We arrived in Hue at around 10 am after a mammoth 14 hour overnight bus journey which was the first we had undertaken on the trip. Although I wouldn't go as far as saying it was comfortable we both had a few hours sleep so as overnight buses go it was passable. After we had eaten and checked into the first hotel we saw we set out to get our bearings and quickly discovered that we wouldn't want to be spending too long in Hue. The town was alright but nothing spectacular and we suspected that the only reason for visiting Hue was the walled citadel which we planned on visiting the next day. Whilst we had been wandering the town we bumped into Mr Ty a Vietnamese guy with a motorbike tour company called Kangaroo Tours who impressed us with his friendliness and enthusiasm and after some persistent persuasion and inspection of his book of recommendations from satisfied customers we decided that we would take a full day tour with him and his friend Mr Da the following day.

I have to admit that this was the first hotel we had stayed with a TV and cable at that so it didn't take too long for us to return under the pretence of 'recharging our batteries' and I gleefully pounced upon the little known channel of Starworld which was playing various American sitcoms and to my utter delight Glee! The remainder of the afternoon and early evening was spent this way until we headed out for food and a look at the nightlife.We had a great curry at a nearby restaurant and then were walked to a bar across town by a local girl who was out flyering for them. The bar was fairly good although the music choice was downright bizarre (classical music in a grungy bar really?!) but after a couple of drinks we were ready to head back which turned out to be the biggest fiasco ever. First of all as we left it started to chuck it down and we had no idea where we were in relation to our hotel so we enlisted the services of a cyclo driver. Essentially this is a pedal bike with one seat on the front and because there were two of us I had to sit on Tom's lap. I was not best pleased about this as it meant I got soaked whilst Tom was snug and dry underneath me (to be fair Tom wasn't happy either as he referred to me as a big lump sat on him!) and the situation was not improved when after cycling round 3 different hotels it became clear the driver didn't have a clue where our hotel was. Eventually we recognized one of the roads and were able to guide him to the hotel but he wasn't happy when we wouldn't give him any more money than the agreed price. Soaked to the skin and annoyed with him we wouldn't budge though and we eventually got out and walked the last 100m to our hotel leaving a very disgruntled driver behind.

The next day dawned and unfortunately the rain from the previous night had not abated and was pounding down as hard as ever. We did not have high hopes for our motorbike tour in these conditions but it turned out that even monsoon style weather couldn't dampen the spirits of Mr Ty and Mr Da and they arrived with full on cagoules and waterproof trousers for us in a very fetching metallic blue colour! So began an action packed day where we saw temples, tombs, American bunkers, an agriculture museum, pagodas, monks, incense making and most impressively the citadel at the heart of the old city. Mr Ty was brilliant so warm and always up for a laugh. When we visited the American bunker he told us how when he was young his father had been killed in the war and his personal experience made it all the more poignant.The rain continued throughout the day and although we had a great time in spite of it by 4pm it was getting us down a little and we were happy to be back and get warm in the hotel. We stayed in all evening as we were pretty exhausted and I overdosed on crap American TV…aaah.

Next day, yet another bus, this time to Hoi-An the cultural jewel of Vietnam's coastline!