from hoi an to hue, without much to show for it

we have had our most beautiful day of weather and our worst day of weather (which still ain't too bad) back-to-back in hue. we took a bus 3 hours north of hoi an to arrive in hue, a town that i have been fixated on since reading about it a couple of months ago. when we piled off the tourist bus, we were accosted by hotel touts from every direction, offering us their rooms for $7/night with endless business cards and brochures to boot. it was pretty unnerving, since we had not yet experience of the feeding frenzy brought on by two lost looking souls with heavy bags on their backs. they were persistent, but after dozens of "we're going to look around on our own"s and "we're OK"s and "no thank you"s, they eventually left us to our own devices.

we trudged across town stopping at a few more upscale options along the way, but stuck it out for what sounded from the book to be the most promising, and that's where we ended up. it is conveniently right next to the citadel and imperial city, which we have yet to see but should be pretty cool. yesterday was a much needed do-nothing day. our hotel has a POOL -- i guess its two stars are well-earned -- so we flopped in the morning in the blazing sun and 90-degree temperatures, had some mediocre lunch (we were among the tourists flopping to the sub-par spots mentioned in the lonely planet/let's go guides... we are still trying to figure out how to get away from the guidebook recommendations without risking getting violently ill), and then flopped in the room with our books for the rest of the day. i was feeling a little under the weather and wishing i had brought the red-suit (i.e. my red flannel mrs. claus like garb that i put on the second i feel any sort of bug coming on) with me halfway around the world for comfort. i got a lot of sleep and am feeling a little perkier today. we head to hanoi by plane late tonight, so have the day to see a little more of the sights in hue. it appears to be a beautiful, relaxed (relatively speaking) city thus far, so we are looking forward to a little more time here.

we'll spend just a night in hanoi and then head to ha long bay, which we have both been eagerly anticipating. we are also looking forward to heading onto thailand with a little more time to spend than we originally planned. since we are thinking we will just be in chiang mai and then khao lak for our beach time at the end, we may travel between the two entirely by train to see a little more of the country that way. the convenience of flying in vietnam has been great, but i wouldn't mind kicking back and watching the country go by, particularly if the kicking back takes place in a mode of transport securely attached to rails with no trucks/mopeds/bicycles/oxen to contend with...