This blog actually starts in Hue which is half way down the coast of Vietnam. The maps didn't recognise this so we're having to include it in this Saigon chapter. Anyway, we only had a day in Hue, but it is only a small town and was easily covered in that time. Firstly we saw the forbidden purple city, the residence of the old Vietnamese monarchy. I guess it is modelled on the Beijing equivallent, but was is a significant state of ruin. Never the less it stil...

We've only just arrived but I can tell you that Hanoi is mental. Simply mental. There is congestion, pollution, car horns constantly, motorbikes, near misses and apparently no road rules! I thought I would be ahead of the game by speaking French, but they seem to speak English more readily! We arrived safely if not hairily! It took us some five minutes to get across the road to the only food place that still seemed open, but had a nice simple meal and a welcome c...