Gemma loves a lantern and Chris loves Top Gear (Day 62 - 65 by Chris & Gemma)

---

Tuesday 17th November 2015

If you are a fan of Top Gear then you'll probably be able to create a clear image in your head of what we experienced today. A few years ago Top Gear did a Christmas special based in Vietnam where they bought Motorcycles and travelled from south to north Vietnam and had a lot of laughs along the way, but also took in some stunning scenery. One of these particular legs of their journey fell between Hue and Hoi An, the place we were currently staying and the place we wanted to head towards next. As a result of Top Gear, this route, previously only done by bus or train, had now become popular by Motorcycle. The journey takes 3 hours if travelling direct as its only approx 160km door to door, but most people take their time observing the sights and visiting some recommended 'off the beaten track' stops. Feeling adventuress but not gutsy enough to drive Motorcycles ourselves, we hired the services of what is know as 'Easy Riders', which is basically a bloke with a big Motor Bike who gives you a lift with your backpack wrapped in a big plastic bag and strapped very securely to the back of the bike, so to create a back rest if you will.

We'd done some research on the best person to go with and came to the conclusion that everyone is pretty much the same price and take the same route, so with that we asked the Hotel to book us 2 easy riders. For $48 each we were picked up at 8am and introduced to our drivers for the day, 2 blokes in their 30's one of which was the fiance of the lady working in reception of the Hotel. They introduced themselves and seemed very nice. Both still a little apprehensive and even more so now seeing the size of the bike, we jumped onto the bikes and set off.

The day was already very hot and luckily we'd covered ourselves in sunscreen so were protected from the suns rays and the breeze from the drive kept us cool. After about 10 mins of driving we left the winding streets of Hue and were now on an open road which was long and straight, if not a little bumpy. We'd settled into the ride taking in the views of rice paddie fields and beautiful mountains in the distance. When our drivers took a left turn off the highway and down a dirt track, we emerged next to a massive lake which our drivers explained was a fishing lake and as we looked around us all we saw were fishing boats and local people's modest homes, a far cry from the built up Hotel scene only 30 minutes ago. We had a drink of water and was back on the bikes to continue to the next stop. Avoiding a suicidal water buffalo that ran out in front of the bike, causing my driver to brake sharp and our helmets banging together, after another 30 minutes we arrived at Elephant Falls, aptly named as it was a water fall with a rock the shape of an elephant. Looking at the picture, you might agree with me that what this was in fact was a round rock, which someone had created a trunk out of concrete and stuck to the end of the rock. Nevertheless, the waterfall was a welcome stop as it allowed us to splash around in the crystal clear, icey cold water that had trickled down from the mountain above into a lagoon. We were quite lucky that we had arrived ahead of other tourists doing the same route, but as the crowds arrived we'd cooled down enough to continue our journey.

Back on the bikes, we headed 45 minutes down the road to the section that I was most excited about, the Hai Van Pass. Translated into English this means 'Cloudy Road', but today was as clear as it could be. The Hai Van Pass is featured in Top Gear and just like the 3 buffoons who present it, we too were mesmerised by the views. Slowly our bikes managed to wind up and around the mountain road. We took a stop to view the new bridge that heads into a tunnel straight through the middle of the mountain, which is the route the buses now take, totally missing the beautiful views. We continued winding all the way to the top, unable to take our eyes off the view until we stopped at a roadside cafe. Here we found tourists buses that had probably taken people from their hotels in near by Da Nang. We were lucky to have an uninterrupted view of the coast from way up high. Since looking back at the photos we've realised that the camera wasn't able to pick up the clolours and views as well as our eyes could, but believe me it was amazing. Gemma commended that this was the first place she had been to where she couldn't tell where the sky stopped and the sea started, perhaps providing an idea as to how blue the views were. Also at this pit stop were some very old forts which were originally build by the french during their occupation but also used by the Vietnamese Army during the war with America.

