Hue (pronounced Wey Hey!) was the old imperial capital of North Vietnam until 1945. At its centre there is a citadel hiding a forbidden city within its walls which was erected for the emperor's between the 17th and 19th century. In days gone by only the emperor's, their concubines, their closest family and advisors were allowed to enter. Nowadays it is a tourist attraction but as we cycled round and round, past the tanks and aircraft abandoned there during the Vietnamese war, we realised that it's still impossible to get iN, we gave up in the end, it was like a massive PlayStation game with no start! Good job we weren't cycling around it in the 17th century as apparently if a stranger gained access without permission he would be slaughtered by decapitation immediately!!

Hue stands on the inappropriately named 'Perfumed River'….well it certainly does have an aroma but it was more like goats feet than Channel No5!. Anyway we hopped on a long speedy dragon boat and sped down the northern banks of the river towards the Thien Mu Pagoda. The pagoda has seven storeys and is the tallest one in Vietnam and it still functions as a working monastery for Buddhist monks. It's a very quiet, pretty and tranquil place but its most famous claim to fame is that it was once home to Thich Quang Duc a Buddhist Monk who fought for religious equality and who in 1963 protested against the treatment of Buddhists.

After driving to the Cambodian embassy in Saigon, Thich Quang Duc sat quietly on a little cushion in the road and started to meditate ,he then asked another monk to pour gasoline over his head and then he lit a match and set light to his own robes. He didn't flinch or move and continued to meditate until the flames took his life. A horrific protest and grim claim to fame for this beautiful tranquil place…..

As we walked around we saw the Thich Quang Duc's iconic little pale blue Austin Westminster car which had been bought back to the pagoda after the protest and displayed as a memorial to him. Legend has it that 'that night hundreds of Vietnamese claimed to see the face of Buddha in the sunset, and that Buddha wept'. Very sad story but another fascinating piece of history in this amazing country.

Ray and I were the only passengers on our dragon boat which was piloted by a husband and wife team. On the way back the lady started to display her watercolour paintings, t shirts, decorated pointy hats, beers, necklaces and any other tacky souvenirs she had on board. We politely declined all of her wares to the point of feeling slightly embarrassed and under pressure. Eventually I think they got sick of us being tight westerners and moored up on the riverbank where there was no pontoon or harbour and we were gestured to get off the boat. We had to climb over the dragons face at the front of the boat and grapple our way up the bank through the reeds!!...

As we emerged from the reeds we noticed that the river banks were filling up with hundreds and hundreds of yellow, red and pink flowers in large ornate pots….this was the start of the forth coming Chinese New Year and we were heading to Hanoi!!!