After returning from Halong Bay, I spent in Hanoi a few more days. However, it turned out that I was there longer than expected as I became really ill and pretty much bed-ridden for a couple of days (I even had to cancel by bus ticket, but fortunately when I explained it to the staff at the hostel they said that I didn't have to pay extra). I was told that the bus would take 12 hours to get from Hanoi to Hue, so I would be travelling on the night bus. I was at the hostel foyer for 17:30 (when the bus was supposed to arrive), however it was closer to 19:00 by the time the minibus appeared to take us to the bus (it turns out that the Vietnamese have no sense of time-keeping!).

As we were getting on the bus, a girl (Klara) and I were halted and put to one side while our tickets were inspected (with some suspicion!). The driver then pulled us aside, and ordered us to the middle of the bus where we were forced to sit on the floor (while everyone else had beds)! Neither Klara nor I had any clue what was going on. As we got to the edge of Hanoi the bus stopped and the bus driver came over to us and chucked us off the bus!! We were given a few tiny plastic stools and forced to sit at the side of the road, not being told anything! It was here where we watched the bus drive into the distance, sitting completely clueless!!! There were a couple of locals nearby, and fortunately for us there was a woman who spoke pretty decent English and explained to us that there was another bus on the way.

The journey down to Hue itself was pretty bad! The bus was not like the one that we had originally got on (it had no beds). Instead we had to try to sleep on reclining seats, which was pretty bad as they didn't go too far back (in fact mine didn't recline at all)! In addition, what also made the journey uncomfortable was that for most of the way, we were on a road that wasn't in the best condition so we were being woken every time we went through a pothole. It was about 6:30 am when the bus eventually arrived in Hue. From there Klara and I headed straight to the hostel. I hadn't booked a room in advance, which meant that when we got there I had to wait until 11 to see if a room was available (but eventually I did get one).

During that time we were given a shot of homemade vodka for free (apparently it was supposed to taste of apple, but it wasn't very nice). Compared to where I stayed in Hanoi the rooms weren't as good (the toilets flooded twice during my three days there!). On the other hand the hostel had a pretty decent social element, there was a Happy Hour from 6-7 when everyone converged (and on one occasion this got extended by half an hour) and people just stayed at the bar drinking, and having a good time until late at night (which made it easy to meet people). Unfortunately I didn't make it to any of the bars in the town so I have no idea what the social side of Hue is like.

Hue was the capital city of Vietnam during the Nguyen Dynasty and the main attraction is the Citadel (I actually ended up going here twice. The first time I came with Klara, but she wasn't really interested in the building so we left early - plus my camera ran out of battery. The second time with two girls I had met in my dorm - Liz and Jenny.). The Citadel is a massive site, however now it is just mainly ruins as a lot of it was bombed by the Americans during the Vietnam War. A lot of the Citadel had been left to grow naturally since then (particularly the Forbidden City) and was not well maintained. Then there were other areas that still looked in good condition. Finally there were other parts of the site where trash had been dumped and where buildings were being held up by scaffolding (making it a bit of construction site!).

Apart from the Citadel, there wasn't that much to see or do in Hue. I was surprised however by the number of travellers who I've spoken to who said that they didn't particularly like Hue. The guidebook went to the other extreme and gave the impression that Hue is a fantastic place to visit. 'Hue is the intellectual, cultural and spiritual heart of Vietnam. Palaces and pagodas, tombs and temples, culture and cuisine, history and heartbreak - there's no shortage of poetic pairings to describe Hue.' By the sound of things I enjoyed it more than most other travellers I met; however I was definitely not as awestruck as the author of the guidebook. It is a city that is completely different to Hanoi. There is a lot less hustle and bustle, you have less people coming over to you trying to sell you stuff (though it still did happen quite often!). I also felt that the local people were nicer here than in Hanoi, however this may have been because it was Tet and around this time everyone is generally happy (There was even an instance of restauranteur giving Liz, Jenny and I free postcards because we had eaten at his restaurant and it was Tet!). However, I felt that three days of being in Hue was plenty, and it was time for me to move on to Hoi An.