After breakfast we crossed the river and walked to the Old Citadel in the heart of the city which is a UNESCO world heritage site. From the chaos of the surrounding streets we walked into the comparatively empty and peaceful citadel. 
We spent several hours wandering the deserted gardens and ceremonial halls of the old emperors which was quite impressive and most importantly a well needed restbite from the chaos just outside! From the relative peace of the citadel we headed to the Dong Ba market selling the conical hats that the local women wear in Vietnam and lots of other tourist tack. We got hassled so much that we left after 5 minutes! We were also pretty shattered by this point having been up so early so returned to our hotel and relaxed for the rest of the day watching cable tv in our nice, big, damp room! 
Within minutes, our clothes had absorbed the wonderful mouldy smell of the bed covers.. it was bliss... NOT! We didn't do too much in the evening, just had dinner and wandered the town which is made up of mainly restaurants and souvenir shops. Anyone can set up shop or a food stall here and you commonly see the locals sitting on the pavement or at makeshift tables eating meals which are made by ladies on the street.On Wednesday we took a dragon boat trip along the Perfume River and hopped on and off at the various tombs of the Nguyen dynasty emperors. We boarded a nice big dragon boat for 25 people and with only 16 of us on the boat it looked like we might have a nice spacious trip. However, in true Vietnamese 'never give anything for free' style the boat owners (they are operated by families who also live on the boat) made us change boats and crammed the 16 of us onto a tiny, narrow boat that had a maximum speed slower than our own walking pace! We sat on our garden chairs and set off up the river where for the first 15 minutes the owners tried to sell us drinks and souvenirs over and over again! We were next handed menus (with restaurant prices) to place our lunch orders which the owners cook for you on the boat. We all actually had lunch included in the price of our boat ticket but the boat operators sneakily pass a menu around in hope you order 'extra' food and pay them more money! We have noticed that the Vietnamese can be quite sneaky and mercenary when it comes to money and we have had to be careful not to be trusting. They are also seem to be very mistrusting towards us..... they don't miss a trick and it can be rather tiresome.
The scenery along the banks of the Perfume River ( a lovely muddy brown river!!!!) is not particularly beautiful but watching the local river life is quite interesting. We saw one woman bent over her boat, washing her hair in the river as her husband rowed past us. Some of the conditions that people live in, on tiny wooden boats is beyond
belief and a millions miles from how our life is. To see the babies and small children sat balanced on the edge of boats is always a sight to see as it would never be done in the western world. We chugged slowly down to our first stop, the iconic 16th Century Thien Mu Pagoda picturesquely situated on a hill. On display within the complex was the car made infamous in the photo of the Buddhist monk 
Thich Quang Duc who burned himself to death in Saigon to protest against the persecution of Vietnamese Buddhists. From this pagoda we headed further upstream and took a 2km ride on the back of a motorbike to the Tu Duc tomb where the main Emperor of Hue is buried. The tomb 
complex was peaceful to walk around but was more like a temple than a tomb, with several oriental buildings and a small lake. Nobody actually knows where the emperors tomb is located on the site. We returned back to our boat by motorbike and where the motorbike drivers 'demanded' a beer from the local store as a tip (in addition to payment) for the 2 minute ride. 
Ash refused but his driver picked up a beer and drove off leaving him with the stall holder asking for payment. We haggled begrudgingly down from 40,000 to 20,000 dong (about 80 pence) for 2 beers. In hindsite we should have just said 'no' on principle as by letting them get away with it we only encourage them. We have no problem tipping where it is deserved..... these guys were just greedy and unpleasant.Next stop was the small women's pagoda which wasn't particularly interesting so we sat on the banks of the river to wait for our lunch to be set up on the boat. The owners had set up mats on the floor and laid out bowls of rice, tofu and vegetables and a cold drink.... which of course turned out not to be free... it was the usual trick of putting something in front of you as if it is included and then stinging you for it afterwards. We live and learn and will be asking "how much" before we take or use anything!
