Hue, Vietnam--Imperial City and Food more Food

Spoiler alert: one of us did not really like Hue! I have been before, and had a good experience, so perhaps that affected my perception of a very touristy place. Hoi An is also very tourism-driven, but we made wise choices to stay out of the Old Town there, so the annoyances were minimized. In Hue we stayed the first two nights in the usual Western tourist area. One highlight was having a drink at some outdoor bar, where five or six older American guys on motorcycles arrived and starting pounding back the Huda beers and talking about bad stock purchases and their bike trip up the coast from Saigon. Eavesdropping on that conversation was hilarious, though I did not get any good stock market advice. 

 Upon arriving in Hue, we took off on foot for the Citadel, a city-within-a-city-within-a-city. It was kinda warm out, so we found an outdoor cafe with a stunning setting right on the moat. Avocado smoothies were had. Chickens mating at the cafe were watched.

 First night's dinner at The Hanh, a place we found on trip advisor that turned out to be just what we needed. Hue is famous for "imperial dishes" that usually aren't found outside of Hue, and this restaurant was cranking them out fast and furious. Above: Banh Beo, steamed rice cakes in little saucers, with shrimp and a small tasty pork skin bit on top. You spoon the fish sauce on top and slide the dumpling out of the saucer to eat it. Tables were littered with piles and piles of these empty saucers.

Nem Lui!!!! A favorite. We had had something *similar* in Tuy Hoa, so we knew how to make these into rolls using the rice paper provided. Grilled pork on lemongrass, greens, fishy peanut dipping sauce. 

Nem ran and banh xeo. Banh xeo are smaller and crispier here in Hue. This was a great meal. 

The next day we visited the inside of the old Imperial City. 

Hue was heavily bombed during the American War (as it is referred to here), and the historic Citadel area was basically obliterated. A lot of it looks like this, but there are some surviving buildings, and others are getting serious restoration work done, like below. Restoration or re-creation, it was a little difficult to tell. 

I want these blinds. 

Outside the walls. Trip to Imperial City done. Feet tired. But we had a serious food plan for the evening, involving our bicycles and a place mentioned on a couple of food blogs, but not listed on google maps so hopefully it will be a top level secret hahahahahahaaaaaa....