Huong Giang Hue

... HILARIOUS for wanting to sleep outside, despite the elders offers of a wooden hut (no mozzie protection), we managed to have a peaceful evening, and cooked egg and bacon over the fire (amazing).

We crossed the border into Vietnam at 1200 (after having to beg and plead with the guards to let us through. They wanted to close for lunch), which was situated high up in the mountains. We then flew down into the valley with the bike switched off, for nearly 20km!

We finally ...

... this the day before, it’s not that I didn’t believe him, just seeing it was a different thing. The receptionist giggled and told us of things the man was saying to him. There was some awkward laughter and then we began to ask probing questions trying to figure out if this guy was for real or not. I mean, two Vietnamese ladies were sitting right behind him oblivious to the filth. And that morning he had told us about his daughter and his deceased wife. That kind of expelled ...

When we arrive in Hue in the early afternoon it's been raining for the last few days non-stop, but this is supposed to be the beginning of the wet season so we give it no thought really. We catch a minibus into the backpacker area and get a guesthouse (that actually gives a PC in the room, which we should have used to write our blogs..oh well). We spend the rest of the day not doing much to be honest, just having a bit of a walk around.

When we walk out of the hotel the next day ...

... with a local and make a purchase without the negativity.

Citadel-

We were short on time and all the tuk tuks offering rides to the Citadel and around town swore we were too late to get in the Citadel. Knowing there was a high probability that we wouldn't be allowed in and that we were leaving the early the next morning, we decided to try the odds. Luckily, we had a half hour until the place shut down and since we arrived so late ...

... get onto the train. We returned to the mopeds with much apprehension, but surprisingly, once we left Hue and got onto the country roads we all got the hang of it, and were soon shifting gears, racing along and generally whooping like complete idiots! I have no idea what speed we were going due to broken speedometer, but it was fast and it was fun! We stopped at a couple of Chinese Emporer mausoleums along the way that were admittedly beautiful. Despite being the emporer's final ...

... robed, conducting a ceremony, which was great to see. I wasn't sure how much of it was for the crowd of tourists watching! Thankfully the boat ride back was both cooler and faster. We all met up for dinner and a walk later. Unfortunately this meal did not live up to my lunch. I made the mistake of ordering a ham, cheese and egg toasty, and hadn't anticipated the fact it would be the greasiest toasty I've ever seen with a fried egg sat on the top of the sandwich. Oh well, you win some, you lose some!

... part of the culture, none of the local cafes have air-con so the best place to be in the middle of the day is in my hotel room watching cable tv.

I am still getting regular bouts of well, stay close to a toilet for a few hours, I'm guessing its from the water although i dont directly consume any, knowingly, odds are they dont wash fruit and salad in bottled water and that not all the ice is safe. The locals insist that its ok for ...

... best position is right at the back of the bus, directly at the end of either aisle. There are four seats/beds (two at the top of the two aisles, and two at the bottom) where your feet can just hang out into the aisle instead of trying to fit them under the person in front of you. If I can get one of those next time, I may just be able to get a few hours of sleep!

Hue is quite interesting and I actually would ...