One walk around the block I was offered every vice imaginable I walked over the bridge to the Citadel and finally gave into one of the dozens of cyclo tour guides hounding me. He took me to the sites and spoke pretty good English. I definately got to see things I wouldn't have. But he offered the ride at k dong, which seemed steep but I didn't want to haggle for a few dollars, yet at the end he said it was per hour!
I felt a bit cheated. Still in Hue and will see how tomorrow goes. I am keeping an open mind but so far underwhelmed with Hue, and tired of everyone and their dog yelling "HEY" at me to take their tours or buy some tourist crap from them. A sheltered life indeed. This is my second trip to Asia having spent a month in Thailand a few years back. Ive done my share of travels and grew up in Southern California. Interesting comparison to Tijuana because Hue is like a big zona-rosa minus the donkey shows with much more interesting archetecture.
The cyclo drivers here are a different breed to the average folk you will meet, they usually trawl the streets at night looking for tourists to rip off and they are about the only ones in town that do smoke pot. But as I said before, what they are selling is often not real where would be the scam in that. Best way to get rid of them is to start taking their photos - they usually take off really quick when you do.
As for the hookers, well if you have been to Thailand then Hue is uber-conservative by comparison. Went to the DMZ bar as it's near my hotel for a quick drink this after having some incredible pho from a stand kitty-corner to the Hot Tuna restaurant Why don't more people take advantage of the street food here? The people there seemed pleasantly surprised and offered me that hot chilli paste to go in there!
Anyway the DMZ bar was your typical tourist joint, but what made it interesting was a young Vietnamese college student who asked to sit down to practice English and ask me about "American cowboys" of all things. I wrote down Pale Rider and a Fistfull of Dollars for her to watch. Funny how travel really makes one see one's country through another's eyes sometimes.
