Well it has been a few days so here goes.

 

Hue was a much less touristy town with an old citadel which was supposed to be good. We had to go in the pouring rain as we only had a day and a half there and didn`t see anything too special. Others we spoke to thought the place was great so I think we missed out on something.

The city is also famous for its Perfume river and tombs of the Nyugen kings so we went up there on a boat trip and had a look at a couple. I think I peeved off the moto drivers when I said I wanted to run to the first one. They couldn`t understand why I would want to run 1.5k each way. It was stinking hot though and I worked up a biit of a sweat. But then everyone else did anyway so what the heck. The tombs were quite nice, but nothing on the scale of what we had seen in Angkor. It was kind of wierd as they had been built by the kings before they died and they actually lived there quite a bit. Who would want to live in their own tomb?

 

Anyway from here it was a 14 hour bus to Hanoi. We stayed here in the old quarter at the Hanoi Lotus. After a look around the lake which is really nice, we decided to book on the hotels Halong bay tour. We put in our washing so we would have a few more clean clothes for the three day trip after being told we would have them back in the morning.

 

The next morning before leaving for the trip, they took a bit to find our washing before giving us a bag with half in it. They had no idea where the rest was. We left hoping it would turn up while we were away and headed tp Halong Bay. This is a bunch of about 3000 islands and islets of a karst limestone type which legend says were created by a dragons tail when it touched the water as it ran out to sea. The whole area is very beautiful and we spent three days cruising in a boat, kayaking, trekking on the biggest island and walking through a huge cave. Unfortunately, we had a generator running next door to us while sleepiong on the boat, the rubbish is all thrown over the side, and the breakfasts were pathetic. The kayak was good though, although Andy still needs some practise.

 

After our trip out there we headed back to Hanoi and tracked down the remainder of our washing after dealing with a very rude hotel receptionist. We then moved to a far nicer hotel with friendly people for only $2US more. The last few days have just been spent looking round the city. We went to Ho Chi Minhs mausoleum. This guy looks like a shorter Asian version of Colonel Sanders. The place is very strict with no cameras pointing talking or stopping to look. You just walk in, around in a line two poeple wide and then out again. Checked out his house, Morris 2 and Peugeot, and the museum before we shipped some stuff using the local postal system. 30 pounds for 14kg to the UK.

We also tried the wider cyclos here but still couldn`t fit both of us comfortably. I don`t know how four Vietnamese ride in these things at a time.

 

We are now waiting for the taxi to the airport to fly to Krabi in Thailand for a few days on the beach before going to England. See all you Poms soon.