Bikes, monks and tunnels.

After another exceedingly good train we arrived in very hot Hue and after offloading 9kg of washing (yes, 9kg!) we took a motorbike tour from Thu’s cafe - it was excellent although I started off a little cautious on the back of my driver's bike whizzing through the busy main roads, then twisting and turning down the backstreets before making our way along narrow paths in between vast expanses of paddy fields and vast expanses of ducklings! (noodle soup as our driver shouted, pointing and laughing!).

Looking cool!

The moat around the Citadel

The Gremelin in the Citadel

It was a great way of seeing a different side to Vietnam and it was excellent to see things from a different perspective, not from the inside of a tour bus. We visited a whole load of pagodas, temples, the Hue’s Citadel (complete with elephants!) and even had the mesmerising experience of witnessing some buddhist monks during prayers and chanting - it was amazing as we sat on the floor of their temple watching them chant, sounding gongs and chimes etc!

The next day we went for an all-day excursion to the de-militarised zone (DMZ) just north of the former demarcation line between North and South Vietnam. The most fascinating (and slightly scary!) experience was that we visited some underground tunnels made by the Viet Cong army in the 60s to avoid US detection - they were truly unbelievable and even included an underground kitchen, several wells, and maternity ward where 17 babies were born!

The bridge over the former demarcation line

Teej's great big chopper

Teej in the tunnels

Well, further south now to Hoi An where Grem is going to set the world record for clothes purchases in a three day period. This will be amazing for her and pretty dull for me – good thing the beer’s still cheap!