Cannot Convert Int to String - MVC Dropdownlist Nightmare

So I struggled with this simple code for binding a dropdownlist


IEnumerable items = db.SiteMenus
              .Select(c => new SelectListItem { Value = c.MenuID, Text = c.MenuName              });                
ViewBag.SiteMenuItems = items;            
 return View();             
 .Select(c => new SelectListItem  { 
           Value = c.MenuID,                  
            Text = c.MenuName              });
             ViewBag.SiteMenuItems = items;
return View();
            list.Add(new SelectListItem { Text = "-Select Category-", Value = "0" });
            var cat = (from c in db.SiteMenus select c).ToArray();
            for (int i = 0; i < cat.Length; i++)
            {
                list.Add(new SelectListItem
                {
                    Text = cat[i].MenuName,
                    Value = cat[i].MenuID.ToString(),
               
                });
            }
            ViewBag.SiteMenuItems = list;

            List list = new List();
            list.Add(new SelectListItem { Text = "-Select Category-", Value = "0" });
            var cat = (from c in db.SiteMenus select c).ToArray();
            for (int i = 0; i < cat.Length; i++)
            {
                list.Add(new SelectListItem
                {
                    Text = cat[i].MenuName,
                    Value = cat[i].MenuID.ToString(),
               
                });
            }
            ViewBag.SiteMenuItems = list;
return View();

I had an issue with the Value of the c.MenuID which is a datatype INT and consistently got the error cannot convert int to string. (of course I tried Convert.ToString - to no avail!
Eventually I figured this out - Reference IEnumerable directly in your list 

And Voila - it displayed.

My Razor looks like this:

   @Html.DropDownList("MenuID",  (IEnumerable)  ViewBag.SiteMenuItems,new { MenuID = "MenuID" })