Hue

Going back a couple of days to our time in Hue. After walking around the Forbidden City in oppressive heat, we found a nice hotel lobby to grab a cold beer. After the cold deliciousness we set out again to find a little something to eat. We were walking past a school when some guy started talking to us, asking where we were from and all that. This is pretty typical, but mostly from motorbike drivers trying to get you to go somewhere or a peddler selling something. We started talking to him and found out he was a teacher there, had relatives in the US, and spoke fairly decent English. Since school had just let out, he was wondering if we wanted to sit down somewhere and have a beer with him and talk. We agreed on a point on the map to meet in 15.

We headed out not really knowing if we were being set up to be robbed, or what. They guy seemed legit, but you never really know. We met up with the guy and he took us into a little local restaurant, definitely no foreigners here. We sat and talked, drank beer, and got a bite to eat (I can see my mother cringing). Perhaps not the safest of places to be eating, but, neither of us got sick off it, so it worked out . They guy said he was either a helicopter pilot, or worked with helicopters out of Saigon during the Vietnam War. His father served in some capacity with the Navy, and was killed during the war. I wanted to find out more, but he did not elaborate much on this.

It was a nice taste of the local, that's for sure. Good food, good beer, nice to meet and talk with a local. He even paid for our dinner and beer, we said we would help, and he refused, but said that we could buy a bottle of wine for his wife, since it was her birthday that night and they were having a party. So, unfortunately only one of us could mount up on the scooter, and since I had more gear to attend to Brian opted to go. He strapped on his helmet like a good boy and off they went to a wine shop. The bottle of wine probably cost way more than the meal, but, such is life, it was worth the experience.


That would be the kitchen out front


The spread. I wanted a photo of the guy, but, there was something with his religion which he could not be photographed between 1-6pm, so, no photo for me.

In the evening we went to shoot photos of the bridge. They light it up with colors that change gradually, would have made a nice time lapse. For whatever reason they stopped right when we got there, and we waited around for over an hour to see if it was an on the hour thing, but, it wasn't. Had to settle with normal lights, here is what I shot.