Journey down the perfume river

The main attractions in Hue are the ruins of the old Vietnamese court. There's a citadel containing the forbidden city where only the monarchy could enter and then several tomb complexes and pagodas along the river that flows through the city - each dedicated to a former emperor.

I went on a boat trip all day Sunday which went down the perfume River - taking in all the tomb complexes on the way. The best thing about the whole trip was actually watching life on the river - barges going past transporting goods, gravel from pits along the river being transported up and down and people in thier traditional conical straw hats fishing.

Each of the tomb complexes were quite impressive. The Vietnamese Monarchy based themselves on the Chinese emperors so each complexe was like a mini terracota army-type tomb. One complexe had a huge lake in it and was like walking around park land.

I've learnt that the Vietnamese are alot more tourist savvy than the Cambodians and are willing to rip you off at every opportunity. When I booked on the trip, they told me lunch was included. When I got on the boat, they informed me this only meant rice and spicy fried cabbage - tasty!! If you wanted anythign else, nothing on the rest of the menu was under 70,000 VND ($4.50) per dish. Total rip off!! Grrrrr!!!

I've done alot of riding on the back of moped taxis here as motorbikes and bicycles are the main form of transport. You can get a ride on the back of a moped for about 50 pence one way- although its a pretty hairy experience as they seriously do not keep to any sort of traffic rule what-so-ever - including choosing a side of the road todrive on - so you're contiually driving at traffic coming the opporsite direction to you and then swerving away from it at the last minute!!