We arrived in Hue after probably our worst night of the trip so far. The night bus consisted of a normal bus with 21 bunk beds crammed in. The beds were a pod, which are obviously designed for Vietnamese people as we struggled to get our limbs into them. We then had to spent 15 hours being thrown around (quite literally) and if we're honest all of us thought there was a possibility we would die that night! We now all know what the Stig is doing for a living since leaving Top Gear. At several points we thought the bus was going to topple over as the driver took corners to fast or swerved to avoid on coming vehicles. So overall a very entertaining, but slightly hair raising night.

We arrived at our hostel feeling slightly drugged and managed to just sit for the morning because our room wasn't ready. Once we had dropped our bags and grabbed a shower we decided to go on a tour of the town. Its a really pretty place and we had a chance to walk around the Citadel and see all the sights of Hue. Inside the Citadel is an old temple which is pretty run down now. All the Chinese temples we have seen are really done up, so it was nice to get a chance to see somewhere which looked like it should. We just sat on the steps up to the temple for quite a while enjoying the peace and quiet. Hue is a lot quieter than Hanoi so we welcomed the silence.

The next day we were up by 5.30am and ready for our tour to the DMZ. For those of you who don't know its the line that divided the North and South during the war with the Americans. This area is apparently the most bombed area in the whole world, and even now thousands of people are killed a year from bombs left unexploded from the war. Most of whom are children. The area around the DMZ is so beautiful, but its strange to look at a jungle where all of the trees are exactly the same age and height! After going down Highway 9 we were given a chance to see people as they really live. Something that we haven't seen much of since arriving in Vietnam. Our first stop was at a traditional village where we got to meet some children and the rest of their families. They still live in wooden huts on stilts in the middle of forested areas.

During our day we went and saw various areas such as The Rockpile, which was used by the Americans as a lookout over the Ho Chi Minh Trail. But the one place we were all waiting to go to was the Vinh Moc tunnels. These tunnels were made by a local village during the war so they could go into hiding when bombs were dropped. We were expecting the worst with the size of the tunnels, but they weren't too bad. We could just about squeeze through them and spent about 30 minutes down in them. It was pretty amazing to think that people actually lived down there. We saw the maternity wing, meeting room and different sleeping areas while we were down there.

Our day was definitely an educational one and pretty sad. We are learning more and more about the war and (as with most wars) it was pretty horrific. The Vietnam war wasn't something any of us knew much about, but its definitely not a forgotten war here.

We are getting another bus to our next city today, Hoi An. We're hoping this bus journey will be a little calmer!