After having an enjoyable few days in Hoi An having our suits made and wandering amongst beautiful buildings, we were ready to move on taking a bus ride to Hue and then a sleeper train onto Hanoi. We waited patiently outside our hotel at 1pm nice and early for our 1.30pm departure. Dead on time the bus arrived and another couple that were waiting jumped on the bus whilst we were told to wait on presenting our ticket. Unsure as to why this was the case we decided to check with the hotel reception who then got on the phone to the bus. We were told not to worry the bus will come back for you. Ten minutes later one motorbike appeared saying he was there to take us to the bus. After both of us trying to climb on (yes rucksacks and all...) we were told one of us would have to wait for his "friend". Ash said I should go first so on I jumped and after weaving through traffic, 5 minutes later the bus was in sight. I was also relieved to see the Liverpool lads on the bus too. One of them Sean stayed with me outside the bus whilst I eagerly awaited Ash`s arrival. Next thing we know the bus drives off leaving me and Sean stood on the pavement. With no Ash and no rucksack (this had been put on the bus ready) I was starting to panic! With everything organised our plans were quickly falling apart and the word refund doesn't exist in Vietnam. Luckily some guy reassured us that the bus would be back and got on his mobile. The bus appeared, as did Ash finally and so all OK in the end. Another eventful bus ride in Vietnam!

Luckily we had booked into the same hotel as the Liverpool lads and so enjoyed a nice evening of card games, drinks and good food. I even ate the waitresses recommendation of frog! The next day we visited the citadel in Hue city which is on the northern side of the perfume river and was an enjoyable day out.

Early evening we grabbed some food and made our way to the train station ready to catch our sleeper train to Hanoi. Although the train wasn't much faster and double the price we couldn't face another sleeper bus and wanted to experience the adventure of a Vietnamese train! Although not as comfy as the Thailand sleeper trains, we were happy enough in our 4 berth cabin shared with 2 locals. I managed to sleep quite a bit although Ash struggled. As we pulled into Hanoi around 5am, Vietnamese music came through the loudspeaker, obviously an alternative to the conventional alarm clock. Hello Hanoi!