Hoi An-

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So, time for a quick update again.

On my last day in Nha Trang before leaving for Hoi An, I was brave enough to rent a bicycle. Early in the morning- around ten- I made my way to see all the bits n pieces that where mentioned in my travel guide.

After suffering about 100 heart attacks due to the “proficient” driving skills of my fellow comrades on the streets I finally made my way to the ancient Cham ruins north of Nha Trang.

Due to the fact that the weather was really nice and the place wasn’t to crowded as well- I actually did enjoy wandering around- looking and smelling at the ruins which date back as far as the 7th century (was I born then…?).
Still today they are used as a place to pray and make offerings to the gods.

After hanging around for about an hour I decided to move on and went to see a couple more places after which I headed back for a very late (and very large) breakfast, only to make sure I got everything ready to leave early in the morning afterwards.
In the evening we (the guys from the diving shop) met again at a bar called Crazy Kim’s for a couple of beers- which didn’t really help to get up early next morning…

But anyway, the morning of the 6th of February I got into a bus which was totally packed (by a stunning crowd of 5 people…) - so at least we all had enough space to make ourselves as comfy as possible.

Personally I thought driving a bicycle in Nha Trang is already thrilling- wait until you take a bus ride for 12 hours on “Hwy 1” in Vietnam. After being high on adrenalin for half a day we made it save and sound to Hoi An!!!

A few centuries ago, Hoi An was a major port for this part of Vietnam, but lost its importance to Danang later.

I quickly checked into a hotel and started wandering around town
- which, by that time, was dark already.
Found a nice restaurant, got the local goodies down my throat, kept on wandering and started to like this little town.

After a good nights sleep I again walked into town to have a look at it during daylight.
I really can recommend stopping over in Hoi An if you happen to be around, nice French colonial (?) style houses, a humming marked where you can probably get everything you’ll need (even took a picture of a piece of meat that looked a little like a dog!) and friendly people.

After I had seen most of it I ventured to the beach. The all famous China Beach- for some R&R-before heading back to Khe San combat base…

This beach was mainly used by the Americans during the Vietnam War, so the GI’s could get some rest & relaxation before they had to go back into the jungle.

Talking about the jungle- on my second day I got a bus to see My Son!!!
(No- I don’t have a son yet- I think- that’s simply the name of the place…).
My Son is, again, a temple from the old folks of the Cham, which are also responsible for Angkor Wat for example. This time the ruins are in the jungle and not in a good state, due to the fact that they were used as base by the VC and as bombing ground by the US. Nevertheless it was really interesting to see.

At one point I imagined my self about 30 years ago- sitting for days, if not weeks in my camp, its raining all the time, together with my last men from the ERDI platoon. Talking to Pvt. Snowball, who was on duty that time, I asked him if he’d seen any Charlie yet.
He said no and so I ordered him to take 2 more guys and go for some recon.
After about 20 min all hell broke loose as Charlie attacked our base and all I know about Pvt. Snowball and his men is that they somehow managed to cross the border to Laos…

What a weird flashback.

Well anyway, it was a nice trip to a cultural site the UNESCO declared world heritage. In fact they have 2 sites at Hoi An that are world heritage. The other one is a small covered bridge in the middle of Hoi An, which was build by the Japanese a while ago.

I don’t know what hit me on the third day- I was brave or maybe stupid enough to rent a motorbike and make my way to the Marble Mountains.
These are a formation of 5 little mountains made of- guess what- marble.
I managed to stay on the bike and arrive about 30 min later at the site which is about 20 km north of Hoi An.
The weather, like the day before, wasn’t the best- but at least it didn’t rain. But I found out fairly quickly that this would work to my advantage- I didn’t stumble across other tourists a lot, in fact- I almost had it for myself!

So walking on the biggest of all these mountains was really nice- there are about 4 Pagodas on that mountain and 3 or 4 caves which are open to the public. I took my time to have a really good look around and was pleased with my decision to come here. As most of the Pagodas and all of the caves where definitely worth a visit!

Since I am writing this new blog you can be assured that I also did survive the motorbike ride back to Hoi An- for those of you that where worried (probably only my mom…)

On the last day I didn’t really do much- go into town, to the beach once more and finally at 6 in the evening boarding the bus back to Nha Trang. Survived that hellish bus ride as well and booked a hotel room. Got some sleep and now I’ve got to pick up Boris who will join me in about half an hour!



Its time to move on- have a good one!

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