Good afternoon, Vietnam

The road from Savakhannet to the Lao Bao border crossing for Vietnam was generally ok but maybe in need of a bit of re-surfacing here and there. And there.. It was a pretty quiet bus so we were able to spread out and get in some sleep over the whole journey. When crossing the border it was the usual case of fees for it being said day, exit fee, then entry fee.. During this time you'd be offered by groups of ladies to exchange your Lao kip for Vietnamese dong though we didn't bother. Thinking back they were probably 2/3 of value... After some checks on the bus we carried on and eventually got to Hue in the evening time - as you started into the country the mountains, rivers and countryside are breathtaking, slowly but surely merging into concrete houses then industrial behemoths.. It was raining in Hue as we'd kind of expected, and being tired we got an overpriced taxi - best to make a small mistake early. The hotel was down a dirt track alley and first night wasn't the best - a leaking ceiling from being below the flat roof top with an inch of water collecting there - and ants in the morning. We moved room no problem but decided to move hotel for the rest of the time there. We took a long walk round town the first day, having found a cool local craft shop run by deaf / mute artisans supporting heart operations for children called Healing The Broken Heart - you could visit where the stuff was made but each time we went it was either closed or not much was going on.. Taking a trek to the far side of town we found out about the trains for heading north to Hanoi and on our way back visiting a vast post-gothic church which was rather surreal then finding the big supermarket..
Next day we headed out of town on a tour to see the various sights outside the main town booked through our hotel. Starting by dragon boat down the Huong / Perfume river our guide wasn't exactly an expert seemingly making up information and answers using the english he knew.. It was still interesting to see Garden House - a traditional style house - Hon Chen Temple and Thien Mu Pagoda - Hue's oldest. Also here was the car owned by the Buddhist monk Thich Quang Duc, an abbott of the Thuoc Hoa pagoda who drove to Saigon, doused himself in petrol and set himself alight to protest at the treatment of buddhists by Southern Vietnam under Diem. You may recognize this tale as being 'the RATM album cover'
We headed from there towards the tombs of the monarchs, firstly Minh Mang, we changed guide here and this guy knew his field. The feng shui here is apparently very good - I was impressed by the vastness of the symmetry.. Designed in the shape of a body it was a massive site. Next was Khai Dinh tomb, fairly modern and incredibly decorative. high on a mountain so that finally in death he could be above the French who had presided over his reign.. Next was Tu Duc tomb, a more spread out enclosure like area, with lakes and over 100 buildings.. It was a nice site and made for a good end to visiting the tombs. Finally on our way back we visited some road side shops where we got to see production of incense sticks and conical hats, pretty interesting but brief enough to not feel like a sales pitch. We caught up with more information about the first sights we'd visited and heard a few funny tales making it a worthwhile - and fortunately sunny day.
Next day was typically British weather so we kept going outside to short local trips, next day we booked up our train to Hanoi and set about visiting the Imperial Citadel before leaving that evening.
Built around 1804 sadly many buildings were destroyed during the war having been conquered by both sides. It was another vast site and though a guide might have been worthwhile it was mighty impressive none the less.. Just rather sad to think what it might have been like with a bit less war and some more TLC.
We got off to the train station for the evening and settled into our sleeping cabin for the 13hour journey ahead, with the rattle of the train and just darkness outside it felt good to be on the move again..