Hue. The girls and I packed up our daypacks and headed out on a little roadtrip. Destination Hue. The imperial city, about 120 kms up the coast from Da Nang – once the capital of the southern kingdom, home to many universities and museums. It is on the Perfume River – a river famous from the Vietnam war, or the American war as it is known in these parts. The Americans dug in on the high banks of the river – built bunkers that still exist to...

Leaving Hoi An a lot lighter in the wallet and smoother on the face. I am heading off in the early morning for a day that travel nightmares come from. I decided to not only do a 4 hour bus ride in the morning to Hue, I decided tonight to extend that because I just couldn't get excited about going to Hue so I am staying in Hue for 5 hours and then on another sleeper...me.....waker for a 12 hour ride to Ninh Binh cause that was where I wanted to be. The real...

Left Hoi An, poorer in the pocketbook and loaded onto the bus for my first daytime Vietnam bus ride. Wow - got to see what it was I was missing through the night. Stunning scenery. We made our way up the coast - moving at the pace of a scooter as the roads are very narrow and mountainous so at every switchback, buses and trucks stop to let the on coming buses and trucks go by - quite harrowing driving. I hadn't realized the whole country is mountainous - ...