We got to Hue around 8am, and it was a pleasant surprise to be dropped off right outside our hostel - no fighting with taxi drivers this time! However it seems there is always a downside, and this time our room wasn't ready! Oh dear! It was no problem though, we hung around downstairs, bumping into Emily from the ENP again so made plans to meet up in Hoi An for Nina's birthday.

After we had settled into the dorm we were pretty knackered so went for a wander to find our bearings. Imagine my joy when we found a real life SUPERMARKET! I was probably a little too excited to be honest, but not having to haggle for the price of your shopping was a nice change. We booked onto a tour of Hue for Christmas Eve - no boozy Haworth night for us!

The next day dawned nice and wet, just like being at home. On the positive side I finally got to wear my new raincoat courtesy of Grandma, and a fine job it did too! Thanks Grandma! It was an early start, 7.30 to get on the coach, but worth it as we saw a lot of interesting things. Our guide was called Thaen, who was pretty much a legend and even treated us to a rendition of some traditional Vietnamese songs, as well as Unchained Melody and some Bryan Adams for the Canadians on the trip! Hilarious. We think he was a karaoke fan. Despite this he was a brilliant guide and very informative - we definitely got a lot more out of the day than if we'd have gone alone.

We first went to the tomb of Minh Mang, the 2nd Emperor of the Nguyen Dynasty of Vietnam. Now his tomb was really impressive - it had a forbidden garden through the back, and apparently when seen from above it is meant to resemble the shape of a human body. By all accounts this Emperor was pretty much a genius and designed all the architecture for his own tomb, as well as having about 100 children and 200 wives and concubines. Must have been a busy guy! It was slightly weird to find out that his mother helped pick the wives and concubines though... in all honesty though the worst part of the tomb was the little kids sent out by their parents to try and sell us bananas - child labour is still going strong out here evidently.

After that we visited the Khai Dinh tomb, which was a lot smaller but no less impressive. Inside was decorated with the most astounding mosaics, in stark contrast to the outside buildings which are all black. There is also iconography of all the main religions hiding amongst the decoration - very clever.

From there we went to watch some Kinh Van An martial arts, where I finally got to see a man break a pile of tiles with his head. There was lots of heavy breathing though to prepare, which was very odd and slightly offputting. Alongside this there was a man impaling himself on a blunt spear then having a concrete block broken with a sledgehammer on his back. Some of these Vietnamese are actually insane.

Then there was a quick hop to watch some incense sticks being made, and fighting off people trying to sell things, before long awaited dinner time. In the afternoon we went to the Citadel in the town centre. This was where the Royal family lived, all with their own separate palaces. Luxurious. Or at least it would be if it all hadn't been bombed in the war and they are in the process of rebuilding large parts of it. Apparently the original architectural blueprints are in the Louvre so they are rebuilding it exactly how it was. From there we went to the Thien Mu Pagoda, a working Buddhist Temple, but as temples are where people go to worship Royalty, they have to be called Pagodas. All very confusing. This Pagoda is a very important one and I've seen it on some of the banknotes. Whilst we were there we also gave the 'Lucky Turtle' statue a pat on the head for luck. I feel like I should perhaps buy a lottery ticket....

We had a dragon boat ride down the 'Perfume River' to finish, although with the miserable weather there wasn't much to see, so I had a quick nap! All in all it was a brilliant day, albeit rainy, cold and exhausting.

Christmas Day dawned much like the others, wet and cool, however with the promise of a real Christmas dinner and free flowing drinks we weren't that bothered. We met a few nice people at the big table they had set up downstairs, Herbert, an old German guy was looked like Santa with his big grey beard and was cycling down Vietnam (crazy!), Ronald, a Dutch guy whose laptop I managed to steal for some Christmas day Skypes :-), Ferry, another Dutch guy who was sat next to Nina, and Ariel from Taiwan, and Kim, who I think is Dutch too. There are a lot of Dutch people on this trip! All in all it was a lovely day, everyone was in high spirits, I got to chat to people at home, and we went for a dance in the club later on. Totally different to any Christmases I have at home, apart from the weather, but definitely a once in a lifetime experience!

Boxing Day was quiet as Nina had the hangover from hell and we had a bus to Hoi An at 1.30pm. This one at least was only four hours...but more about Hoi An in my next post.

Becca xxx