Our time in Vietnam was short and we had decided to spend at least one week on the tropical island of Phu Quoc. That decision meant that realistically, we could only visit one more place out of Halong Bay, Hue, Hoi An and Nah Trang. It was a tough call and eventually we went for the royal city of Hue as we'd see lots of the sea and beach on Phu Quoc and Hue had more outstanding historical sights.

As usual we were travelling during a major festival, this time the Vietnamese Tet festival and consequently we had to travel to Hue on the sleeper bus, all the trains being fully booked. We had seen sleeper buses in China and Gemma was particularly keen to try them out. After an hour of sitting on a bumpy, noisy bus her enthusiasm was curbed. It was very difficult sleeping on the bus especially (if like Craig) you are taller than 5'8" as you would be too tall for the berth.

We were staying at the sister hostel to the one we were at in Hanoi and it was similarly lively and friendly. We were sleeping in a small 6 man dorm at a time when dorms were becoming a little wearisome but financially necessary.

Hue itself is a smallish historical city set aside the Perfume River with plenty of sights to see. On our first day we hired a dragon boat to visit the otherwise inaccessible Hon Chen temple. Next day we took a city tour (Craig having shaved for the first time in over 2 months!) taking in the impressive Citadel incorporating the imperial city, Thien Mu Pagoda (Rage Against the Machine fans should know this one) and three royal mausoleum sites housing the bodies of past Nguyen Emperors. As independent travellers we didn't really want to go on a guided tour but felt that it was the right thing to do on this occasion to ensure we could see everything during our short time in the city.

On our last day in Hue we took a motorcycle tour round the city and surrounding countryside. For both of us this was our first proper motorcycle ride and it was exhilarating. The tour was well worth doing as we whizzed past paddy fields, visited out of the way mausoleums, saw a disused army compound and spent some time in a traditional market village. The tour was accompanied by some rather tall stories about our guide's involvement in the Vietnam War.