze - having to look under many piles of shed clothing
before locating our money belts. I hand them over, still confused
beyond belief. The cop is smiling and friendly, but I am still freaks.
I think he was trying to make small talk by telling me his name and
asking mine and that lump in the bed's too, but I felt interrogated.
We were assured we could get our passports back in the morning. It was
hard to go back to sleep and Robert even went downstairs to check up
on what was going on, but he couldn't glean any information. Lights
off and trying to sleep. As soon as we managed that, more knocking!!!
Uggg. Who is it now?? Just a man returning our passports, thanks, but
now we were woken up twice in the middle of the night. Our night in
the hotel wasn't much better than the sleeper bus! (no problems with
the passports, police apparently just come around to check on
passports in the middle of the freaking night?? No explanations were
even given or attempted.)

Ring bell for trash