Hello all,

Wahoo!!! Now in Vietnam, which is sooo cool. Sad to leave Laos as it was such a beautiful country, but nice to get back to civilisation =)

The journey from Vientiane (our last stop in Laos) to Hue was very long, and typical in the Lao organisation... almost non-existant. We got picked up outside of our hotel by a tuk-tuk, and then proceeded to drive around for almost an hour in circles (not literally) picking up other passengers. We must have ended up passing the place we has stayed atleast 3 times lol. We did eventually get to the bus station which, as in the other places we had visited in Laos, was more a glorified gravel car park. We soon found the bus we were supposed to catch, and then started a 10 minute 'haggle' if you like, to try and get our bags put in the buses storage... they just kept saying Hue and pointing to the bus lol! We then got on the bus, to find the legroom in front of our seats had been turned into a storage area. There were crates laid along in front of us (which ended up being quite nice as we could stretch our legs out flat... like a makeshift bed), and on one side was a fridge. Still, having gotten used to the travel in Laos, we didn't complain and took our seats. The journey was pretty good and we stopped quite a few times... a toilet stop consisted of stopping on the side of the road, and lining up beside the bus to have a wee lol! The best part was yet to come, not long into the journey one of the bus staff decided they would make the journey a bit more interesting, and turn on their Kareoke music, which was blared out until two in the morning. By this time we were very tired, and not only had crates by our feet, but two blokes asleep using our feet as pillows!!!!

All in all, it was quite a funny journey! We eventually pulled up to a cafe at around 3-4am and were told to give our passports to some woman, who was going to the border so that when we arrived we could go straight through. Quite straight forward, and after a bit of mistrust we handed them over as everyone else on the bus had also! Thankfully, we finally got a couple of hours sleep and before we knew it we had arrived at the immigration checkpoint. The Lao side of the border was very simple we just collected our passports from the lady who had taken them earlier that morning, and went on our way. Quite strange that they didn't need to see us in person, but Laos is quite a strange place! When we got the Vietnamese side of the border, it was much more of an ordeal.... First they took our temperature (guessing to check for dengue fever), we then had to pass three passport checkpoints, and get stamped into the country, all a bit much at 7am lol. We then walked to our bus and caught another couple of hours sleep and before we knew it we were in Hue! The bus staff just kept saying "Hue Hue" over and over again to us. We were like, yes we know! We will get off the bus when it stops, to which their reply was simply "Hue Hue" lol.

Of course we got dropped off by the side of a random road, not knowing where we were and got bombarded by taxi's and taxi motorbikes! Didn't fancy getting on the back of one with our bags and was super expensive so we decided to walk it. They drove along side us shouting "where you go, 5 dollar" then "2 dollar where you go i take you!" lol. In the end I (Nina) shouted no, toy, toy, which means leave me alone in Vietnemese haha, they eventually got the message and drove on. We then stopped at a little park by the river and had some breakfast which we had bought with us. Even gave a pain au chocolat to a homeless guy with no teeth as he was miming that he was hungry to us lol. We then started walking towards where we thought some hostels were, Ben carried the bags all the way as I (Nina) was shattered. What a gentleman lol! We finally got to a really nice place called Huong Vong Inn, with a double room including a tv, a/c, fridge and free internet for 8GBP a night. What a bargain!

The rest of that day we snoozed and ate in the restaurant downstairs, recovering! And the next day we mostly wandered round getting used to seeing traffic again, and getting used to the way of things in a new country. We walked a long way in the end, and were pretty shattered by the end of the day. We did manage to book our train tickets down to our next destination, which was quite interesting.... they don't seem to understand queing out here, and everybody was trying to shove their way in front of us, we weren't having any of it though =)

It was nice to wander around town, and get back into the hustle and bustle again, and nice to feel exhausted at the end of the day. The next day we went to the citadel! Its like a town within Hue, surrounded by a mahoosive wall. The entrance itself was pretty grand and very beautiful. All the building styles were so different to what we have seen elsewhere which was nice, were getting a bit bored of temples everywhere else as Thai and Lao temples are a very similar style. When we got inside and started wandering around, it was almost a bit depressing to see how poorly maintained it had been kept. I suppose its kind of understandable for a country which had been bombed to devestation not much more than 40 years ago. Still, it was nice to see, and we stumbled across lots of lovely little gardens, and royal pavillions, temples etc. It was actually quite impressive to see how the leading elite would have lived, in comparison to the living conditions that the country people would have be subjected to in 19th centuary Vietnam and earlier.

After wandering around for a good few hours, the most incredible thunder started to close in, so we quickly rushed off to find some cover, and played cards whilst watching people darting around, trying to stay dry. After the rain died down (or so we thought) we headed back and whilst walking down the road saw loads of tanks and big guns on display. We went in to have a look and Ben even climbed into one! lol. It was quite funny because all the signs about them said they had been captured from Americans and their 'puppet soldiers'. Very interesting.

That evening we had a wicked Vietnemese meal of beef noodle soup, pork spring rolls and bbq prawn skewers, all of which are Hue specialities. It was amazing. We also had a local beer, Huda, which was really nice and mega cheap. I think Hue has around 4 different breweries... hope it is like that throughout Vietnam =).

Anyways, now waiting for our train. Got a few more hours to wait as it is an overnight train to Nha Trang where there is an amazing beach! Cannot wait, YAY!!!!!!!!!

Much much love to you all

xxxxxxxoooooooxxxxxxxx