Hue is a really cool place.We're staying at a hotel right in the middle of it all.The night life is nothing special but there are a few bars and restaurants to chose from so Dom and I have been naughty (or good, i suppose) and had chicken and veg two nights on the trot! (Funny how that has become a 'treat' to us now)

And this morning i had cornflakes and milk and Dom had Co Co Pops !!! Deeee-lish!

On our first full day we did the DMZ (Demilitarized Zone) tour (or as they say here T. M. Zeee)

We had to do a really cheesy group tour which we HATE doing but this is the best way to see the sights here apparantly !

The bus picked us up at 6am which was painful (hating these early mornings....)

First we had a 'free' breakfast (LOVE it when they claim its free when really you have paid for it in your 12dollar ticket!! )

Brekkie consisted of dry baguette and jam for beth, and dry baguette and one cheese triangle for dom!! Yummy!

We got chatting to a really cool guy named Raga who was from Holland.

Our guide had a good command of English but unfortunately her accent and pronunciation were shocking so most of the time no-one had any idea what she was actually saying! All i kept catching was 'north vietnamese army' and 'south vietnamese army' which kept making me chuckle to myself so i had to look out of the window (instead of at dom) so as not to be rude and start laughing...(You had to be there)

We then visited the Ben Hai River which during the 'american' war was the demarcation line between North and South Vietnam. There was a Demilitarized Zone of five km each side from the river, but the Southern area of DMZ was one of the bloodiest battlefields.

Rockpike - a mountain where US soldiers were airlifted to have some R & R. As they were working in such a dangerous area the only place they could relax was on top of the highest mountain in the area. They even built restaurants, bars and social clubs on the top of there.The only way to visit this area still is by helicoptor

A lot of the phyisical evidence of the war is gone -- overgrown by jungle, replanted into fields, rebuilt from rubble. But there's still lots to see, including of bomb craters.

Ta Con Air Base - described as 'hell on earth' this was a US air base near to the Ho Chi Minh Trail. We saw the 'original' bunkers, airstrip, abandoned tanks and CH-47 helicoptors.

Vinh Moc village - Facing heavy bombing from the US the villagers built a series of tunnels over a period of 20 months to live in.

The tunnels were built over 3 levels

Level 1 for fighting and living

Level 2 for living

Level 3 is for storage and safety during bombing.

Approximately 350 people lived in the tunnels for 6 years - there was even a maternity ward down there! Amazing!

When we stopped for lunch (they took us to an overpriced hotel) the three of us headed across the road to search for a cheap restaurant! We found one and had kale ( chinese brocolli) pork and steamed rice for 20,000dong (less than 1pound) instead of paying maybe 45,000/50,000 if we'd have eaten in the hotel...

We arrived back at our hotel at about 6pm and i was officially shattered... we ate our evening meal and then passed out...

Yesterday we just wasted a day catching up on our sleep and watching movies etc (sometimes it seems like we don't stop travelling...bus after bus after bus its tiring !)

Then today we had a cooking class!!! We got picked up from our hotel after checking out at 8.30am.our english speaking guide (who this time wer could understand!!) took us to the local market which wasn't nearly as bad as the market in Kampot, Cambodia!!!

We bought all our ingredients for our 'lesson' and headed back to the restaurant.

Here is the menu:

Fried pancake and peanut sauce

Hue fresh spring roll

Hue Fried Spring Roll

Hue Beef Noodle Soup

Dom was showing off because the chef told us all to "watch how Doms doing it"!!! Whaaatevvvverr hehe

We had a really good morning and got to sit down and eat all of the food we cooked which at first was cool but by time we got to the beef noodle soup we were stuffed!There was only 3 of us in the group so the class finished at 11.30am.

Now we have to wait to catch our sleeper bus at 5pm all the way to Hanoi (12/13hour drive!!! Eeek!!!)

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