Hué sits pretty much on the old border of North and South Vietnam and we could have visited the old DMZ (Demilitarised Zone) which separated the two warring countries (or two bits of the same country that was arbitrarily split by the French in 1954). In the end we did not and settled for visiting the old royal palaces and tombs of the thirteen Kings of Vietnam that ruled between 1802 and 1945. During that time Hué acted as the capital city of Vietnam.

The impressive Citadel walls also house the Forbidden Purple City where the royal family lived when in residence in Hué. Much of the inner area was bombed in both the French Indochina war and the American supported Vietnam war. To have seen this before it was flattened would have been impressive as only five of the original buildings remained standing and most of what is seen today, which is only a small part, has been reconstructed over recent years. We were fortunate to get a dry day in order to visit the Citadel area, which was a blessing after two very wet days in Hoi An.

Our luck with the weather again ran out the following day as we had arranged to go on a tour to some of the royal tombs that dot the landscape around Hué. There are times when you would like more time to visit this type of historic sight when on an organised trip, but the weather was foul and too be honest getting back into the minibus was much appreciated as trenchfoot was setting in! The tombs were very impressive and given better weather would have been absolutely stunning both in the buildings themselves as well as the landscaped areas and natural surroundings in which they sat. Our international group made the best of a bad job and I really felt for those that were on the full day tour that took in the Citadel in the afternoon as that really would be hard going. The drop off at the hotel at lunchtime for a change of clothes and an afternoon in the dry was also most welcome and that is pretty much where we stayed until nipping out for some food in the evening. The weather really was miserable and it felt cold for the first time on the trip.

The hotel in Hué was probably the best of the trip so far. The Eldora Hotel was still in a 'soft opening' phase and was not that busy but it was a nice bit of luxury for just £35 a night including a rather sumptuous buffet breakfast. Our third full day in Hué was also written off because of the weather and now I understand why the Vietnamese wear flip flops (thongs, for my Australian readers) as there is no need for lengthy drying out of shoes - my Gortex Merrell walking shoes are pretty much ruined after being so wet . . . it is a good job you can not smell them via this blog as the drying process has not been kind! I very much doubt they will be making a return to the UK.

After Hué we travelled by train to Dong Hoi (3 hours) only for the reason that it broke our journey up on the way north, removing the need for either a very long day train trip or travel overnight. A journey on Vietnamese Railways can be a real challenge - and it seems far more so for Heather than myself. With Rail TV constantly blaring out poor quality music, repetitive tiresome adverts and fairly pointless shows that no one seems to watch or totally different music being played at the same time on a separate set of speakers at each coach end. The 'Quiet Coach' has not yet made any inroads here unfortunately as the Vietnamese are generally loud people, whether talking with each other or shouting into a mobile telephone. It is a harsh language too which makes things even less peaceful and Heather will definitely be pleased to be finished with this section of our trip. Add this to the hygiene factors, coughing, a bit of spitting and sub average western toilets that are slopping with what is hopefully just water (and how do they use a squatting pan on a moving train?) then it all adds up to an interesting and very different rail journey. Oh, and don't forget about the odd cockrel being carried in a box (despite Vietnamese railway regulations not allowing the carriage of live animals, dead bodies etc, etc) . . . cocka doodle doo!

Dong Hoi itself offered very little except for an impressive looking cave system about 50km from the city which would have taken most of our one day in the city to really do it justice. Given the following day we had an eight hour rail journey ahead of us (more music, adverts . . . . etc), neither of us really fancied being underground and we settled for a lot of walking instead. The beach and the attractive promenade had lots of unrealised potential that a bit of decent management and investment could have easily sorted - maybe it will become the next big thing in Vietnam or, more than likely, it will not!

Anyway, just four more trips by train in Vietnam lie ahead of us . . . . . . . . .the long winded announcements about safety notices, having the correct type of ticket, or the non availability of the buffet trolley that we get in the UK will seem far less annoying when we get back home.