Hue

Not much news... I'm in Hue, the old Imperial City, but I hardly can do anything, because first it was grey and cloudy and now it's raining for more than a day...
Fortunately I again found a nice guesthouse in a small alleyway. It's only a few meters from the main street, but these alleyways are a world apart. I like to sit on the veranda in the first floor, overlooking the neighbourhood: groups of men chatting the day away, four young girls playing football, women strolling around with their babies, another kid playing with a bunch of little cats, street vendors passing through, and a steady coming and going of people on bicycles and scooters... it's as interesting, or even more, than running around from one pagoda to the next, from one royal tomb to another... when it's raining too hard, the alleyway is virtually empty, but the heavy drumming of the rain on tin roofs, trees and the asphalt creates its own atmosphere and nothing else can be heard...

Still it gets boring after a while, after too many hours of reading and watching, and then I'm glad about the fact, that in Vietnam even rooms in cheap guesthouses are equipped with a TV and that European football is available around the clock... this evening it'll be Arsenal vs. Chelsea... outside it's dark and wet and I'll lay on my bed with a bottle of beer and hope that Arsenal is going to win... welcome to Vietnam...