The tour company who whisked us from Hoi An to Hue did such a cracking job and were so keenly priced we used them again for our excursion to Hue’s Imperial Tombs. We knew the ‘must see’ in Hue was the Imperial Citadel compound on the shores of the Perfume River. These days we do our research on the fly and James took on the role of Hue Activities Co-ordinator. He discovered that the other major (in fact even better) attraction in Hue is the tombs of the ...

Packing is a movable beast. One minute we’re down to counting grams not kilos and other days, like today, it’s just been a matter of making sure we have everything and then throwing it all in the boot. Private car is a very restful way to get from A to B, in this case Hoi An to Hue via the Marble Mountain, the stone carving village (factory), the Hai Van Pass (of Top Gear TV show fame), remnants of the war, a peaceful lagoon - etc. Three hours drive time, 5...

Our time hanging (like lanterns) in Hoi An has finally come to an end. It has been very restful indeed and we even went swimming a few times in the crystaline blue pool at our hotel. Fairly sure we were bumping into icecubes at one stage - hard to believe the water could be so cold when day time highs were still in the mid to high twenties - but there you have it. The locals are wearing puffy-jackets and maybe our blood is getting thinner as well. We are defin...

We debarked at Da Nang station happy to be on solid ground again and met our ‘Man with the Sign’. Unless there’s great public transport (European Airport to City trains) (or non-corrupt cabs... nope... can’t think of anywhere actually), we like to treat ourselves to a private transfer after a long trip - whether by plane or train. 17 hours on the SE4 train, Saigon to Da Nang certainly counts. The fixed price transfer, even including the guesthouse marku...

‘All aboard, the Reunification Express’ - Doesn’t have quite the same ring and it certainly didn’t take us to Marrakesh - quite the adventure none the less. We waved goodbye to Henry the mini-schnauzer and jumped in a Grab with just our new pared down luggage - 20 kg wheely-pack and a small wheely/backpack each. Our small bags should have weighed in at 5 kg... but probably closer to 10kg at the moment. And of course 2 large shopping bags with ‘necessi...