Flew down to Hue from Hanoi, once Vietnam's Imperial City. Another Unesco World Heritage City, it's located along the Perfume River in central Vietnam, south of the 17th parallel or old DMZ.

Our hotel was called the Pilgimage Village, a great complex of little brick buildings and landscaped grounds. Extensive spa, so I could sample a "Vietnamese Massage" and long pool for laps. It's much warmer down here than Hanoi. We are told it's just going to get warmer as the trip goes on, by the time we reach Saigon, we will miss the chill.

Started with a bike fitting. Our bike mechanic looks like a tough guy. Something about him reminds me of Mike Tyson. No high tech, perfectly tuned cycles here. I think the group was a bit shocked at the beat up cannondale mountain bikes we were given. Then we got on the road and all was understood. Potholes, partial paving, puddles, rocks, chickens, pedestrians, cyclists, mopeds, buses, trucks, water buffalo. You name it, we rode over it, around it or beside it. Definitely keeps you on your toes! We were a popular sight with the local children, strange westerners in their multicolor lycra unitards. They all ran to the street waving and shouting hello-hello.

Our 25 km warm up ride took us along the perfume river, stopping at pagodas along the way and ended at a local orphanage, run by nuns. It was a bittersweet, but heartwarming visit; there are around 200 children there, left by various circumstances. And the nuns keep them until they are 18 when they can make the decision to leave. No adoptions, I think in part due to problems with child prostitution. All children are well fed, clothed and are given full education, which is not necessarily common in this region. We were told to bring small gifts, such as stickers and stationary, so the kids were very excited to see us. This one clever girl quickly hands off a little baby in our arms so she could access the stickers.

The Hue visit was 50% touring, 50% cycling. The next day we continued cycling along the river, visiting the Bao Quoc Pagoda, built in the 1600s and devoted to the "Lady Buddha". It's also a school for training monks, and we saw a trainee with the craziest punk-rock monk hairdo. Then on to a dragon boat ride down the river to the Citadel, the primary tourist and historical destination in town. The Citadel is a walled city surrounded by 2m thick walls and a zigzag of moats and contains the Imperial Enclosure and Forbidden Purple City (my favorite part which used to house the emperor, eunuchs, and his concubines. Eunuchs were the only allowed servants in this area as they posed no threat to his beauties). Most of the interior was completely decimated during the American war. They are in the process of actually rebuilding large portions base on historical photographs.

Our dinner that night was hosted by Phan Thuan An, a local historian who lives in one of Hue's historic garden houses. It was previously owned by a Princess (his wife is a distant relative), it was designed according to the principals of Feng Shui, with an incredible garden and pond. Once a university professor before the war (he was not allowed to teach once "history changed") he is now the principal historian overseeing the restoration of the Citadel.