Suzi 25/07/06

I completely forgot to say last time but, in case you haven't guessed (being as our flight to San Francisco is on 2 August!) we have altered our travel plans once more! We are missing out Laos completely from this trip as we liked Vietnam so much it seemed such a shame to rush through both countries with 9 days in each and better to spend 18 days getting to know Vietnam better. As we near the end of our time here, feel it was completely the right decision and Laos is now top of our holiday list for next year (replacing Norway, which retains the number 2 spot, definitely not "nil point" as far as we're concerned!).

Have had a nice 3 days in Hue. Not as much fun as Hoi An and lads more tourists but still nice. Are also back on our own now as John was staying on in Hoi An for a bit. We were sad to say goodbye as really enjoyed his company but looking forward to a beer in London with him in November! It's a small world travelling Vietnam in any event. We bumped in to Anos and Hilliard, the Danish couple we were staying with at Sam Mountain in Chau Doc in the tailors in Hoi An and Huw met up with the Irish couple he stayed next door to in Dalat so there are familiar faces in most places, which coupled with very friendly locals, makes this a great country to visit. Disproportionate number of french tourists but you can't have everything (hee hee!).........

You can always tell which places are more "touristy" here as the moto drivers chase you everywhere! We went on a cruise down the Perfume River yesterday was very relaxing and included a yummy free lunch (with green beans in soya sauce and some kind of tofu we could not identify but tasted really nice!). We visited the pagoda and monastery where Buddhist monk Thich Quang Duc lived and studied before he hit the world headlines for burning himself alive in Saigon in protest against the imminent war. We also went to see the tomb of Tu Duc, one of the Nguyen emperors who ruled here when Hue was the capital (until 1945) and wandered around the Citadel. It's a copy of the Forbidden City, even to the bell and drum towers at the entrance to mark dawn and dusk, but much smaller so, I'm very pleased to say given the temperatures here at the moment, not so exhausting to explore!

We're off to Hanoi on the overnight train in a few hours and will hopefully fit in a couple of days at Ha Long Bay before our flight back to Bangkok. We booked a seat as it was half the price of a bed so hope will still be able to move enough to climb on the back of a moto on arrival in Hanoi! We're on the "Reunification Express" again so looking forward to the free food as its very tasty (with the exception of the beansprout soup, can't recommend that to anyone! Pho is great though!).

Quick tip before I go! Air Asia are the SE Asia equivalent of RyanAir and are very cheap (our flight Hanoi to Bangkok was only 33 pounds each and its cheaper if you book further in advance). If you're coming out this way, its therefore really worth looking at getting a flight to a hub city (like Bangkok, which is cheap from the UK) and then booking an onward "no-frills" flight. It's a tip that was passed on to us by John so we're trying to keep on spreading the word.