I've now ventured down the coast to the small historical town of Hoi An. It's raining....lots! Apparently, Vietnam is under the centre of a tropical storm. Great! At least I'm more used to this type of weather? The Hill Tribe trek was amazing. It took the "team" a while to get started but we then set off surrounded by a gaggle of H'mong children. We'd spent some time talking/playing games with them over the preceding days so they were excited that we were visiting their village. After a slippery descent it was great to walk along the river and imagine their way of life. Saw many cunning uses of the river including a rice crusher which used a cantilever...I'm such a geek! Arrived at the homestay in Ta Van village to find more tribal women trying to sell their wares. This got a bit waring (no pun intended!) in the end but they eventually left us alone by 6pm. Ate a sumptuous feast and washed it down with a shot of the local liquor - hairs a plenty on the chest after that! Walked through 3 different tribal areas and it was interesting to see the differences in costume, customs and even the way they made their houses. Overnight train back to Hanoi was amusing as we had a selection of visitors from the local populace. Not sure if word had got around that 4 girls were sharing the carriage or they just wandered past and popped in for a visit but the guard enjoyed looking through my photos anyway...?! Visited the traditional water puppet theatre for a bit of culture the next day. Great performance but due to a Japanese tourist with unfeasibly big hair sitting in front of me I didn't have the comfortable viewing position I'd hoped for. Followed up with a bit of pampering though...Bliss. Another overnight train journey took us to Hue. Visited the Imperial Citadel which was pretty much destroyed in places during the Tet Offensive (look at me knowing something historical!!); took a boat trip along the Perfume River; had a delicious vegetarian lunch at a Buddhist Monastery; and absorbed some of the tranquility at the Royal Tombs of the Nguyen Emperors. All in all, managing to relax into this whole travelling malarkey! Hope all good with you all. S x