Sunday 18th April - La Nha Island to Halong Bay to Hanoi to Hue - Caught the boat back to Halong Bay - unfortuately it was too cold for a swim - Had antoher great lunch on board before catching the bus back to base camp in Hanoi. On the way we saw 3 dead pigs being carried on the pillion of a motorbike! Caught the overnight train to Hue which took 15 hours and had a 4 sleeper berth, sharing with Bruno and Sylvie from Paris. Slept very well - all 4 of us.

Monday 19th April - Hue - Awoken to the sound of a fist banging on the cabin door of the train. When Bruno opened it we were all swiftly handed the Vietnamese version 'pot-noodle' without being asked whether or not we'd actually like breakfast. We didn't. Walked to the the city centre and jumped on a cyclo (a 3 wheel bicycle that doubles up as a delivery van in these parts) which took us round the citadel and to the Imperial Palace gardens. On our tour we saw Ho Chi Minh's house, an nude art class (no we didn't get involved!)and a jazz ensemble practising. It's amazing what can be carried on these cyclos - 2 plastic garden tables upside-down with 5 plastic chairs hanging off each leg, huge bags of grain, window frames, billboards, full-sized wardrobes, 3 double matresses, you name it and they can carry it on a cyclo! Also saw a one-legged man cycling a bike (as you do)!

Tuesday 20th April - Up at 5.30am to catch bus to the DMZ (DeMilitarized Zone) north of Hue - this was a major hub of activity during the Vietnam war - the (old) North and South Vietnamese border and the link route to Laos via the Ho Chi Minh trail. The most interesting part of the day was the Vinh Moc tunnels where the local Vietnamese people lived in underground tunnels for 6 years to avoid detection. Usually about 350 people lived in the tunnels but sometimes it was up to 700. The tunnels where 10,15 and 23 metres underground and dug out of clay. There was a hopital, supplies and even an underground well down there to help them survive. Walking through the tunnels made it feel like very real recent history.