Hoi An
We took the bus from DaNang to Hoi An and arrived after a short 45 min journey. We had been alerted to the scam in place whereby tourists are charged 50,000 dong instead of the 18,000 dong fare for this journey. It's a fait accomplis and no negotiating with these guys so we just paid the extra quid for an easy life!
The journey was short and cool enough but a little comedy as the driver didn't seem to have the time to stop, we had been loaded aboard like pieces of baggage literally pushed on board and pushed into position, not just us though, if the locals by the road side we able to flag the bus down it would slow a bit and the 'conductor' would jump off the moving bus and assist the local by pushing or pulling them aboard. Even before he was back on or the passenger was safely on he would yell out to the driver to speed off and chase the bus to grab on at the last minute. A bit like an F1 pitstop only pointless!
We'd chosen to lodge at a homestay for the 3 days in Hoi An. So found Moc Vien Homestay and settled into a family home. The place has only just opened as a business and was immaculate and far nicer than most hotels.
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Cool Gekko just hanging out at the homestay
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The family of four- mum, dad and two daughters have 3 rooms to let out and have a beautiful garden space for guests to enjoy. They relied on both of the girls to translate as mum n dad spoke very little English.
Hoi An is very touristy and the place almost feels like it's been set up just for tourists. However it is picture postcard pretty and has an old Mediterranean feel to it as a result of the French occupation of this region
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| Hoi An is very picturesque.... |
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| ....As you can tell |
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| No matter where you take photos, you are promised a great shot :) |
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| Oh, and a shy Frog pic. |
On the river it is lined with shops and restaurants. We found a small place selling ice cream in a glass... So sat down and waited for it to arrive, I had ordered mango and Andy had avocado. Two tall glasses filled with fruit, ice cream, dried fruit and cranberries turned up! Result! We sat like locals on the street and said we'd return the next day for another installment :)
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| Andy on his primary school chair waiting for milk time... |
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| No milk as Thatcher took it away, remember... But in place an ice creamy goodness! |
We stayed local for dinner this eve and headed to a place where they sold brown rice tea- the Rotton loved it and drank about 3 pints worth.
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| Brown Rice Tea - I (Andy) love it! but to drink enough you have to fill your cup 20 to 30 times...I am uncultured... |
The following day we hired a scooter as we wanted to head out to the site of the Cham ruins at My Son and are still on a self imposed organised tour embargo since Halong bay!
Before setting off we went for an early morning run. All good and only a few meters from home and I (Ana) stack it! Nice... Sliding my hands and knees across the pavement resulted in a bloody knee and exfoliated palms... Back to the ranch to clear myself up and use the first aid kit!
Back to the interesting stuff... You can visit My Son by tour or make your own way- so we did! Far too far to cycle (even Bradley Wiggins would struggle with the 40k there and back) so Andy hopped on his first ever scooter! Andy was the nominated driver due to me being incompetent on UK roads let alone Vietnam ones! He went out to test the beast (125cc of fury) and filled her up. I then hopped on the back and was chief navigator to our final destination and back.
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| Can you put some fuel in? I think it goes in here somewhere? |
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| You can almost here 'Easy Rider' playing in the background can't you? Or is it 'I want to ride my bicycle'? |
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| Queen of the road! |
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So green, almost too green. Apparently these are the young early rice plants.
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Beautiful Scenery to ride through.
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Once done we hopped back on the bike and headed back to Hoi An. Again stopping en route and taking it all in. We also pit stopped at a roadside stall for our new favourite snack- Banh Mi ...
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| Bhan Mi lady - good food costs less! (maybe 20-30 Pence for a good snack) |
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Anyone else thinking Wallace and Grommit on their bike (no dog jokes please)?
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We parked back at the homestay and headed along to the river for another ice cream ( well we did promise we'd be back). This time sat comfortably with a book, ice cream and obligatory Vietnamese cold tea.
The next day we'd decided to hire bicycles to get around and explore the beaches. So set off on the new bikes given to us at the homestay.
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| Old lady bikes. Brand new. |
The two beaches are very beautiful and have resorts based on them, we were not really wanting to sit and bathe but just to explore. So found a quiet spot -where we didn't have to leave the bikes being guarded by a gang of Vietnamese guys- and read and relaxed. It's getting very hot at this point and even sitting in shade is sweaty!
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Covered boat on the river, shade needed!
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Shady spot for a rest
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Tropical!
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That evening we spent some time exploring Hoi An in the dark! It's very well lit by the hundreds of lanterns being sold, candles on the river and luminous restaurant signs. We had a good dinner at a local street style cafe and had Bia Hoi- the cheapest yet at 5000 dong a glass (that's 14p).
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Hoi An at night
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Pretty lantern stalls, this one of hundred but my camera skills were not up to catching them all.
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Wontons, Wont-One?
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Old French colonial Style building remaining after they were ousted.
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Got up and had a leisurely start, our bus was due later in the afternoon so we headed into the markets. After spending some time in the sun we headed back to the homestay to pick up our bags and bid them farewell. We took the bus back to DaNang and waited for our night train to Nha Trang.
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| Hoi An in the morning |
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Hoi An market looks beautiful. Selling Fruit....
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....and Fish...
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...colourful but strongly smells of fish drying in the sun...not nice.
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We arrived in Nha Trang around 8am and it was hot! We walked from the station to the Binh An hotel for our one night stay. Our room was ready early so we got checked in and showered ready for the days exploring. When we arrived at the hotel they had a little sign out with all the guests names and where they had come from, I was suitably impressed!.
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| More Vietnamese beach, although maybe more Russian than Vietnamese... |
This place was heaving and they specifically rearranged some parts of the restaurant so we could sit down. The premise was to cook-your-own. So we did! We ordered a mix of meat and veggies and cooked them on our own little table-top BBQ! Sweaty stuff and painful on the eyes when your dining partner decides to pour oil onto the coal but an adventurous, tasty and plentiful dinner was had!
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| Before Andy poured oil on the fire, we could actually see! |
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| DIY Dinner - yum |
The following day we were due on another overnight train to Ho Chi Minh City so we had the whole day in Na Trang before setting off. Breakfast was foraged from a local bakery and we found an 'artisan' coffee house where we could choose our beans!
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| Andy has acquired magic skills whilst travelling, the famous levitating Rotton flip-flop |
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| Not lunch but a big ol jellyfish bought to shore by a man carrying it on his arm! |
We'd decided to head to the beach to soak up the sun and read. We found a spot by the sea and shaded from the midday sun and once this passed Andy jumped in for a swim! Dinner was served at a street stall and it was great local food. The stalls were the smallest yet and proved to be a bit of a struggle for inflexible Andy - even with his weightloss ;)
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| Sweaty street food 1 |
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| Sweaty street food 2 |
Then to the station past a dancing water fountain, ready for our onward journey to the big smoke.
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| Night-time Nha Trang |
