Tuesday 13th November

Hi everyone, this should only be a short one as we have only spent 2 nights in Hue. The bus journey was pretty standard. We did get a pretty old bus, but considering we paid $4 for a 4 hour journey, we can't complain.

Our first impressions of Hue, weren't great. It just seems to be a town with a lack of atmosphere. Our reason for visiting was to see the Citadel and do the DMZ Tour (Demilitarized zone) which we heard were really good. As we didn't arrive until lunch, we grabbed some food and took a wonder around the town to get our bearings. It was already gone 3pm so we didn't want to pay to go into the Citadel as it shuts at 5pm, so we looked around for onward transport and the DMZ tour. One thing about Vietnam is they really don't like to barter, the most you can get off a tour or transport is $1, the only time they haggle is on the stalls. So we booked the tour for tomorrow and heading back to our hotel to freshen up. Dinner was a bit of a struggle, as unlike Hanoi, the streets aren't lined with hundreds of restaurants, so we did have to do a bit of exploring before we found one. After food we had an early night as we had to be up at 6am for the tour.

Wednesday 14th November

We were up so early, especially for travellers. It was barely light. We got a free breakfast in the tour so we headed there first. After that we picked up the others, lots of germans it seemed and headed off on our way. It took about an hour to get to the place where the tour starts and we picked up the tour guide. She was hilarious, she pronounced all of her 'S' with a 'SH' and really exaggerated every word. So here is a brief overview of what the DMZ is all about; The Demilitarized Zone was established as a dividing line between North and South Vietnam as a result of the First Indochina War. During the Vietnam War, it became important as the battleground demarcation separating North Vietnamese territory from South Vietnamese territory. Our first stop was the 'rock pile' which is a mountain where the Americans had a look out, two soldiers spent 3 years up there and the only way you could access it was by helicopter. Our next stop was the Dakrong Bridge which is where the Ho Chi Mihn Trail starts. We then headed to Khe San Combat base, this was really interesting as they had loads of bunkers, planes and tanks laying around along with used bombs. It was a battleground which was heavily bombed. We then headed back to where we started for lunch, we were all starting to feel pretty tired as we had been in and out of the Van for 5 hours already, as there was alot of driving between each location.

In the afternoon we had another hour's drive to the Vihn Moc Tunnels & Museum. These were crazy, all of the local villagers would live down there while they were being bombed, and apparently 400 people were down there at one stage. They were so small, you couldn't stand up and the rooms were tiny. Our tour guide said that 17 babies were born down there over the 6 years. The shallowest of the tunnels were 15m and the deepest were 23m. We spent about 20 minutes in them and it was very claustrophobic and hot, that was with a group of 15..so I can't even imagine what it would have been like with 400 people down there.

After this it was back on the bus to head to the National Cemetery. There were over 3000 graves and only 10% of those buried there were ever identified. So sad. That was our final stop of the tour, we then had over an hour journey back to our hotel. It was a really long day, but very interesting. We got back about 6pm and crashed for a couple of hours before heading out for some grub. We booked the bus to Hanoi, so we have another 12+ hour bus journey to look forward to tomorrow, hopefully we will get a nice bus and just sleep through it. Really looking forward to Hanoi, as that means Ha Long Bay which is definitely one of the highlights for me. Can't wait.

Thursday 15th November

So today we were checking out as our bus to Hanoi leaves tonight. We spent the morning walking in torrential rain to reach the Citadel. Luckily we had bought $1 poncho's in Hoi An so they kept us & our bags relatively dry. The only problem is that they are designed for much smaller people than us giant westerners, we had to roll the sleeves up to our elbows because they didn't reach our wrists. We couldn't run the risk of looking stupid, check the pictures to understand my sarcasm....

The Citadel is basically a walled off community where the Emperor resided with his family & entertained local & foreign guests as well as staging huge parties. The entrance to the Citadel had 5 entrances - one for the Emperor, 2 for guests & the other 2 for elephants, horses & military. Inside, there is very little remaining from the original structures. What was once a thriving community is now just a shell at best. They are running a restoration program which seems to be in it's early years. Only the throne room & a couple other buildings are in tact. The rest destroyed by American bombs & natural disasters like typhoons, etc.

We walked back in the rain looking gangster in our ponchos, grabbed some food in 'Cafe on Thu Wheels', the finest & cheapest restaurant in Hue for sure & sat there waiting for our transfer to Hanoi. We bagged the back seats on the bus when it finally arrived but as they were in 3's we had random strangers sat next to us, trying to bag free tickets to our private laptop cinema screening! We just about managed a couple hours sleep over the 14 hour rollercoaster journey & arrived safe & sound in Hanoi.