Date: 23rd June 2011 Place: Hoi An to Hue (Hai Van Pass) Weather: Quite cloudy It was an early start today because we were getting picked up by Easy Riders who were taking us on the Top Gear route from Hoi An to Hue. We went the same route to Danang but then got on the Hoi Van Pass which is a really windy road all through the mountains and there are views of all of Danang. It was a really good ride but a shame it wasn't sunnier because I think the views would have been a whole lot better. We stopped along the way to take pictures and also at a place called Elephant Springs. This was a place which was basically a stream that was broken into sections by rocks so it made little pools. The water was seriously the clearest I have ever seen in my life. We got in and it was freezing cold! But so nice to wash off all the dust from the bike journey. We stopped there for about an hour and then got on the bikes for the last long stint straight to Hue. The journey ended at around 3pm when we arrived at Hue Backpakers hostel. We went straight for food because it seriously takes it out of you. I think its from being a bit nervous since the drivers aren't the safest here. I actually got sandwiched between two lorries at one point! After eating we went up to the dorm and had a nap for an hour or so. We got up in time for happy hour downstairs though because it was super cheap, like 50p for 2 cocktails. We stayed down there for a while and decided to stay in the hostel for dinner where I had just a bowl of chips, but they were awesome!! I have soo missed good chips! Hans and Jason from Jungle Beach were there as well so we sat with them for a while before heading to Why Not? Bar. What I thought was going to be a quiet night, turned out to be quite a late one, getting in at 3am, and I thought Hue was going to be dull! Date: 24th June 2011 Place: Hue Weather: Very humid but cloudy Got up for breakfast again but this time it was just a bread roll and weird flavoured jam, you could have, pear, banana,pineapple etc. We then decided that we were only going to stay here that one night so booked the bus for that night and checked out. We decided we would do everything we needed in that one day and then move onto Hanoi where we wanted to do a lot of things. There is a big supermarket in Hue so we decided to go to find it before heading to the Citadel. On the way we got stopped by a man trying to get us to go on a boat tour. We managed to get him down from 150,000Dong each to 40,000dong each so it cost us £1 for an hours private boat journey around a river which was quite nice as I love people watching, and just seeing how the locals live, and having all the kids shouting "Hello" its so cool. They dropped us off at a market which had a lot of fruit in it! The supermarket was next to it though so we went in there to stock up on some needed toiletries. They have a lot of security in their supermarkets, you're not allowed to take any bags in, you have to leave them in lockers outside. We spent a few hours in there and then tried to find the Citadel. On the way there a Cyclo ryder wouldn't leave us alone and wanted us to go on a tour with him. We got him down from 110,000dong to 20,000dong so thought we may as well go with him because we had no idea where we were walking. He showed us a Pagoda and a Temple and then dropped us off at the Citadel. The Citadel was an old walled city where there were special quarters for the Emperor and his family and places where princes were educated and bits like that. I didn't completely understand but we had a walk around. Most of it was just ruins but there was a newly built tennis court in there for some reason. I don't know who chooses that place to go and play tennis. We walked back from there to the hostel and had fish and chips J It was a huge portion but filled us up nicely before getting onto our 14 hour sleeper bus to Hanoi.