Take the train we said. The Reunification Express we said. Sure, it’ll be grand, we said. Afterall - the 17 hour leg in the ‘soft’ sleeper from Saigon to Da Nang went incredibly efficiently - left on time, arrived on time, left us nigh on crippled. But it got us there. So we had not a thought in our heads about having the hotel in Hue phone the Railway Station before we jumped in a taxi at 3.30 pm and headed off to catch the 4.25 pm SE2 train from Hue to H...

Firstly, we enjoyed a fabulous rest day doing very little indeed (highlight was a trip to the laundry lady to drop off washing... another day or so it would have walked by itself). Only thing to do once rejuvenated was of course exhaust ourselves all over again. The day dawned rainy and gray - perfect for an atmospheric wander around the Imperial Citadel. Huge. Think all three tomb complexes from the other day, combined. It was built primarily between 1803 an...

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...