Leaving the warm, beachy Nha Trang, it was a bit of a shock to get off the bus the next afternoon in Hue into cool, cloudy weather. The overnight sleeper-bus itself was great; Mark and I surprised ourselves by sleeping almost the entire ride. Taking the bus saved us a ton of cash over the sleeper train. We were a bit skeptical, but even though it was an older bus, the beds were quite comfortable. This double decker sized bus was all one level, and instead of seats it had 2 aisles with bunk beds running from front to back.

We spent a relaxing afternoon in Hue, walking through the tourist area and around the old and impressive Citadel, which was built in the 18th century and heavily bombed by the Americans during the Vietnam war. We cheaped out and didn't take the tour inside the Citadel, but instead wandered around it's impressive walls, along the moat, and along the Perfume River.

While walking back along the river, it was great to be outside of the usual tourist area. Traveling in 'high season' really hasn't been our thing. Wandering through these neighbourhoods, we made friends with some locals, and sat around for the rest of the afternoon chatting, having drinks, and sharing food with our new Vietnamese friends, Anh and Vinny. They were Easy Riders (motorbike tour guides) and spoke incredibly good english. We sat at a small roadside restaurant with them until dark and as we were thinking about heading home, they invited us out to karaoke. Who were we to resist? We had a ridiculously good time singing and goofing around with them - highlight of which included Vinny singing a very convincing rendition of Lionel Richie's "Hello". Hilarious. It was great just to have a fun group to hang out with for the evening.

Although Hue was a nice, quiet city, we decided that instead of taking another day there to see the sights, we wanted to just keep heading north. The coast east of Hanoi, at Halong Bay was where we really wanted to be. So, Tuesday afternoon, we hopped back on another night bus bound for Hanoi. This time, the bus was much newer and the sleeper beds were fancier. However, the beds were packed in a lot tighter and were a lot less spacious. I definitely did not sleep as well as the first one, although Mark was out like a light! This morning, we arrived in Hanoi and decided again to carry on. We went to another bus station, and bought tickets to Cat Ba, an island in Halong Bay. From Hanoi, we took a bus-boat-bus combo to arrive in Cat Ba Town. And man, are we happy to be here. Although it is winter here and quite cold (well, 17C), it is gorgeous and so much quieter than anywhere else we've been in Vietnam. The traffic is quiet, the people are quiet, and it is not overrun with tourists. We can't wait to get out into the water tomorrow to do some kayaking!!