So we have noticed we haven't blogged in a while so today is the big catch up. Probably a trilogy of entries.

Part 1 - Hue.
We were a bit nervous about going to Hue as everyone we met coming the other way said the tropical storm had hit and it was under water and you couldn't get out and the world was ending...

So we were pleasantly surprised when we arrived and the sun was shining. In Hue we visited the citadel - the old walled city, which is still mostly intact. The wall is still there and there is a mixture of old and new building inside it. Its a lot bigger than Hoi An but thankfully no where near as crazy as Saigon. We walked to the citadel and went to the forbidden purple palace, modelled on Beijing's forbidden city but smaller. Unfortunately most of it was bombed to bits so there is a mish mash of foundations and small walls combined with bits that have been rebuilt and look almost new.

We looked at doing a boat ride down the perfumed river and visiting the tombs of previous emperors, but the tombs aren't actually on the river and so that sounded a bit dumb. So instead we hired bikes and cycled to Tu Duc tomb, (about 4 miles away). It was a nice cycle once you got used to just throwing your bike out into traffic and preying, its weird but it seems to sort of work as there are bikes everywhere and we haven't seen any proper accidents.

The tomb was nice and really peaceful - most of the tours arrive in the morning and we got there in the afternoon, so we pretty much had the place to ourselves. We both liked the temple guards (small terracotta ish granite guards, which included horses and elephants), at times it was sort of creepy.

But the cycle back was nice and we found a little barrow selling pastry delights, we didn't know what they were and the stall owners couldn't explain so we dived in and hoped. Luckily they seemed to be variations on a cornish pasty and doughnuts which were all very nice.

The next day we decided to do our own thing before getting on the bus to Hanoi. Claire stayed in the hotel and played the facebook game and I decided to walk to the pagoda which looked pretty close on the map. NEVER believe vietnamese maps, I got there in the end and said hello to lots of nice people on the way but it must have been about a nine mile round trip and my feet were proper messed up as I had been wearing sandels the whole way.

That night we caught the bus and about midnight we met another bus that had broken down so we had two bus loads of people on board.

The next morning when I woke up to check the time I found my camera, etc missing (see previous entry). However on a plus side for Vietnam, the bus driver actually stopped the bus made everyone get off and helped me searched through everyones bags to see if we could find them. And no-one complained!

Unfortunately we think the person involved had got off an hour before hand. (One of the other travellers said he asked where they were and then got the bus to stop so he could leave in the middle of nowhere).

So we arrived at Hanoi three hours late and not happy.

See you for Part 2

Team P