12/18-

12/18/2011
-Hue is pretty busy, and full of backpackers, found a really nice room with a big bed and a balcony for only $8.
-Secured my stuff in the room, and wandered to the citadel, besieged with offers for rides, but chose to walk, spend hours wandering around the citadel, which was the seat of vietnamese imperial power pre-revolution. lots of incredible buildings crumbling or bombed to dust, some restored, but mostly either, nothing but foundations, falling down or in process of restoration.spent hours wandering through there, off the beaten track, found some beautiful gardens, and a pretty sad looking one tusked elephant.
-From the Citadel to the nearby market, bought a button up shirt, and a bike lock to lock up my cabniet and sate my paranoia. spent less then $10 for both.
-had an unremarkable dinner, and hung out at one of the backpacker bars, hoping to meet up with a group of Canadians i had met on the way from Cat Ba. didn't see them, but wound up talking to three spaniards, two guys from Barcelona, and a girl from Colombia, who i had shared the sleeper bus to Hue with. Got into a conversation about science fiction which somehow led to American politics with an interesting dude from Minnasota, who was at the bar drinking because his kids were sick.
12/19/2011
-woken up early by the motorcycle driver i had arranged the previous day to see the outlying sights in Hue, had breakfast and rode out to an american bunker nearby overlooking the river. 

-From there we rode to see the emperor's tomb, another expansive area of crumbling remarkable buildings, just outside of Hue.

-From there to a pretty awesome Pagoda, lots of monks wandering around, most notably they had the original car that the self-immolating monk had ridden in before setting himself on fire.

-wandering to the back of the pagoda, through the perfectly placed pines,  i discovered the hills behind the pagoda were covered with the largest graveyard i've seen yet, the countryside is dotted with small graveyards full of incredible tombs, but this was by far the most expansive.

-the whole motorcycle trip, i kept asking the driver "how much? how much?" he kept insisting, "you pay whatever you want when we're done"  when he dropped me back at the hotel, i asked again how much and he demanded $25 dollars, way too much for a few hour tour, i tried to give him less, and he refused, not knowing what else to do i had him take me to the ATM so i could pay him. thats the last time i take a ride without having a set price first.
-angry at having been ripped off, i needed to decompress, so i spent some time in my really nice room, reading and listening to Cobham's Spectrum.
-that brought me back to a happy state of being, so i went out to find lunch, had the local specialty which is roll yr own spring rolls, which were pretty good.
-while i was eating i ran into the canadians, and we decided to meet at Bar Why Not for a drink.
-booked a bus to Hoi An the next day for $4
-met them at the bar later and they taught me to play 500, which is a great card game, played and talked shit til late in the night, had a great time.