Sun, seafood and motorbike accidents.... A South East Asian travelers tale

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By now I have arrived in Luang Prabang, Laos, after what can I call a bumpy ride through the sky, but more about that later on. Let me go back in time a little to the beach in Danang, Vietnam.
And what a beautiful beach it is. I managed to take my motorbike out on a few occasions but did spend most of my time on the beach. The first day I headed towards the headland at the northern end of China beach; Monkey Island. A beautiful brandnew coastal road follows the side of the hill, with stunning views over Danang and China beach.

The next day, after a massive and gorgeous English breakfast I headed to the south end of town, to the so-called marble mountains.
Spend some time there climbing over hills and checking out the caves and temples.
There are loads of natural caverns where light comes from above through a hole in the rock.
The view from atop the hills in particular, looking over the little town where the marble is cut, is beautiful.
The marble is actually imported from China, and cut and shaped into large and small items for tourists to buy. They come a slarge as 2 metre buddha statues to as tiny as 2 cm little broches and hangers.

The third day I chose to drive 30 k's to the south, to the historic town of Hoi an.
Very historic indeed and a pleasure to spend some time in. Very touristy though and too many foreigners for my liking. The streets which are usually meant to be cobbled were for a large part sandy roads, due to reconstruction going on in places.

On the way back I had my first motorbike accident in all my time in South East Asia;
Driving 60/70 k's an hour, I suddenly saw two Vietnamese guys driving onto the highway without giving it a look to see if there was any traffick....I braked as hard as I could and sounded my (loud) horn, but to no good; Crashed straight into their side , flew off, must've tumbled quite a few times, and landed in the sand at the side of the road. A bit dazed, I got up pretty quickly though, I think the guys were more shocked than me. Luckily, apart from a large bruize on my left arm, a broken sandal and some little cuts on both feet, I was pretty much unharmed.
My first worry was actually not my body but any money that would have to go to repairing the bike.
Here as well, I was lucky. None of the (expensive) plastic covering was broken, only all the metal stuff like foot rests, clutch, and bike stand were bend.

Upon arrival back in Danang, I first went to the beach of course and soon forgot what had happened with a cold beer in my hand and my Vietnamese buddy to talk to.
Late afternoon I drove the bike to a repair shop and was happy when told that a new mirror (it had broken of) and a complete new foot-rest and bike stand set cost just 50.000 Dong. PPfffff...........

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to use my foreign bank card in Vietnam somehow, so booking the cheap 46 dollar Danang to Hanoi flight wasn't possible.
Therefore, went all the way back by another sleeper bus, 17 hours in total but it managed to go quite quickly. Not too bad at all.
Spend the day in Hanoi mostly drinking the cheap Bia hoi brew, people watching and walked around Hoan Kiem lake and the old quarter a bit. A nice city, no feel of a big capital city at all.

The flight on the small ATR72 of Lao airlines to Luang Prabang was very interesting.
During eating (...Yeah, we even had a small box of food on this 1 hour flight!!!) I suddenly saw a bright flash outside the plane, and beer flying through the air of the guy on the other side of the plane when we hit a thunderstorm with a few airpockets thrown in as well. The turbulence only lasted 10 minutes unfortunately, but it was pretty cool. That's the rainy season in S. E. Asia for ya!
Upon arrival in L.P., it was dark, so no view of the town.

FOR ANYONE TRAVELING FROM VIETNAM TO LAOS, CHANGE YOUR MONEY BEFOREHAND....IT IS EXTREMELY DIFFICULT TO GET KIP FOR YOUR DONG...!!!!!

That's it for now...I've got three days in L.P. before heading north to cross the border with China at Boten, and I'm really gonna enjoy it, coz man, Luang Prabang is SUCH a beautiful town!!!!!!!!!!!

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Photos

My little Vietnamese friend
Every day we were exchanging language and having a laugh on the beach

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