After a quite day yesterday spend cycling round Hoi An and sitting on the beach under a palm tree, caught the bus up to Hue this morning. Was hoping to go over a magnificent mountain pass, as described in all the guide books, however the Vietnamese have blasted a tunnel right through the bottom of the mountain so we went that way.

Hue is a ancient city straddling the Perfume River. It was the capital of Vietnam in the time of the Emperors and is where they had their imperial palace and the location of most of their tombs. Visited the Imperial city today and hope to do the tombs tomorrow. Not sure whether to hire another motorbike, or I might just stick to pedal power. The traffic in this city is horrendous. Saw one crash today which looked pretty nasty.

Weather still deifying the odds and remaining fantastic. This is meant to be the rainy season but haven`t seen a drop for ages. I have left the tropics now and it`s meant to be winter here. Winter and 29C!