Celadon Palace Hue

... one but leaned over to smell the aromatic branches she had nearby whereupon she whacked me with a switch of the stuff. I was more surprised than anything else and a nearby stall holder came over clearly embarrassed and said, "She velly *******e , I velly solly", so I replied 'no worries' thinking I'll store this one up to think about.

I am extremely vigilant but you can't rule out the unexpected so it was good to be reminded of that!

... just to give it a go.


]

After lunch we drove through the countryside to a village where there was a wooden covered Japanese bridge built in 1600. It is now the local hangout & where the old people have an afternoon rest. Two lovely old men around 80 were having their afternoon lie down on the lovely cool wood bench seats ...

DAY NINE
After a 12 hour sleeper train from Hanoi to Hue - we arrived first thing in a morning feeling more than a little jaded!
Each train cabin had 6 beds and it felt like sleeping on a wooden door - so its fair to say they were not comfortable!
At one stage we were playing cards and drinking beers when some Vietnamese guy came and stood outside our cabin door staring at us ... he stayed for about 5 mins and then started singing! We were just ...

... you develop a façade of tough independency, because dependency and need is a weakness often exploited here, financially more than anything else.

Once down, we got our main packs back and got the hell out of there. We caught a bus full of people. A bicycle crowded the aisle and bags of rice took up seats. It was hardly an hour before we were in Hue. We bargained with the guy at Lenh’s hotel for a bit and finally got a decent room for $4 each. I was feeling decent and the ...

... wasn't on my list of "to-dos" for this trip, I figured it'd be a once in a lifetime opportunity and make a great story! While waiting for the bus to pick us up and escort us to Snake Village, I met several of the thick-skinned and strong stomached individuals that were about to sample various snake parts with me. I met a couple from Australia, two guys from London (surprise surprise everyone here is British!), two guys from Belgium and the tour guide from Mexico. Once we arrived at Snake ...

Today I took a motorbike out and looked around the rest of the Hue. It was a bit tomb raider-ish. There were no people around and I was just wandering around by myself.



First stop Bao Quoc Pagoda which I found with the help of some locals. I was the only one there, no one trying to sell me anything just a quite, relaxing ...

... fertiliser and savoured this magical location.

The border itself was a simple enough affair. We were granted leave from Vietnam, walked to the next place and after some queues and paperwork were granted a visa and gained access to Laos. The only problem was that the toilets were on the other side of the border and so I would have needed temporary asylum to relieve myself. I decided this would not be granted and headed for the bush instead, but ...

... que va succeir durant la guerra del Vietnam i que ajuden a comprendre una mica la psique de la gent d'aquest pais. L'excursio passa per algunes bases militars americanes ara recuperades per la selva o reconvertides en plantacions de cafe, per paisatges desolats pels efectes encara persitents avui en dia de l'agent taronja o el napalm, per camps que encara conserven els craters dels bombardejos, i acaba amb la visita a uns tunels que els nord vietnamites ...

... but it still has this amazing secret garden kind of feel to it with different things hidden around every corner. The next day I did a city tour which took us to this incredible garden with all sorts of fruits and vegetables growing in tiny knotted corners. Next stop was a Buddhist Pagoda just outside of town which was truly stunning. Felt like possibly the most peaceful place I have ever been and I could have ...

... will get you, be it something flying, crawling, jumping or creeping, we've probably not gone a day without at least a couple of bites between us.

Thankfully (selfishly) the bugs seem to prefer the taste of Katie to me, so she's been the one most incovenienced so far, the poor thing.

Ants in particular are everywhere, so everytime you lean against something (tree, table etc) there's a good chance of them running up ...