The entrance to our hotel in Hue. Elegant, no?
Hue, Vietnam; what to say, what to say? Well, it’s a cool city to walk around, interesting food as chronicled in Carrie’s Hue post, and it has the Forbidden City. Oh, and our hotel, Binh Duong II, was very nice and at around $15/night it was very very nice. To get here from Hanoi take the overnight train. A very fun experience. Again, see Carrie’s blog post on
Our room in Hue. Nice! And with a great view.
Hue. OK, that’s it. That’s all I got for Hue, so I’m going to use my opportunity to simply post pictures of Hue that I like and talk about an issue near and dear to my heart: Planetary Homogeneity. The pictures are below if you don’t want to read my rant, but I think it will give you some food for thought, especially if you plan to travel internationally ‘someday’.
Carrie and I have had the good fortune to be able to travel extensively over our 25 years of marriage, many of those places off the beaten path. Why you ask? To experience something different than to what we are accustomed. Well, that aspect of travel is becoming more and more difficult to find as economies become global.
McDonald’s in Chiang Mai, Thailand.
As an example, I just saw an article that McDonald’s plans to build 3500 new restaurants in Asia. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m a capitalist through and through and believe in the free enterprise system, but as all this globalization evolves, something is lost. The local street markets become unnecessary as large supermarket chains move in. Mom and Pop restaurants and hotels disappear as the Marriotts, Hiltons move in. You get the picture.
7-eleven in the middle of the evening market. 7-elevens were on almost every corner.
And this isn’t new. When we traveled through Central America in 2005, KFC, Pizza Hut, Burger King, and McDonald’s were everywhere in the large cities. As I write this we’re in Chiang Mai, Thailand and it’s easy to find any of the above chains. Hell, we found a place called Burritos that specialized in Alabama pulled pork barbecue. The large sign out front said that it was established in 1843. Where? Sure as hell not in Chiang Mai. I have proof: see featured photo (top).
Anyhow, I could go on and on, but as I’ve said a
Ahh yes, nothing says Thailand than the Coffee Club at Burger King.
thousand times, if you have any interest in seeing this beautiful planet for its diversity go now. Go before everywhere is completely Californiated. Now for the fun photos:
The entry to the Forbidden City. Why do they have an entry if it’s forbidden to enter?
Some buildings in the Forbidden City. Very Old, I guess.
A pagoda in the Forbidden City.
And now for the monuments in Hue.
Ho Chi Minh’s High School we were told. They wouldn’t let us enter the grounds. Always did have trouble getting into the good schools.
The Thinker? In the park in Hue.
Another sculpture in a park in Hue, artistically processed by yours truly. : >)
Elegant stylish dresses with traditional Chapeau. Mix and match at its best.
Just because I like Bikes. And you can ride it if you like. A Syd Barret reference for you very old Pink Floyd fans.
No SE Asia Blog would be complete without a picture of scooter traffic. Yes, it exists in Hue.
HIKE DRINK LOVE LAUGH –>NOW!
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Good rant! Great pics! Need to see more of you and carrie in some of the pics. There’s this crazy fad the kids are doing, it’s called a “selfie” ever hear of it?!
Thanks. I need to get cranky once in awhile. Selfie? I’ll have to google it. Good tip!
Decadent abstract art AND Chinese lions? Who needs weed when you’re on this trip.