Da Lat to Hue

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The bus journey to Da Lat was by far the scariest I have done so far as after we had left the dusty roads running through the valleys we headed up into the mountains where the roads where steep, narrow and all had huge drops over the side. On top of this the driver felt it necessary to drive at the maximum speed possible for each corner - in the end it was better to just not look out the window!

We arrived in Da Lat at eight in the evening. The first thing we noticed was that unlike everywhere else in South East Asia Da Lat was cool and in the evenings many would consider it cold. The town grew under the French rule as the French people in Saigon went to Da Lat for holidays to escape the heat of the city. These days it is a major holiday destination for many Vietnamese especially honeymooners. The town itself has more of a cafe rather than bar with iced coffee rather than beer the drink of choice.

We booked to go the next day on an easy rider tour which is where a guide drives you around the sights on his bikes often for several days. We decided to do two days where we would head into the mountains, stay in a local village and then the next day be driven to Nga Trang. It was a great experience and a fantastic way to see another side of Vietnam as we were taken to the local coffee shops and restaurants and as we were with locals the price were much lower than what we were used to paying. We visited a staggering waterfall and were able to stand behind it which allowed us to truly experiencing the power of it. However the best part of the tour was simply the driving through the mountains as the scenery was unlike anything I had seen before going from entire hills of farming land to incredible valleys. The drivers said that the area used to be much even more beautiful before all the trees were cut down to make way for farm land.

We stayed in a local minority village enjoying more local food and hospitality it was a nice change as the people in the mountains were much more friendly and accommodating than in the cities.

The next day we changed our plans as we were offered to visit a local waterfall were we would be able to swim another traveler we had met in the village had told it was well worth a visit. Therefore we decided to go there and then get a bus to Nga Trang. It was an excellent choice as this waterfall unlike the previous one which had been right by a temple was completely scheduled and probably the most idyllic place I have ever been to. However I made the silly mistake of trying to get a photo of myself amongst one of the minor water drops as it turned out to be more of a rapid. I was almost surged down to a drop below which would definitely have caused me some serious damage - fortunately I was able to grab hold of a rock and with great difficulty (and amusement to my friend Spike) drag myself back to the safer areas. It was definitely a lesson well learnt.

We arrived in Nga Trang that evening knowing that it was one of the best party towns in Vietnam. After several days of sightseeing and sitting on uncomfortable bikes we were ready to get our dancing shoes on. However our excitement got the better of us as we hit it a little too hard and resulted in Spike not emerging from his bed until 6pm the next day and both of us having monumental hangovers we both decided we must be getting too old to hang out with the 18 year olds! We stayed in Nga Trang for two more days enjoying a nice beach day and then visiting the island of Vin Pearl which has a water park, games arcade and thrill rides it was a lot of fun and a novelty as unlike UK adventure parks it was pretty much empty so no queuing was necessary.

We got our first sleeper bus from Nga Trang to Hoi An. Despite the name I found it impossible to sleep as the bed was tiny and the local man next to me snored like a wounded wildebeest! I liked Hoi An immediately as it was a quiet and relaxed place very different from the bustle and party scene of Nga Trang. It is renowned as the tailor town where you can literally get anything made. We had decided to replicate the Vietnam Top Gear challenge where you drive from Hoi An to Hue through the mountains so to do this properly we wanted to get some embroided denim shirts done. Our first day in Hoi An involved us going to numerous tailors trying to find the best price in the end we found a shop that would make us the two denim shirts with the embroidery we wanted plus two smart shirts and a pair of shorts all for only $55 - pretty good haggling we thought!

As we waited for the tailoring to be done over the next day or so we discovered the delights of the Hoi An which has several local dishes such as white rose which are delicious. We arranged our bikes through another easy rider who had been recommend to us by our easy rider guide Peter. We met him for a beer and he said we could have the bikes for $30 dollars a day and with a $100 dollar deposit.

With our denim shirts made and looking amazing we set off on our bikes - Mr. Chinh who had provided the bikes came with us to show us the first stage of our journey. We visited My Son which is a collection of temples it is supposed to be the Vietnamese equivalent of the Ankhor temples however bombings during the war had destroyed the structure and it in no way compared to Ankhor. After we said goodbye to Mr. Chinh we headed off into the Central Highlands with only a map and is instructions to guide I was at first very wary of riding the bike due to my inexperience but after a few hours of driving my confidence grew and I understood the great enjoyment people get from bikes. It was a pretty straight road to our first stop and we had an adventures few hours trying to find some lunch and fuel as no one spoke English in the town we were in. We set off for after lunch for the town of Pra where we would spend the night. It was at this point we started heading into the mountains. This drive was spectacular where every bend we could have stopped at to take pictures of the scenery. The drive was no less fun or amazing as we would wind up steep bendy roads before braking heavily to stop ourselves flying down the downhill’s once we reached the top. Pra is literally a one hotel town with only 4 rooms. We were pretty exhausted but famished so set out to find any kind of restaurant which turned out to be easier said than down as no spoke English and no one served food or were not willing to serve us. Eventually we spotted some other westerns who turned out to be doing a similar trip to ours and went into the cafe they were sitting in. By this point we were starving - I don’t think eggs, steamed rice and morning glory (green vegetables in oyster sauce) ever tasted so good.

The next day we set off early as we wanted to make sure we reached Hue before nightfall as driving in the day time in Vietnam is sometimes dangerous, however the night time borders on almost suicidal for tourists who have only driven bikes 3 times before! The driving on the second day easily eclipsed the first as we went even higher into the mountains the views became more breath taking and the driving much more fun. It seemed to be a much underused route as we went periods of 30 minutes or more where we did not see any other vehicle however you could not get complacent as several times we would go road a corner only to discover a large truck coming the other way always scary but no crashes thankfully! We were forced to stop a one point as a huge downpour of rain meant we both felt very unsafe and could not see very well. We stopped in a tunnel along with several other locals on bikes to wait out the storm but after 20 minutes it did not seem to be going anywhere so we ventured out. In the end it was another great experience which made the journey more special. Once we came down from the mountains into the last 30k ride into Hue we were perhaps overconfident by this point as we hurtled towards the city at speeds over what we had both agreed we would not do - you know you are going too fast when you overtake the locals! In the end probably the scariest part of the drive was going through the rush hour traffic in Hue negotiating bicycle, mopeds, cars and lorries all on one 3 lane road. When we arrived at our hostel delighted that we had both got there in one piece with on crashes. The drive from Hoi An to Hue was by the far the best experience of my trip so far but we both vowed we would not be getting on any bikes anytime soon as we feel we have used up all our luck in that department!

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Comments

[anonymous]

Blogtastic! That bus journey sounds pretty horrific. Very interesting read :) Good luck for the next leg. Pete