November 28, 2006 Tuesday Arriving at Hue train station at 9am we caught taxis to our hotel (Duy Tan Hotel) and had a little time to relax before taking a slow cruise down the Perfume River by dragon boat. We stopped off at the Thien Mu Pagoda before heading further along the river towards the tomb of the Emperor Tu Duc. On the walk from the riv...

The day after our DMZ tour, Marc and myself did a half-day tour of the city, which was the political capital of Vietnam from 1802 to 1945. As it was the capital during that period, there are a number of tombs in the area, including the impressive Citadel (pity it was bombed during the American War). We opted for the half-day tour as it reduced t...

Idag har det bare regnet hele dagen, super kedelig, men det har ikke forhindret os i at faa set noget. Vi startede med at se Vietnams svar paa Beijings forbudte by, flot, men noget forfalden. Derefter hoppede vi saa paa en baad og sejlede ned af "The Perfume River" til en pagode. Derfra sejlede vi lidt videre og koerte nogle minutter paa motorcy...

Go to the Summary Page ___________________________ The night in the train from Ninh Binh to Hue was a real luxury compared to our previous experience a few days before; this time we had soft seats, which are reclinable seats like the ones found in a bus. We even had aircon in our carriage. And we had brought a few liters of Bia Hoi from Ninh Bin...

Stayed at Hue - Bedlam The last place I expected to be in Hue was inside the hotel manager's seedy bedroom, with a grungy looking bathroom and even grungier looking Y-fronts hanging up everywhere. Still when you've been thrown off a train unexpectedly at 3.30am and then driven through a silent and scary city to be met by a pretty girl in her Sco...

We spent one more night in Hanoi after the Ha long Bay adventure and what a great night it was ... as we watched Ireland beat England in the rugby and win the triple crown. The next day after a late start we took an overnight train to Da Nang, which is just south of the Demilitarilised Zone (DMZ) and served as a major US military base during the...

taking 11pm train to hue. was very comfortable. met a french couple from marseille, and a swiss french guy in the cabin. Once in Hue, got a free lift to a hotel, but decided against staying there so walked into town. (& bought a pair of shoes, and some fried sweet things on the way on the pavement.) Found the area/road called East Le Loi, and st...

Next stop was Hue. We had hired a van for the 3 days we would be in Central Vietnam. So my Aunt (Gi Liem) and my cousin (Chi Mi) drove with the drive to pick us up. We drove to our hotel where we dropped off our stuff and prepared to have dinner at my Aunt Liem's house. I really wasn't hungry but for Vietnamese women (esp old school Vietnamese w...

Hello everyone!!!!!!! After I'd said good bye to China, I plodded through the sheets of rain over the bridge between China and Vietnam, where my passport got soaked at 4 or five checkpoints along the way. You'd think they would get at least an umbrella for the guard. When I finally got through, I had no idea what to do. I wanted to speak Chinese...

Thursday November 6th The train down from Hanoi was fantastic. I had heard stories about ticket scams (ie paying for a first class ticket only to be given a pleb class seat 5 minutes before departure) but my trip worked out perfectly. For $30 I got a soft bed in an air-conditioned 4 berth cabin which I ended up sharing with a Canadian couple (eh...