Non Non Non La

This picture, taken on Nguyen Hue on Lunar New Year's Day is interesting for a number of reasons. Firstly, and most benignly, it shows how a perfectly ordinary roundabout has been extended to produced a giant planting area. But secondly it shows one of my pet hates, a tourist in a little non la!!!!

You might want to click on the picture which will take you to Flickr, there you can select the largest size available so you too can share my ire.

See what she's done? Removed a perfectly sensible stetson style hat to pose for her picture in a "local" hat. If you look very carefully you can see another Wally in the background also wearing one.

Why does it annoy me? I'm not entirely sure but every time I see it I grit my teeth. It might have something to do with the self imposed rule of never wearing anything on holiday that I wouldn't wear at home. Why should I impose these rules on other people and who am I to say that this lovely lady won't happily walk down the streets of her home town on a sunny day wearing a tourist version of a non la? Who knows but to preserve my molars, if you visit, please don't wear one.

I leave you with a previously posted image to further dissuade. Enjoy.

Hue Hey

Hue, pronounced something like "whey", was an interesting place for a couple of days stop off. It's got a much slower pace of life than Ho Chi Minh.



And a Citadel to see.



It was the hottest place I've been in Vietnam, some tourists took great pains to protect themselves from the sun.



While others tried hard to blend in:



...and if we go down here I think we can each get an Ao Dai too.


There were some interesting sights and the river was particularly picturesque. The local cuisine was excellent but we had some of the most awful faux-French food and an especially bland curry. I suppose it serves us right for not eating local.