Hue Boat Cruise

Went on another boat trip today - a visit to the THien Mu Pagoda and a couple of very impressive (read completely ostentatious) tombs; classic example of Vietnamese touring scam - lunch supposedly included then we get on the boat and are given menus with the most iinflattd prices i've seen since i've been here - 5 star hotel prices -I told the girl that I thought lunch was included ... Beans are included I was told. They better be magic beans I thought to myself. Also quite a few of the tombs were only accessible by motorbike, and the prices varied quite substnaitally for those (unless one decided to walk in which case it was onlyabout 10m). I was also subjected to one of the classic Lonely Planet scams again - not a big one, but one that rated a mention in the book anyway. The 5ooo and 2oooo notes ar the same colour and if you pay for something that requires 2 x 20s you're given a 5 and a 20. Basically a ripoff off a little over 1 australian dollar. I caught her, however, and was given a very loud apology plus a very sly glare.
Rather dull crowd this time - two lively italians made it slightly more interesting (you could tell they were italians by their stylish gear and excessive hand movements).
The Minh Mang tomb was incredible - about half a kilometre long and dozens of temples. The actual resting place was locked off but was a heavily jungled circle about 100 metres in diameter - completet waste of money if you ask me but it's history innit?
It was very amusing to see the various sacrifies being left for the gods at the temples - often it was incense or fruit, but brandy was left at one, an open can of beer at another, a packet of butter biscuits and my personal favourite was a packet of cigarettes (i was waiting for a disrespectful tourist to cadge a fag off the gods but alas it was not to be).
On my return I went bak via the Sagon Hotel where I stood around lookingvery suspicious for 45mby hijacking their wifi signal checking my email, getting the news and talking to M&D. Also found a sammich stand (i think it may have been one I went to yesterday) that did a very spicy roll with a lot of things i've never seen before - it comes in a couple of pieces of paper which appear to be from her child's maths or economics homework (very bizarre wrapping protocols in Asia, some places give you three plastic bags per item and others save microcents by giving it to you in their children;s homework) certainly not a bigass sammich in scale or taste but very delicious nonetheless. I've also started to get a taste for the vietnamese coffee, they have these tiny little one glass drip filters which are filled up and let to percolat tover a thicklayer of condensed milk - the milk is so thick that it doesn't mix at all until you use the spoon. It's very sweet but it's excellent - I don't really have the room for souveneirs at all but I think I might need to make an exception for these.