Hello again, its me adam, I've been fed and I've napped so I'm ready to tackle this second blog! Let the sight seeing round Hue begin!

Day 1! As afore mentioned, Hue is the cultural capital of Vietnam. A little history lesson here. For a short period of time hue became the capital of Vietnam in an attempt to reunify the north and the south. This came after the rulers at the time felt the south had begun to act separately from the north and the imperialist rulers. The plan to reunify the country by creating a capital in central Vietnam worked for a while but a lot of the counties powerful socialites remained in Hanoi, and Hue and the imperialist rulers who moved there began to fall out of favour with most of the countries powerful people. As a result the capital moved back to Hanoi but the imperialist rulers remained in Hue. In an attempt to stay relevant they built various impressive buildings including a massive citadel to be used to house the King, his court and much of the cities inhabitants. The buildings were erected (haha) in an attempt to show the cities and the rulers might and power and were therefore built to the highest standards. They still failed to bring the capital's wealth to Hue and never really reunited Vietnam but the buildings still exists today and were up until the early 1900's still functional. Bet you never knew I was that smart huh! ...

So as the most impressive part of Hue, the Imperial City was our first point of call for the day. The citadel itself has very impressive fortifications including a 4m wide moat, 2m thick walls and a 20ft surrounding wall, which houses a central fort inside the main walls. The site itself is protected but was heavily bombed during the Vietnamese war as it became an important milestone for both sides to capture. So the entrance fee is more than we've paid anywhere else, but it is high so the owners can maintain the renovations which are being made in an attempt to restore it to its former glory. My favourite part of the tour were the massive 170" tellies with 5.1 surround sound that played videos on the history of the citadel! all they needed to do was make it 3d and I would have gone in every day to watch it! My second favourite part of the tour and slightly more cultural was the colosseum style fighting pit which the king staged fights between tigers and elephants for his own amusement (lad!). An interesting fact here is that they didn't always have a specially built arena for this. The first fight, which was organised for the prince's 40th birthday, was held on a small desert island with the gentry all off shore in boats. Having decided he wanted no part of the bloodbath, the tiger jumped from the island and swam directly towards the prince. Having managed to fight the tiger off with sticks, the prince decided it would be best to have these events in a arena style venue from now on! And to ensure that his beloved elephant, which is the symbol of his kingdom and power, won every time the tiger had his teeth and his claws removed to ensure the elephants. What a cheat.

Having wandered round for a good 2 hours taking in the sights, it was obviously food time! So having spotted a restaurant which had been recommended by the lonely planet, we stopped for a spot of lunch. Some simple fried pork and cabbage with steamed rice, washed down with a fruit shake and ice tea and we ready to hit the sights again.

On our way we stumbled across a local market. These are always good for checking out, even if they smell like aids! The meat stalls had everything from tripe, brain to intestine left out in the midday sun, covered in flies (scrummy). Needless to say I was full after lunch otherwise I'm sure I would have love to have tucked in!!! A good wander round here and we were suitably scarred from the smell and the oddness of the things we saw so we headed next door to the our first experience of a Vietnamese supermarket. Btw tescos, you need to sort your selves out and get over here, as they don't have a clue what they're doing! Anyway, we picked up a few bits and found water and bread cheaper here than anywhere else, so we stocked up!

After this it was off to the night market. More souvenirs here than anything, and after muttering under my breathe 'its just tourist crap', I turned round to find danni at the front of the queue asking how much everything was! She loves a good souvenir does miss Robinson! So expect all of your presents for the next year to include bamboo paintings, chop sticks and oriental style fans, which will all fall apart within a week. but don't say i didn't warn you! With danni's souvenir fix taken care (liar! i didn't buy any!! As if you would have let me.....) off it was time to take care of my food fix! Surprisingly enough Danni didn't want to eat in the place I chose, which had sting ray, sea snails and frogs on the menu (I think the view wasn't to her tasting maybe?) and instead we headed to a slightly more westernised restaurant with tablecloths and everything!!!!!! After contemplating burger and chips we decided to be 'cultural' and have yet more rice! Word of advice, rice has a profound slowing effect on your 'movements' if you arch my drift, so bring ex lax if you can! After dinner we had a nice Skype with my family and wished a happy birthday to Mr Oliver Faulder (my sister's fiancé), then a little bit of HBO film time and it was definitely time to hit the hay.

