From Hoi An we took a crap bus with no air con to Hue, which thankfully was only a 3.5 hr journey. The scenery was ok but it allowed us to see just how badly they drive here. Our bus couldn't get up any hills and went at a snail pace, motorbike drivers know no road rules at all and just drive anywhere they wish and the use of the horn is so over the top - it says 'I'm behind you so don't pull out', 'i'm behind you so pull in' 'I'm here- thought you'd like to know', 'anyone need a ride?' - so many uses of the horn it's funny to see but not funny to hear! :o)

As soon as we got to Hue, we were mobbed as we got off the bus by people trying to get you to their hotels or to have taxi rides, buy books, bananas, everything and they were soooo agressive. We were so pissed off. They also lie about how far places are just so you use their services. Our hotel was supposedly 3 km away but we could actually walk it and there the other annoying things started as we stayed in a crap hotel for the following reasons:
1) The hotel receptionist was totally miserable and unfriendly
2) The hotel food was crap and the waitresses openly spit in front of you - yuck!!
3) Having dinner one night we saw a rat run across the floor and the waitress tried to tell us it was a bloody cat!
4) The waitresses only speak to single, older, white, tubby men - no-one else is important to them
5) In the restaurant next door, we left early as the table of men next to us just did not stop spitting on the floor by the table - so disgusting by anyone's standards!!

The only thing we found to do in Hue was the visit the citadel which was worth a visit. Emperor Gia Long in the 19th Century decided he wanted a walled city and in it's hey-day, it comprised 148 buildings, but now only 20 of the original ones have survived.

We were so so happy to leave Hue and fly to Hanoi, the capital, where we really didn't know what to expect after our bad experience in Hue. Hanoi is a breath of fresh air. The people are lovely, the town is mad but has charm and the hotel we stayed in was brilliant! The Serenity Hotel on Cau Dong is wonderful. They do everything for you from booking trips at reasonable rates to taking Max for his hair cut so he wasn't charged foreigner prices- however he still came back with an army cut and a hammer and sycle on the back of his head - you will notice he is now wearing a cap and there are no more photos of him from hehind :o)

The first day we had a walk in the neighbourhood and got to know our surroundings. The next day, Max went to Ha Long Bay on a boat trip and I went for a Vietnamese cooking class which was nice but short and as the other three people didn't turn up, I ended up cooking and having my dinner at 10.30 but I enjoyed making my green papaya salad, Hanoi spring rolls and stir fried chicken with lemongrass and sweet chilli. I then hung out at the hotel as the weather was a bit rubbish and planned our final weeks, ordered sample wedding invitations (so exciting) and then I went for a massage and a facial which was really nice and relaxing, before heading back to the hotel for a nap, watching rubbish HBO films and waiting for Max to come home. He came back around 8.30 and we ordered take away from Papa Joe's before bed. The next day we had a lazy morning and then went for a walk around Hoan Kiem lake to see the Opera House and we bought another painting. We have no idea where any of the stuff we have bought is going to go but its fun to haggle and get a piece of art for next to nothing!

From here we had lunch and then went to see the Water Puppets which were brilliant. So well done and with the programme telling you what each piece was about, it was easy to follow and very nice to watch for an hour. Well worth the 60,000 VD entrance (about 2.5 €)

From here we headed back to the hotel and chilled out watching Ghostbusters and Eraser on HBO before getting ready to go the station for our train to Sa Pa. The hotel had arranged a taxi and one of the staff even came with us to get us on the train which was great. We had a 4 berth soft sleeper which means you have 2 sets of bunks, a mattress and its pretty ok. Not 5 star but ok. We shared our cabin with two guys from Canada (bonjour if you are reading this) which was good as I had images of chickens and 6 locals sharing two beds - and we settled down to the 8 hour journey - I did not sleep AT ALL...it was so noisy and bumpy and we woke up at 4.30am and gradualy tried to get awake but it was difficult...and we ended up being still in bed when everyone else had left the train so we quickly got ready and got off the train around 5.30am and waited for our guide who was so late so we were a little peed off as it was raining and it was too earlyhe eventually turned up and we got a bus to Sa Pa where we stayed at the Fansipan hotel which was great.

The staff there were so lovely, and after a shower and a nice breakfast, we met our guide called Victory as well as 2 Danish girls who were on the same tour (who were born in 1990 so made us feel really old!) and we had a nice day visiting Cat Cat village and Sin Chai village where we met the local Hmong tribal people., had lunch and then headed back to Sa Pa up a steep hill and then we veged out at the hotel for the rest of the day as we were tired from the trek and from the non-existent sleep on the train. We then had a lovely dinner in the restaurant next to the hotel and then had an early night.

The next day after a great sleep, we set off for another trek with two new companions, Caroline and Maryline from Montreal to see other villages and the beautiful scenery around Sa Pa. We visited Linh Ho, Lao Chai and Ta Van villages to see the Hmong, Zay and Red Dao tribes. It was a long trek and our guide said we would walk 18 km but I'm not sure we walked that far. We trekked through the countryside and rice paddies, stopping to take photos of the buffalos working the land, families working in the fields, dirty children fishing in mud and hundreds and hundreds of pot-bellied pigs! Around 3.30 we were pleased to see our army jeep waiting for us and we had a ride back up the hill. We then hung around at the hotel chatting with Thuyen, checking out the internet and sending Max for pain au chocolat before having dinner and then taking the bus to the station.

We shared our cabin this time with a German couple, who after 10 minutes went to bed so it was a pretty quiet journey. Max upstairs and me downstairs :o) This time, I slept better, despite the noisy neighbours but it was still hard getting up at 4.30am..and it wasn't fun haggling for a taxi at that time either but we eventually got to the hotel and had to wake the poor guy who was sleeping on reception, to get a room for free for the day and to crash out for a few hours. At 9am we got up for brekkie and our favourite omelette before chilling out in the room watching snowboarding and sorting out wedding invitations before heading in to town for lunch and then back to the hotel to get the taxi to the aiport and our flight to Luang Prabang in Laos.

Our Vietnam journey has ended and we have mixed feelings on leaving the country and our time here. There is no doubt that it is an interesting country and quite unlike anywhere we have been before but it has not filled us with a desire to ever come back. If you like overcrowded, constantly busy places where you have to haggle for everything and lose time everywhere you go, it's the place for you. It's a place where the people often insult your intelligence by lying to you and hiking the prices so high that no-one with a brain the size of a pea would agree to. A friend of mine told me that Vietnamese people would give you their last cent but I say only if you pay them a euro for it....We realise it is a poor country that has risen from the ashes after years and years of war, but they want money for everything and see Westerners as a means to get it.....Some people do it respectfully, others not. It is also interesting to be a woman in Vietnam as we have witnessed countless occasions where I simply did not exist when in the prescence of Max....and drivers would rather run a pregnant woman over than stop for her to cross the street.

Don't get me wrong, we have enjoyed our visit here and seen some interesting places, met some lovely (and not so lovely) people but our patience and annoyance levels have been stretched to the limit on occasions which makes us happy to leave and experience something new. As we all know, travelling is a very subjective topic and everyone's experience is different but I thought I would share our thoughts with you before we move on to Laos.