Hue

Still in Vietnam, we did consider cutting across Laos which we've heard is really friendly and basic, but we've decided to stick to the coast. Hue (I'm not even going to try to use Vietnamese accents) is a hot, small, ancient capital of the Nguyen dynasty. Full of crumbling remains of tombs, citadels (including the Forbidden Purple Palace) and temples. We took a motorcycle tour to out of the way temples, a covered bridge etc, the main attraction was really the journey across gorgeous scenery.

The food in Vietnam has been excellent, perfect stirfries, one decent Indian restaurant, all costing about a pound a meal or less. Vietnam also wins the Cheapest Beer award from Argentina, with 6p a glass at a cheap cafe, and 50p a 500ml bottle at an expensive bar.

Tomorrow, Hoi An, the city of silk where they'll happily chase you down, size you up and cut you a tailor made silk suit very cheaply (I've heard 20gbp a suit). I may have to send some stuff back if its that cheap, we might as well make use of international price differences if we've spent all this money on the plane ticket.