Moving north from the beach-based city of Nha Trang we arrived in Hoi An, a far less developed city which almost felt like a town. Driving into the centre was interesting as we passed lots of local people working in the rice fields, a very stereotypical image of Vietnam as a whole. After finding some accommodation we first set off to a tailor we were recommended to get our custom made suits started. We selected our materials from the lovely lady who ran the place and after being measured up were told to come back the next day to make any necessary changes. It was so quick and efficient at making them it's no wonder Hoi An is regarded as the best place in the world for silk tailoring. The next day we returned, made a few tweaks to the sizing and the job was done! We ended up paying about $100 which is about 65 quid, and that included waistcoats and ties. We proceeded to run them down to the post office and airmail them home for another pretty cheap price. Our one treat for the trip was complete, let's just hope they arrive home now!

On the third day we took a bus journey to some cham tower ruins on the outskirts of Hoi An. Even though we've seen a lot of temples and pagodas while we've been in Asia it was still a beautiful place to visit, located amongst the background of wildlife and mountain ranges. It was nevethless a very hot experience with the temperature and humidity much higher than in the city! On the way back we took a boat which toured the river running alongside Hoi An and we saw plenty of glimpses into local life before being dropped off at the market on the edge of town. We then met up with Tony and Phil who we met in Nha Trang and found an incredible curry house to fill the hunger void. The next day we took fairly easy and explored the picturesque town at our leisure before eating at a renowned restaurant that an old Australian bloke from our hotel recommended to us. The following day we left Hoi An early and got a 4 hour bus to Hue further up the coast. The bus journey was the best so far and included passing through Da Nang (a pretty coastal town) and going through a 2 mile tunnel to get to the other side of a small mountain.

Once in Hue we found a hotel near to where Tony and Phil were staying as they'd recommended it and then we could meet up easier in the evenings! Hue was not like what I'd imagined having read books saying it was not very well developed and like it was centuries ago. However, we saw plenty of high-rise hotels which was quite surprising. We stayed around our hotel the first day and decided to get into the site seeing on day two. We started by walking to the Citadel which is a part of the city surrounded by a big wall and moat just like it was when ruled by emperors in the 15th century. This part of the city was easy to cycle round and see its lakes and gardens. Next was the Imperial City which was within another wall and moat inside the Citadel. This city was preserved from when the emperor lived there (renovated from damage it received from both French and American wars). All the buildings were lavishly decorated in gold and other bright colours and the many small lakes inside the city were decorated beautifully and elegantly. It was a great area to walk around and just as nice to sit around and feed the huge fish splashing around in the ponds. Some areas of it were still under renovation so it'd probably be even nicer to visit in a few years time. We spent the next day hanging around with Phil and Tony mainly doing western things like watching football, which is good to do now and then! After they left for Hanoi we spent the rest of our time in Hue looking round the east side of the city and being puzzled by a huge supermarket complex in the Citadel that really didn't fit in with its ancient looking architecture! One of Hue's bridges was lit up at night in changing colours which was also strange and seemed like something more accustomed to a city like Saigon or Hanoi than ancient Hue!

The following day was check out day and we await the 14 hour bus journey to Hanoi which is the last city we will visit in Vietnam before moving on to Ha Long bay.