The ancient city of Hue

Arriving in Hue with only one night to check out the city and no hotel booked I decided to ignore the persistent offerings of a room for $7 and try my luck at one of the recommended hotels from the ‘Lonely Planet’ - The Bin Minh Hotel (**) was only a short walk from the drop off point of the bus transit station and so after just 10 mins walk with all kit I arrived at their reception with a retinue of ‘helpful’ chaps adamant that they would not have a room and that their rooms were cheaper!! I stated clearly that I was not interested in price just quality and they only gave up when the hotel manager stated that it was low season and that I had the pick of rooms - so for $20 I received a large clean room with hot water, air con, breakfast and a satellite TV :) The staff were incredibly helpful and the Indian restaurant ‘Omar’s’ next door served up a hot curry reminiscent of an Indian meal from Calcutta but with heat ;)
I decided to walk around Hue for the afternoon and see the sites - all easily walkable if you are reasonably fit and able to ignore the persistent touts and calls of “hey you - where you go?” or “Where you from?”…
On reaching the old city there is a marvellous rampart topped with a HUGE Vietnamese flag, which today was moving gracefully in the wind. There is no easy way into the old city - so you must brave the traffic on the bridge and walk over, there is no footpath!! Once inside it is a maze of streets once again with only footpaths around the central area, go beyond this around the citadel and be prepared to walk alongside the roads… It is quite an experience but you see life on a normal day (I did not see another western tourist on my walk in the old city). There are locals going to street vendors, street sweepers clearing the gutters, children leaving school and entering the ever present ‘online gaming rooms’!! tucked discreetly away down side streets…
The Central palace is worth a visit (55,000d entry / £2ish) but be prepared for most of the forbidden city to be under renovation - some of it was being repainted, some rebuilt and others decorated. It was difficult to take a photo without at least some work being done… The Palace building at the centre has the throne room and audience hall with a DVD giving an insight into its history and a scale model of the whole area under glass - no photos allowed however in this area… So all in all you can do Hue in a day.
Walking back to the hotel i saw young boys crossing the bridge to the new city - this is not unusual you may think, but they were walking over the iron spans of the bridge supports!! Take a close look at the photo... Also at the northern end of the bridge was a pill box, interesting for its historical significance.