After lunch we returned to Hue via the Minh Mang tomb which is a very pretty and peaceful complex with a huge lake and ornate oriental buildings. It was our last stop for the day as we were all completely 'templed' out. We made the slow journey back to Hue and arrived back late in the afternoon.The following morning, Thursday, we took a tourist bus from Hue to Hoi An; a journey of approximately 80 miles but which took 3.5 hours. Travel here is very slow and transport is not particularly easy or frequent. True to form, the bus was 1.5 hours late leaving Hue and after driving only 45 minutes it laughably pulled in for a 40 minute break at one of those tourist cafes where there are a million staff members waiting out front with big smiles because they expect you are going to spend all your money in their shop. Most people on the bus were less than impressed and did not go inside! You can complain about these things but it falls on deaf ears here! We finally arrived into Hoi An in the early afternoon and as luck would have it, the bus drop-off was directly opposite our hotel. We treated ourselves to a nice hotel but were so disappointed to find that our room was damp to the point it was almost wet. You could hardly breathe when you walked into it and it was so unpleasant that we decided to find somewhere else to stay. Ash headed out to find a new hotel while Bi looked after the bags. The reception staff were of course less than pleased when we decided to leave and refused to hand back our passports until a full check of the room had been done by security! Within ten minutes we were in a much more pleasant and dry hotel 2 minutes down the road. It was nearly half the price and a hundred times better! We dumped our bags and headed out to check out Hoi An.
Hoi An is an old trading port established in the 15th century, and the central old town is another UNESCO world heritage site. Hoi An lived up to its reputation and more... the city is quaint and beautiful with pretty colonial French architecture and much to Bi's delight there are coloured lanterns hanging up everywhere!! Similar to Chiang Mai, the city has a nice gentle pace to it which is largely to do with its situation on a river and most importantly only a few mopeds! We instantly liked Hoi An and it was a breath of fresh air, both metaphorically and literally! 
We enjoyed a late lunch on a balcony overlooking the river before walking through the Central Market, which actually functions as a real market rather than being set out for the tourists... we wandered the stalls selling everything and anything: herbs, spices, fruit, vegetables,
fish from the river and pig heads and entrails! Ash was pleased with his photo of an old lady beheading fish from the river with a fag hanging out her mouth! From the market we crossed a rickety wooden bridge to the other side of the river and wandered back along the quiet south bank.
In the evening we headed out for dinner and went to a recommended French-Vietnamese restaurant called Cafe Des Amis, where we were served 5 huge courses of traditional Vietnamese food. There's no menu and what it served is dictated by what the owner feels like cooking that night! The food was excellent and it was nice to try some things that we might not have been game enough to order otherwise! 
We returned along the river and Bi dived into the silk oriental lantern stalls that were all lit up along the bank and we returned to the hotel with a bag full.On Friday we were collected from our hotel just after 8am by another tourist bus (the lack of transport links here makes it difficult to get around independently) and were transported 40km out of the city to the ruins of
My Son, another UNESCO site comprising many ruined Hindu temples in a forested valley surrounded by mountain ranges. The site was heavily bombed during the Vietnam War as the VietCong army hid out in the area which at the time was dense jungle.There was one main ruined temple complex surrounded by some smaller ruins, pot-holed with huge bomb craters. The site was interesting but not particularly spectacular and after an hour we had walked the whole site. We returned at lunchtime by bus, disembarking half-way back to finish the journey by boat. Again we were crammed onto a boat which leaned heavily to one side from all the weight in it! 
We had a gentle hour's cruise back, stopping for 15 minutes at a woodcutter's station to see a workshop and boat-building area. We returned to pretty Hoi An mid-afternoon and found a nice cafe where we treated ourselves to a capuccino and a surprisingly good chocolate fudge brownie! We relaxed for the rest of the afternoon and returned back to the waterfront for an inexpensive and very tasty Vietnamese dinner.This morning, Saturday, was pouring with rain so we didn't venture out of our hostel until midday. The cleaners helped themselves into our room 30 minutes before check-out time to get us out but Ash chased them out so we could finish packing!! They were not happy. We wandered back into Hoi An old town and visited some of the old houses, assembly halls and museums: Quan Cong temple, Tan Ky House and the pretty Japanese covered bridge. Along the way we stopped for lunch at the Cargo Cafe and enjoyed baguettes, cakes and capuccinos!
Mid afternoon, we took a taxi 30km to Danang where we will spend the night before flying to Saigon (Ho Chi Minh city) tomorrow. We have a huge room with big balcony and views over the city and spent the afternoon wandering around the city, markets and along the riverfront. We seem to be the only tourists here which is nice because we are getting a glimpse of real life here in Vietnam.
