Up early (again!) for train from Hue to Hoi An, Sal insisted on a taxi from the hotel to the station (227mtrs, according to google maps!) resulting in one very pissed-off cabbie, even though we tipped him handsomely to compensate, never satisfied, some people! Whilst in the waiting room, a Vietnamese lady told me I was 'very handsome' and said Sal was 'beautiful', this is happening a lot, we could get used to it! Everyone at home, take note, we'll expect you to ...

Last day in Hue, so a bit more sight-seeing to finish off. We took a taxi to Tu Duc's Royal Tomb Complex (no, we don't know what happened to One Duc or Three Duc), it was very pretty and atmospheric, we had a nice little wander, and then went back to the Imperial City. We'd been there yesterday, on a bit of a flying visit, but we fancied a more leisurely look. It was worth going back, 'cos there was loads we'd missed, and we just had a nice mooch around, soaking ...

We received word from home earlier in our trip that our friend Denise was seriously ill, and sadly she passed away yesterday. Sally-Anne will miss her so much, as will I, and the many people who were lucky enough to know her. She was a generous, caring, kind-hearted person, who made time for all of her family and friends to a frankly incredible extent. Her passing will leave a huge hole in the lives' of everyone who knew her, our love and thoughts go out to Andre...

We ate at the hotel last night, sad I know, but we were very tired and frankly couldn't be bothered getting ready to go out, all things considered. So the hotel did a special buffet and BBQ, the theme being 'Pangaea - A taste of ancient times, from when the world was one continent'! So you can imagine how disappointed I was that dinosaur steaks didn't feature, raptor-burgers weren't on offer, and there were no sabre-tooth tiger kebabs, and I find it hard to beli...

Well, we weren't expecting 'The Ghan' or even 'Virgin Rail', and people we know who've done this trip had said it was ok (you know who I mean, Ms Deary!), but really, it was sooo dirty, and only the fact that we'd recently been to the Perfume Pagoda (the dirtiest place I've ever seen, though Sal says India was worse) stopped me from covering myself from head to foot in alcohol gel and climbing inside my sleeping bag liner! I had my suspicions when we got to the ...