As Katherine told you in our last blog entry, I spent the morning Kayaking to Monkey Island... notorious for its 'rabid' unfriendly monkeys who apparently are keen to steal the last hair on your head. This however, was not the case. The seas were calm and with Mat in my kayak I felt safe I wasn't going to drown! The views were beautiful, which I seemed to appreciate more than others as I was sober the night before. We landed on Monkey Island well before the hoard of tourists which plague the island and after a 'monkey' call from our kayaking guide the monkeys began trickling from the forested hill. The first approached Connie holding a massive loaf of bread, she panicked and threw the bread at the monkey. We then watched as it fussily picked at the bread for the next 20 mins. More monkeys turned up including some young ones, we were behind some netting at this point and I wasn't too worried about the evils that two of the young ones were giving me... you can't please everyone! We soon got bored of them and set our minds on picking nice stones and shells from the beach. We kayaked a different way back... stopping at a stone arch with the intention of going through the cave. the seas were a little more rough than before and our guide thought it was a bad idea (and he was the one with the helmet!). I survived!

We took the hydrofoil, followed by a bus back to Hanoi. The next day it rained... and when I say rain i mean torrential rain, so we did nothing but eat and play cards, a very chilled out day. The weather cleared, and we boarded a sleeper train headed for Hue. We were in soft-sleeper this time, so 4 in a compartment, more head space, a table and a little softer beds...get in!

Today we explored the Citadel, a huge area of Hue surrounded by ramparts and in a certain state of disrepair. It is apparently, being restored, although im sure this will undoubtedly spoil its charm. Despite the fact that the walls enclose a rather suburban housing estate it reaks of the forbidden city and anyone who hasn't visited the latter this is certainly recommended. The flora and fauna certainly add to the allure of this place. We both spent the afternoon in bed with poor tummies, watching cheesy american films on Sky as well as watching Groundhog Day for the millionth time (now my life really does feel like groundhog day.