A three hour bus journey took us to the city of Hue for a night. It's hard to remember from memory exactly what we did where, as the days and weeks seem to just blur into a mass at the moment. Hue was a relitively vibrant, bustling city, and we spent the afternoon on a motorbike tour which was immense. Dad, forget a car - I want a bike! Although to fully enjoy and appreciate this, I will also need to live in a nice hot country! So start saving now!

As I climbed aboard the bike, I instantly said to the driver "safe and slow, safe and slow". He nodded, then instantly revved up and whizzed to the front of the queue of bikes. Clenching my teeth and holding on so tightly my knuckles turned white as we swerved and dodged oncoming traffic was the worst part. Once through the mayhem I began to relax slightly. We somehow made it across crossroads, I don't know how this system operates without any traffic lights or set regulations, but somehow it works. The general concensus is to go and avoid hitting anything else. Once through, we were beside a river, and it made for some great photography, I wasn't however confident enough at this time to take my hands of the back ofthe bike to reach for my camera. I did relax though, and really began to enjoy the feeling of freedom.

En route we made some pitstops at various sights, including some ancient tombs, which are situated by a picturesque lake, some war bunkers set amongst the countryside, which were used by the Americans. We also some ho traditional Vietnamese hats are made as well as incense.

The real fun began when we headed for the countryside and the speed increased. It was amazing whizzing through the rice paddies, to see how the locals really live and function. The roads were covered in rice, and random fires were lit along the roadside, where the rice was being burned. Women were perched in the centre of the road as the sorted and crops for harvest, and they would shuffle back out of the way for the bikes to pass.

We spent a good hour trawling the countryside and taking in the sights, sounds and smells as the sun had set and dusk was creeping in, we circled back towards the bright lights of the city. As if by magic we were suddenly immersed once again within the hustle and bustle, and the beeping horns of the city.

I am now desperate for the same buzz and craving the speed, I just want to go even faster next time!

The following day we explored the Citadel - which is a former imperial city, which was heavily bombed by the Americns during the war. Now a Unesco World Heritage Site, the inner site includes a 'forbidden city', - based on that of China, however as a whole I wasn't as impressed as the guidebook had insinuated I should be. The immense heat was also a contribuing factor to this, and also the volume of stairs. We have climbed so many stairs on this trip already, there are only so many more you can take. I better have good legs by the end of this trip if nothing else.

Having had a good nosey round the citdel and it's ruins - the site is huge so we only covered it partially, we headed for lunch and then to the train station for yet another overnight train.

Hmm, overnight trains suddenly weren't our thing again, after our last bad experience...Some people bought large quantities of alcohol, in the hope that intoxication would soften the blow of cockroachs crawling ove them. I would have been tempted to do the same, however I couldn't be bothered to carry another heavy bag. I'm sure my backpack is getting heavier by the day.

Our train pulled up beside us, and on the side it read: 'Tourist Train' - did this have connotaions that it would be of a better standard? It sure did. We were practically jumping with glee, as we hopped aboard, and discovered clean sheets, a nice bathtroom and wooden panelling everywhere. It kind of resembled a sauna. Bizarre, but hey, we were happy campers once again. And apparantly so, lucky campers too, as GAP. had 'forgot' to book us on a sleeper train, and the luxury one was the only one left. Result!