Day 2! Today we decided to hire bicycles to visit some things a bit further afield. Having had a nice relaxed morning, we rented our bikes from the hotel for a pound a day and we were off!! We didn't get too far before we realised it was the middle of the day and the sun was hotter than... Well the sun.. So it was HOT! So we pulled over, lathered ourselves in sun cream and we made a move again! We were set to head to some ancient tombs of some geeza from the olden days. I would tell you more about this guy however, it turns out only Lance Armstrong in his champion drug taking days could have completed this bike ride! We still don't know how close we got to the tombs (we suspect 4 miles off) but after speaking to some Vietnamese girls, who wanted to practice their English, laughed in our faces, and said "noooo only by bus! No bike!" we guess we still weren't any closer. Still, if the sweat pouring off our faces and backs is anything to go by, we gave it a pretty good shot! So on our way back, post up hill cycling, we treated ourselves to a local drink of sugarcane juice, made out of squeezing the juice from some sugarcane. This drink is delicious and definitely recommended by us.

Next on the agenda for "Tour de Hue" was a pogado, which we were assured was only 1km down the road from the main town. Luckily this time it wasn't a lie and we made it to our destination, albeit a little sweaty but no performance enhancing drugs were needed for this one. The pagoda houses the local monks and is still functional today. Also, interestingly, if you remember the story of the monk who set himself alight in protest of the restrictions of Buddhism within Vietnam, then this is the monastery that he came from. So there was an interesting piece on him and they had the car that he drove to the capital as a reminder of his awe inspiring protest, which shocked those with power into action (I haven't spoken about food in a while have I! Maybe I'm becoming cultured! Take that history teacher who gave me a D for my work on the Vietnamese war).

Following this we hopped back on the bikes and trundled back to the main town. A million self shots later next to the perfume river (which if anyone has ever been on holiday with danni then you will be used to this snap happy monster! One photo is never enough and her hair is never just right, nor the angle of the photo nor the lighting! I didn't realise I was on holiday with ...!), so we continued to head back to the supermarket for some more supplies. French stick and spready cheese are my new best friends!

After this we went back to the hotel and after a well needed freshen up we went out for some dinner. Having spent very little today we decided we deserved a real restaurant with starters and everything!!!!!!!!! Most exciting! So we ordered some pork spring rolls and some fried morning glory. Once I had finished giggling like a little school girl (honestly who comes up these names) we tucked into what is actually some greens fried in garlic, not as funny as the name, but I still ate it with a childish smirk. For our main courses we shared a beautiful chicken coconut curry and some sweet and sour pork with boiled rice and were happily stuffed! After wishing we could spend 210,000 VND (roughly 7quid) on every dinner we took in the scenery and wandered back! The cost doesn't sound like a lot I know but when I eat 7 times a day, it mounts up! Advice, don't come travelling if you eat more than twice a day, you will go hungry. On the way home to top it off we shared a Vietnamese version of a feast ice cream, and again what a blooming treat!!! 10,000 VND (30p) very well spent and considering we cycled half way across Vietnam I think our overindulgence was justified! So back for a nice Skype chat with danni's parents and again a little bit of HBO film time and it was once again bed time.

Day 3! Today we're heading down for about 3 hours to Hoi An. You can get tailored suits made here as seen on the top gear vietnam special, so expect me to come back looking like a 90's scar face lookalike as I'm pretty sure their fashion is at least 20 years behind ours!

Now I'm sure I've spoken enough now, and its been at least an hour since I napped or ate so I'm going to go stuff my face with baguette and cheese and then fall asleep on this fully reclining bed/chair thing, which is surprisingly comfy!

Night Y'all x

XoXo gossip girl