4 dollar day cruises are for idiots

Hue is going swimmingly.

Our first day here we sorted out bus tickets and went to the Citadel. It was hot hot hot!
Before Citadel we went to a restaurant that bosts outside on a sign that the Lonely Planet called it "awesome". We figured even if it wasn't true that saying the Lonely Planet reccomended it as a marketing tool was a pretty good strategy.
I had some kind of rice paper covered veggies and meat with peanut sauce. It was really good!
The rest of the afternoon was spent lounging around in our air conditioned room. We went for a late dinner of Indian food. Best meal we've had in Vietnam so far! (The food here is nothing special. The portions are small and it seems like it's trying to be Chinese food, but is way off the mark!)
We had a great time there with Dana and Kris. We were passing a bar on our way down to Vietnams 1000 year birthday festival (boy did we get here at the right time!) and we ran into who else but the karaoke loving british girls from HaLong Bay! We visited with them for a few minutes, but we were going to be late for the festivities!
Down by the perfume river was PACKED with locals. We didn't know what we were waiting for and then suddenly fireworks started! It was a lot of fun because everyone was screaming like it was the first time they'd ever seen fireworks and that made it awesome!
Kris was getting grumpy (because of the heat? because of the crowds?) and he left to go to the washroom.
While he was gone, Vietnamese people were practically LINING UP to get their picture taken with us!! It was absolutely hilarious. Men, women, whole families, little boys, little girls, we had every portrait combo imaginable and they were clapping and cheering. We were celebraties!
Stu got a couple of pictures of all the fun which I would post on here but it keeps not working...
We were really tired after and were thinking of going out, but after our 12 hr bus ride and a full day, decided to just call 'er a night.

Yesterday was a joke and a half.
We went on this $4 boat cruise of the Song Huong River... this $4 boat cruise included lunch, an enligh guide, and EIGHT hours of 'fun'... (and by we, I mean stu, dana, kris, and I)
The fun wore off as soon as we got on the boat in the sweltering heat with about 60 other people, sitting in rows on plastic chairs... and they claimed the electricity was off... so no fans either... and nooo wind.
We talked to the tour guide for a while which was interesting and learned a lot about Vietnam's history. (wow, did I know nothing, or what?!)
At about 2:30 in the afternoon, there was the option of calling the cruise quits and get in an air conditioned mini bus back to town. We were all over that.
We went to a bit of a loser restaurant and then partied with the British girls until Stu and I were exhausted, came home, and watched some HBO before dozing off into oblivion.