Hi. I am currently in Hue, Vietnam. I took a night train last night from Hanoi. Hue has a very different feel from Hanoi, it is much smaller and quieter. Today I walked all around the city with JS from Canada, 2 girls from Portugal and a guy from Slovenia. Soon we will go have a good dinner in Hue.

Tuesday night I had a great dinner at Phuong's house. Her family invited their neighbors as well as myself and a British couple. The food was fantastic and I was amazed by their hospitality. She invited all of us to her house and we had just met. All Vietnamese I have met have been great. They are very friendly, helpful and nice. The food was great, and her father kept the wine flowing. It was a great way to really meet some Vietnamese.

Wednesday I left for my 2 night 3 day tour of Halong Bay. Halong Bay is a very scenic stretch of coastline about 4 hours from Hanoi. There are hundreds of islands with huge cliffs. Our first day we took a boat ride through the bay on a traditional Vietnamese junk. We did some kayaking which was fun, and then we stayed the night on the boat. The food was actually excellent, and the room was very nice. The next day we went to stay on Cat Ba Island. Cat Ba is the largest island in Halong and very scenic. There is a large fishing population, and many of them live directly on their boats. Cat Ba was a little boring for us though because the city was dead. JS and I did meet a 15 year old girl selling pearls:

"You want buy pearls? No? Maybe later? Ok, you only buy from me."

She said all this in about 2 seconds, faster than I have ever heard anyone speak. Her english was also perfect, and she said she is a student, which I hope is true so she does not end up like the next lady we met on Cat Ba:

"You want massage? Maybe boom boom?"

Don't worry, I said no to "boom boom."

After Cat Ba, it was back to Hanoi for one last night, where JS and I got some good pizza with some Aussie's we met in Halong Bay. The night train wasn't too bad, even though it was a hard sleeper. The two Vietnamese guys in our compartment were very nice, even though they finished a bottle of vodka and about 6 beers by 9am. They tried to get JS and I to drink, but it was a little early. Now Hue seems good. I will try to put pics and videos up, so keep looking. Thanks for reading and leaving messages. Hope all is well back home.