Hue

Caught an open tour bus up to Hue, which is in central Vietnam but still in the South. Bus passed some nice scenery on the way and was painless as usual. Got dropped off at an affiliated hotel and went to a net cafe and checked my emails. Then jumped on a moto taxi over to the hotel my mate Red had picked, stoked spitting a $4 US room, hot water, fridge, air con and a TV. Headed into town to catch up with Val who was staying nearby, met up with her after getting lost and got some dinner at a street stall, rice noodle soup with chunks of beef, only problem is chopsticks, you'd think id be good after 3 1/2 months in S.E Asia.

Next day Red and I caught up with Val and hired some push bikes and took them on a mission, firstly to the citadel, Hues main attraction, was pretty impressive, set out like the forbidden city in China. Lots of damage to it by the weather and the wars. The NVA had a major battle here and held Hue for 3 weeks before being pushed back out by the South (puppet soldiers)/ Americans. After that we headed along the Perfume river to a nice little pagoda with huge bells and nice views up the river, then onwards to the Royal Tombs, was long hot ride to the Tomb of Min Mang, one of the previous rulers in Vietnam. We chose not to go as the entry was fairly steap, and there was more tombs to see. Crossed the river and headed back towards Hue. Took a back road trough small villages and across a cool bamboo bridge where them tried to charge us for crossing, fucken Vietnamese. Saw a couple of less important tombs before heading into the tomb of Tu Du. Was nice, had a lake and some impressive buildings and the burial spot was he highlight. After that we pedaled back into town, on the way I booked a train ticket to Dong Ha, which is about 100km North, fairly close to the 17th Parallel, the DMZ, the old border between the North and the South.

That night said bye to Val as we would probably not catch up again as she was heading up to Hanoi on the Night bus. Went out for some Bia Hoi with Red, tasted alot better than the stuff I've had further south.

The next day went to back and cashed a travellers chq then headed back into the old city and visited a little museum, which had some tanks and artillery outside. Also had an exhibit on the french war and the American war. From the Vietnamese view\point, which I found very interesting. After that caught my Train to Dong Ha, oh yeah, hard seat = wood seats, but the ticket was only $1 US and I got a lunch (was not tasty).