HUE We took the bus up to Hue which was only 5 hrs taking in some scenic views on the way. No hassle with this or checking into the hostel, which again was a really high standard for the price. Hue is a small pleasant city with a river and a citadel and many temples and pagodas in and around the city, so there is a lot to see and do in a just a few days. We decide to take a boat tour of the various temples as there are so many to see spread out over a pretty wide area. It turns out to not be our best decision ever as we end up on a floating wreck of a house boat where the first thing they do is try and get us to buy lunch from them - which is actually extra lunch as our lunch was included in the price of the trip - this kind of friendly extortion sets the tone for the day. It seems that tourist tax is rife in Hue. We stop at 4 or 5 different places which all charge pretty hefty entry fees... this wouldn't be a problem in itself but our tour only allows us 40 minutes at some of the main sites where you could quite easily have spent half a day and justified the entry price... anyway moaning aside we saw some really great buildings, tombs and temples and all in all, it was an enjoyable day. We spend the rest of our time in Hue exploring the Citadel which is also really interesting and beautiful. This citadel itself was the ancient capital of Vietnam and has hosted a few tasty battles over its history and also in modern times, so the battle scars are still there for all to see. It's such a beautiful and tranquil place that it's hard to imagine American or Vietnam tanks rolling through it but that's what happened, as such a lot of the inner parts of the Citadel have been destroyed. After the Citadel we have one of the best meals of our lives - yes even better than one of Mark's roast dinners, no joke - at a tiny grubby looking restaurant which was mentioned in the Lonely Planet. It is run by a lovely guy who is deaf and dumb so we communicate by sign language and drawing pictures, sounds quite strange but it works out fine. Seriously it's one of the best eating experiences ever - who would have thougt that spring rolls, vegetables and rice paper could taste this good??? We put it down to the amazing peanut satay sauce... totally divine!