Thien Meue Pagoda and our new adopted Vietnamese child

After the Imperial City we took a Sampan ride up the river and stopped at Thien Meue Pagoda. There was a Vietnamese family living on the Sampan; husband, wife and 3 kids. We adopted the little girl for about 30 minutes as we walked around the pagoda. This finished off a hectic day in Hue.

Hue, The Citadel and Imperial City

A short bus ride and we were in our next destination; a city called Hue. Famous for it's Citadel and Imperial City; the residence of the last King. Here are just a few snaps of some of the amazing buildings and Palacial areas. We both decided to adopt some new poses for the photos to add some theatre, so we hope you like them. The whole place was very regal, just check out those steps! There was also a really cool ladder that we took a photo of, but decided it was taking it a bit too far to post it on the blog.

Thai Vi Temple and Hao Lu

We went to Thai Vi Temple, where we met a man playing an instrument, who kindly let us have a go. He also dressed Shivani up in a hat, which apparently ladies wear to weddings. After all that excitement we went to Hao Lu, the ancient capital of Vietnam and saw more temples surounded by lotus ponds.

Tam Loc

Tam Loc has been described as Ha Long Bay on land, which is sort of accurate, although it is more on marshland than proper land. Anyway, we got a row boat through the marshland to the 3 grottos, which were impressive, but more impressive was lady rowing our boat with her feet. The scenery was stunning yet again and we got dropped of at another temple; Thai Vi Temple.

Ninh Binh and Bich Dong - The names just keep getting stranger!

We travelled by bus to Ninh Binh; a town with not much to see in itself, but a great jumping off point to explore some amazing places such as

the 1st - Bich Dong. Its is a Temple in the mountains surrounded by Lotus ponds and truly beautiful.

Goodbye to Hanoi

Arriving back from Ha Long Bay into Hanoi, it was time to leave and head to our next destination, but before we did we wanted to post some more photos. Mainly taken around Hom Kiem Lake, which you'll have seen earlier on the blog but also one of the very kind hotel Manager with Andrew. His name is Mr Phong and not only did he and his team give us great service whikst at the hotel, but he arranged our onward itinery for Vietnam, negotiating prices and booking Hotels for us. He has even been phoning us at the hotels to check we are happy with the rooms!

Ha Long Bay 3

Okay, Okay we lied! We had to do 3 posts in the end to get all the photos in that we wanted to show you, but please don't hate us for it!

One last photo of the bay, plus the view from our shuttle bus, as we passed through the countryside; Lots and lots of rice paddy fields, street side vendors and the amazing things we've seen the Vietnamese carry on the back of a scooter. This particular one is carrying enough tickle sticks to make Ken Dodd jealous!