After that bus journey we were shattered, by the time we got a bed we went straight to sleep.
Once awake showered and refreshed we went for a walk round. Within 200m we had been offered what felt like a million moto's and 2 million cyclo tours of one hour around the city (all of which we declined as we'd had enough excitement for one day!)
We found a small restaurant and sat down to eat. The man who worked here, Minh, was so nice and helpful that we found by the time we left we had booked a motorcycle tour with him the next day!
True to his word, Minh and his daughter picked us up at 1pm. He took us on a tour of the city and the surrounding area. Starting with the Tu Duc Nguyen tomb. A huge complex where the Emperor, his Mother and his Wife are buried. It has a huge lilly pond moat, a theatre and an entire complex to house his 100 or so concubines! It was a vast place spread out like a palace but the most bizarre thing was that he used to come here, to his tomb before he died to watch plays and socialise. On the way out I got my very own battle scar from 'Nam, by burning my leg on the moto exhaust ouch (sounds small but it really hurt and it went minging!)
After this we set off to American Hill. This was used by the Vietnamese as a look out post, there were two bunkers connected by an underground tunnel, where they could hide inside when the American planes flew over and tried to shoot them, you could still see the bullet holes. The view however was lovely, over the perfume river, it flows slowly (as opposed to the dirty mekong) so the waters were crystal clear and a really nice shade of blue green.
Next was a monestary where the monks live and pray. They were set in some nice grounds with a temple in the middle, where every day the monks chant the entire buddhist bible off by heart. The monks who were off duty wore dark brown robes and we went to talk to some, although they were being eaten by ants they were very friendly. One even had an ipod that he called his monk pod and it had no music just religious teachings on there. Minh also showed us the temple built to honor the Eunachs. As they had no families of their own they came to live out their remaining days here at the temple after they had finished service in the palace, and they are all buried here. The monks still pray to them even now.
Enroute to our next stop we stopped at an insence village. The girl showed us how they make it from sandalwood and cinnamon then the roll it onto the sticks, i had a go but it was awful! We brought some conical hats as well there, which are different from the normal ones they are called poem hats. This is because they put paper cut outs between the layers of pressed bamboo and when you hold it up to the light you can see the pictures inside. (they are very pretty but have since become a pain to carry around vietnam)
After this we went to the Thien Mu pagoda. This is one of Vietnams icons and is right on the banks of the perfume river. It was very similar to Chinese temples in design but none the less attractive, although there was one rather unusual exhibit. There is a car parked out back which was used by a monk in 1963 to drive to Saigon, where he publicly burned himself in portest to some of the presidents policies of discriminating against busshists. The presidents sister in law at the time said "a bbq party...let them all burn and we shall clap our hands!" no wonder she was called the dragon lady.
Our final stop was to a Japanese style bridge, built in the 18th Century and is still standing. The locals call the tree that it is made from the iron tree as it is so strong. It has an offering platform in the middle and seats along the sides, legend has it that a local woman who had a lot of money and no family to buy gifts for had it built for the villagers so that they would have somewhere to sit and relax.

En route home from the bridge our path was blocked by a herd of buffalo, not unusual and theres nothing to do but wait for them to shift. However this time the owner of the animals came over. Quite an elderley fellow with only one eye. He said hello to Si and asked if he was American? He told us to take photos of his buffalo and explained that he'd lost his eye fighting for the US against the Viet Cong in the war. As we left he shook our hands and Minh explained that local people still shun him as he fought alongside the US, one of the saddest things we've seen since we've been here.
On our return home we stopped for food and Minh introduced us to some local delicacies, the Hue pancake and the hot pot where you boil your own strips of beef at the table and roll it with veg in rice paper and it was really nice with the peanut sauce, if a little messy!
The following day we did the citadel which is the original city and has a huge flag tower and some nice decorative buildings. The emperors enclosure in the centre was all but destroyed in the war and many people may know it from a scene in the film Full Metal Jacket. There is one hall called the hall of dynastic urns. Surprisingly this contains 9 huge urns dedicated to the memories of the emperors of the Ngyen dynasty. They are all cast in bronze and have some very elaborate decorations.
Before we left Hue after all the hassle they had given us we felt we had to take at least one cyclo ride, and whilst not as scary as the moto ride when he goes the wrong way and does a U-turn into oncoming traffic its pretty nail biting. We went to see the local market before we left very same same but we brought some oranges for our journey (and we took a box of salad from a salad bar called missy roo's...feta cheese and olives never tasted so good!) and we boarded our first bus journey to Hanoi.