Days 7-8: Hue, Vietnam

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After a 12 hour train ride we arrived into Hue, Vietnam. The train cabin wasn't even as bad as I started to dread while in Hanoi, the beds were clean and had duvets and stuff..... though I'd bought a $3 silk sleeping bag in Hanoi just in case!! The cabins are 4 berth but luckily Martin and I had the two top ones, there were 2 vietnamese guys below us and it would have felt a bit weird the other way around....

Our hotel, La Residence, in Hue was sensational, it was an elegant hotel with many hints of a bygone era. It was huge, and had a beautiful pool area, unfortunately being the colder season it was too cold to swim though! The hotel was utter luxury and, due to being the quiet season, was mostly deserted of guests so it was a haven after Hanoi. There was an awesome pool table in the lobby and free wireless internet which helped with the zillion emails I had to send to try and sort out the stolen bag tragedy.

The Citadel was huge, and what I liked about the old imperial city was that some of it was overgrown and in ruins - it felt a lot more real and natural than the temples you go to that seem like they are brand new. Of course, there were buildings like that but I liked the mix of old and restored.

Our hotel was nice that it was across Perfume River from the main centre so we were in a quieter area. We went into a quiet area of town and found the restaurants there so quaint and cute, heaps cleaner than HaNoi and, even cheaper! Woohoo! ;-) Our favourite was "Friendly Restaurant".

Apart from the stressful hours spent sorting out the bag and an infuriating 2 hours trying to reason with local police for a police report, Hue was a good 2 days.

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