Happy Birthday Lily Started the day looking around the Citadel and then onto a tomb... The girls have really had enough of museums and buildings so it is good that there are no more scheduled in.... Phi our guide has been filling us in on the Vietnamese history very well and his historic capacity knows no limits.. All very interesting although hard to retain. Another hot day so we were all relieved when we reached the lunch venue. Another rendition of happy birth...

Arrived in Hue at 8:48 and then straight to the hotel where our rooms were ready. Not a fantastic nights sleep but the train was good fun. Went to visit a famous Pagoda and then a trip down the river. Also went to a local families house for lunch and had a look around. The grand mother was 90 years old and showed us the knife she is using to cut food which had a big area that had worn almost to nothing, she had only used three knives her whole life! Had time to t...

Breakfast at 8am on the boat and then a quick demonstration by the chef on how to prep decorative vegetables whilst the boat ambled its way back to port. Found out that a Typhoon is heading to Halong Bay and that no boats permitted to go out for next two days, that was close we were so fortunate with the weather. Jumped on the coach and 4 hours back to Hanoi with a stop off at a fantastic ceramics factory where we saw the pottery process from start to finish. Sma...

Another early start as we had to leave by 8am for the 4 hour journey to Halong Bay. Very excited as this sounds like it will be one of the highlights of the trip. After a stop off at a textiles shop we ended up at Halong Bay... It's not a world heritage site for nothing. Wow what stunning scenery, 1,969 small limestone islands dotted around the sea. Stayed on a boat just for our party of 17. Lovely air conditioned bedrooms with toilets and showers. Wonderful food...

Day one has been very busy.. Left the hotel at 8am and straight to join a massive queue to see Ho Chi Minhs body! And the nearby museum celebrating his life over the years. Then onto a welcomed lunch followed by the beautiful Temple of Literature. The Vietnamese give a lot of weight to education so this was interesting. Final stop was the Ethnology Museum which although very interesting was too hot and we had all lost enthusiastic for museums by that point. Back ...