Natalie and I got a sleeper bus at 4.30 am from Phong Nha to Hue and arrived at Hue Backpackers Hostel which was really nice. I decided I wanted to be a tourist for the day and Natalie joined me - we walked through the city to the Citadel which is the old imperial quarter of Hue. It is worth mentioning that on the way three Vietnamese guys stopped us for a chat - after telling me I was beautiful and that he wanted to be my boyfriend one of them asked for a photo with me - which then resulted in the most hilarious group photo. I look completely of normal height as these two guys were SO short and Natalie looks like a giant!

Hue used to be the imperial capital of Vietnam, home to the Nguyen dynasty and so palaces, temples and living chambers were all built within a large area of the city facing the river to be home to the Emperor. Walking around the ruins it was strange to think that essentially Vietnam royalty once lived here and it was interesting seeing just how different the architecture was compared to historical British sites.
After a few hours of wandering around the Citadel we headed back to the hostel to check in, shower and socialise. We went for a really great lunch at Gecko and I had grilled pork with noodles, peanuts and salad with a peanut sauce - it was delicious. Dario joined us and he then took me for a ride on the back of his bike around Hue as the sun was setting which was so pretty.

Back at the hostel it was happy hour (yay) and within about an hour I had attracted a crowd of around 10 people - new friends who were going to come to Hoi An with us in the morning. The evening progressed to a lot of drinking and chatting and I met some really cool people, making for a super fun evening that reminded me just how great travelling alone is! You just meet so many new people.