Nicely dressed

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The overnight bus from Nha Trang was painful, although I think we all managed to get some sleep. We arrived in Hoi An just after dawn and were immediately mobbed by people trying to get us to stay at their guest houses. We started walking towards the city center and one lady followed us all the way there and got a bit upset when we told her we didn't want to stay at her place. We never said we were even going to look at it, and she was the one following us, so I have no idea what her problem was. We found a good place for $7 a night and dumped our bags and then set off to get some grub. After we ate, we explored a bit and then went to a dvd shop where we got some great flicks.

Our first order of business was to locate a good tailor and get some clothes made. On the recommendation of the guest house we went to a place called Impressions. The staff were really nice and professional, and I found a suit I really liked, so they took complete measurements and asked me to come back the next day (!) for a fitting. We ended up going to a couple of other tailors as well where the girls had some stuff made, but I was really only interested in a suit.

We rented some bikes for less than a dollar and rode over to the beach. It was a lovely stretch of sand backed by pine trees and a few restaurants. We ended up walking more than a mile down the beach to the north before turning around and coming back. Once we passed the last restaurant, maybe 200 yards from where we entered the beach, there were no tourists whatsoever. In fact, we only saw a couple fishermen. Apparently, the beach stretches all the way to Danang, 40 km away, and I bet it's empty the whole way. We ended up chilling out in front of one of the restaurants for a couple of hours before eating dinner and then heading back to Hoi An. We took a different route back and ended up riding past some rice paddies just as the sun was going down. It was a gorgeous spot and a great end to the day.

My suit fitting went quite well, and they only had to make some minor changes to it. I wish I had taken a picture with me wearing it, but alas, I mailed it home without doing that. Jossan and Mickan were both happy with their clothes (and shoes) as well, so I think we all did pretty well.

On our third night we managed to track down an awesome restaurant serving bia hoi. For 3000 dong (20 cents) a glass I got some of the best beer I've had in Asia. It was hard to stop drinking the stuff, and the food was outstanding as well.

So, here I was, traveling with two girls and it just happened to be Valentine's Day. What was a guy to do? Get them flowers of course! The girls spent the afternoon by themselves, and I went flower shopping! Really, it wasn't a big deal, but I ended up getting two roses for each of them and I surprised them with the flowers when they got back that evening. I think they liked them 😉. The three of us went out to dinner and we stayed out pretty late drinking and enjoying the wonderful atmosphere of Hoi An.

The next day marked the end of Jossan's time in Vietnam. Mickan and I were both sad to see her go. So, what were we to do with our afternoon without Jossan? Rent a motorbike, of course. We decided it would be fun to take the bike up the coast to Danang, and so that's what we did. Mickan had driven a motorbike a couple of times, and I hadn't, so she got to drive. It actually turned out to be a wonderful ride so near to the coast that there was often sand on the road. As we approached the Marble Mountains, which are between Hoi An and Danang, a woman pulled alongside us and talked for a bit. She asked us to stop by on our way back from Danang, and so we agreed.

We arrived in Danang and the traffic picked up dramatically. It was pretty stressful driving in it, so we decided to just park the bike near the church and then walk around. We found a nice, safe-looking spot on a quiet street and then set off on foot. We saw the outside of the church, but the gates were closed so we couldn't go in. That held our attention for about 2 minutes. Then we walked through a produce market and emerged onto the riverfront. It was sunny and pleasant, so we walked along the river for almost half an hour before turning around and heading back to the bike.

We located the bike after a little searching, and some help from a cyclo driver, and set off for the next sight. After a couple of minutes of driving, Mickan said that something was different about the bike. She pointed out that the brake handle was padded, and some other stuff. I noticed two things. First, we had less than 1/2 a tank of gas when we parked the bike and now we had 3/4. Second, this bike was a Honda, and our previous bike was definitely NOT a Honda. That's when we started to freak out a bit. Somehow our key was able to start someone else's bike, and we had just stolen it!

After some discussion, we turned the bike around and headed back to where we found it. It didn't take long before we drew a crowd as we searched for our bike, which was nowhere to be found. Several locals tried to help out, but the amount of english they could speak was very limited. One old lady kept gesturing for us to just take the stolen bike...great. Eventually, the real owner turned up and took his bike away from us, leaving us with nothing. The locals told us that the police would come in an hour and then we would talk to them. Mickan and I both started thinking about how much the bike was going to cost to replace. I decided to take a look on the neighboring streets on the off chance that we were in the wrong place. As soon as I got to the next street I started recognizing stuff and quickly found the bike. When it started up I almost cried. Of course, I wasn't about to leave the thing again, so I decided to ride it the one block back to where Mickan was waiting. I did pretty well, for my first time, until I stalled it in the busy intersection at the corner! All in all, I was lucky to not get hit. The look on Mickan's face when I pulled up completely made up for the pure terror I had just experienced with the stalled bike in the intersection.

We ended up sitting and drinking coffee with the locals who had helped us. We complained that the brakes on the bike were really mushy, so someone tightened them up for us, which was nice (at the time). We also bought them some cigarettes for their trouble before we took off. We decided to forgo the rest of the sights in Danang, and head back towards Hoi An. Mickan drove us to the Marble Mountains, where we stopped to have lunch. As soon as we sat down, some locals pointed out that there was smoke coming from the back of the bike. It turns out they had overtightened the brake on the back and it had been dragging for about 10 km. They poured some water on the wheel and we went back to our lunch. We met up with the same lady who had talked to us earlier and she told us to come and see her shop when we were done seeing the mountains. We only promised to look before heading over to the park entrance.

The Marble Mountains were a fantastic collection of temples, buddhas, caves, and views. We spent a couple hours wandering through the complex going inside caves and marvelling at the sweeping vistas before heading back to the bike. When we got back, the lady had become very insistent that we buy something in her shop. That kind of thing happens far too often in Asia and it makes you suspect every single person who is nice to you. Mickan ended up buying a bracelet, although I still think we should have just told her to piss off.

I wanted to try driving the bike, so I took over at the front as we left the Marble Mountains. It took a little bit of getting used to, but pretty soon I was able to shift without threatening to throw Mickan off the back! I'm sure it would have been a lot easier with an automatic bike, but that's not what they had. At least it didn't have a clutch. You just used a foot pedal to go up or down in the gears.

We made it back to Hoi An safely, despite my driving, and returned the bike which had started to make some ominous noises in second gear. As it was our last night in Hoi An, we decided to go back to our favorite restaurant and get some more bia hoi. When we got there, I was devastated to learn that they were all OUT! I was forced to drink a far inferior Fosters product. At least the food was still good, and the atmosphere in town was electric with everyone getting ready for Tet.

That's it for Hoi An, stay tuned for Hue.

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Photos

Out of town
Near Hoi An, we found a wonderful spot while riding back from the beach

Roses are red...
It was Valentine's Day, so I got roses for Mickan and Jossan...

Dong
Ahh, the immensely valuable Dong. With just 2 notes one can be a millionaire.

Rice
Rice paddies

Danang
Along the river

Pretty in pink
The cool church in Danang. Too bad we couldn't go in.

Crouching tiger
Marble mountains