The flight to Hue from Hanoi left at 6:30 a.m. and only took 55 minutes.  Any military buffs or ex-GIs should recognize the name of Phu Bai Airport in Hue.  Phu Bai is one of those airfields where you unload out on the tarmac just like in the old movies. We caught a taxi into Hue (about nine miles) for Five Bucks. Of course the hotel here is part of the hotel group that we stayed at in Hanoi.  And of course they too are into everything, restaurant, travel agent, and just about anything else you can think of.  The got us a ticket for Savannakhet, Laos - it leaves at 6:00 a.m. on Wednesday. We will leave a couple bags at this hotel and pick them back up in a few days when we get out of Laos again.  From Laos we will move on to Da Nang (of Vietnam war fame) and go to Hoi An (of current day fabric fame).   

We found a couple good cafes here in Hue.  A third cafe forgot to bring our food. When Heide told them, "to forget it and we want to go," the cook started to look under the grill for the food.  We were not mad, it is just one more surrealistic experience here.  Two out of three good cafes we should call a good day and call it a keeper. 

It is very hot here and the timbre of the area in Hue reminds me a bit of Saigon.  We visited the old Citadel.  Americans may remember it from the Tet Offensive of 1968 during the American Vietnam War.  Or, others may remember it from the battle scenes in Full Metal Jacket.  Anyway, they charge a couple Bucks to get in but the old wall hides the fact there is not much left in there.  What the French did not destroy in their Vietnam War, the Viet Cong destroyed in 1968.  If any thing was left we Americans destroyed the rest kicking out the Viet Cong.  So for almost 40 years it is the attraction of "what-used-to-be-here."

There is a bar up the street called the DMZ (Demilitarized Zone - the infamous division between old North and South Vietnam until 1975).  The run tours up to the old DMZ.  The Vietnamese are getting just a bit more mileage out of the War.  But, I don't think any Europeans or Vietnamese under 30 years old even know what DMZ means or why it is significant.