Having jumped back onto the bikes, we drove to a little Vietnamese restaurant and shared some food with our drivers. A very simple plate of rice, chicken, vegetables with a soup on the side, all for the price £1.50, our drivers then took us to the town of Da Nang where they stopped to show us the beach, but we were running behind schedule and had to look and not touch. We then headed to Marble Mountain which was going to be our final pit stop of the day before arriving in Hoi An. The Mountain, as the name suggests is made from Marble. As a result, almost all of the shops around this sell an array of statues from Buddhas to Lions to little boys weeing. Not the sort of thing we could transport, afford, or would actually want. We took the lift to the top of the mountain (don't picture Mt Everest, this was only about 100 ft high) for a walk around the top, stopping in some caves and looking at a pagoda and little temple/shrine before descending on foot back to the drivers. We were back on the bikes and drove for 45 minutes into Hoi An. Our drivers asked if they could take us to their friends tailors but explained that we didn't have to go and if we did, we didn't have to buy anything. We had planned to visit some tailors anyway, which by the way, Hoi An is famous for, so knowing we'd not know where to start or which was a reputable company, we thought why not. We went into Canali, a small tailors, very similar to all the others we'd seen on our drive into Hoi An. We sat down and had a free beer and were given a laptop each to browse through the catalogues they had, one for men and one for women. We were both quite decisive knowing that I wanted a coat and a casual jacket and Gemma wanted a long Mac. We found some similar styles in their catalogues and after choosing the fabric, taking our measurements and agreeing a very reasonable price we were told to come back the next day for the first fitting. It was already 7pm and we'd basically taken 11 hours to travel what was a 3 hour journey, so our drivers took us the 5 minutes to our Hotel, Orchid Riverside Villas, which was costing us £25 per night and considered expensive by Vietnamese standards and as such was lush! We said our thanks and goodbyes to the drivers and checked into a lovely room, before taking a little walk down the road for our first dinner in Hoi An. This restaurant took us by surprise as we had just sat down and suddenly had food thrust in front of us. Turns out this restaurant, which is situated outside in the open air, specialised in pancakes and unless you were there to eat pancakes, you'd go hungry. We ate what we were given and headed back to the hotel for a very comfortable sleep after an amazing and tiring day.

Wednesday 18th November 2015

It was quite a luxury waking up in such a nice room and opening the huge curtains to look out one way onto the pool and the other onto the river already scattered with small fishing boats. We headed down to breakfast to enjoy hot banana pancakes and coffee overlooking the river. The plan for today was to treat ourselves to a beach day, so rented a motorbike from the hotel for $8 for the day and headed to An Bang beach, only 15mins away by bike. On arrival, we were accosted by parking ladies demanding 10,000 dong for a days parking. Having done our research, we knew the going rate was 5,000 dong (ok, so we're squabbling over 15p but its the principal!) so handed over a 5k note without any protests and off we toddled to the beach. An Bang beach wasn't too busy, a long clean beach with soft sand and warm water. There is your obligatory touting for sun beds which goes with beach territory, but the deal is free sunbeds if you order food at the restaurant. The food at most of the beach front restaurants centres is pretty good, specialising in seafood, and reasonably priced so we were happy to oblige. We spent our first real beach day sunbathing, swimming and feasting on shrimp spring rolls and cold beers. Bliss. As we had the motorbike for the day, we decided to have a little explore of the area towards the second beach in Hoi An. Literally nothing to report. So we headed back to the hotel, keen to have a dip in the pool. The hotel was so peaceful sitting on the river with a beautiful infinity style pool. We spent the next hour with the pool to ourselves discovering Chris cannot float, but very funny watching him try!! After months of showering in wet rooms (I still manage to soak the entire bathroom) the novelty of having a nice bathroom didn't go unnoticed, and the unique part being the partially opened walls (but covered enough with blinds) to give an outdoor feel to the shower. We took advantage of the free bikes from the hotel and cycled into the old town. One of the nice things about Ha Noi is the size, it's very easy to navigate and easy to cycle through. Our first stop was to Canali, the tailors. I tried my floor length mac and immediately loved it. A great fit, dramatic length and nicely made. All that was left to do was select buttons. Chris had himself a diva designer moment and redesigned one of his jackets. I was rather impressed - looks like we have ourselves another fashionista! New measurements taken and buttons selected, we headed to the old town and night market. Chris will tell you, since travelling I have become a bit obsessed by lanterns, with some beautiful examples in Japan & China. This makes Hoi An my dream place, as by night the whole town is illuminated by the glow of multicoloured lanterns and looks stunning. Such a pretty place! We crossed the bridge and had dinner at a lantern lit restaurant overlooking the river; grilled fish in bamboo leaves, sauted beef & morning glory covered in lashings of garlic. A small complimentary dessert followed of little custard-filled choux buns and china doll tea cups of green tea. Heading back to retrieve our bikes, we bought 2 small paper lanterns for 30p with a small candle inside to release onto the water. Ahhhhh....... Such a relaxingly nice day in Hoi An - ready for tomorrow.

Thursday 19th November 2015

The day started in a lazy fashion; leisurely breakfast (banana pancakes - we're obsessed!) & posting some blogs. We borrowed some bikes from the hotel and spent our day in the old town area of Ha Noi where we'd been the previous night. We cycled to the Japanese bridge where we left our bikes to explore. What I'd missed last night in the dark was how pretty the buildings are. Most of the buildings have a French colonial look to them and have been painted in a lovely shade of yellow, some a bright sunflower yellow, others faded with time but adding to their character. We wandered the small streets picking up little souvenirs to ship home. For lunch we stopped at a small restaurant where we ordered a local Hoi An dish, Cao Lau made with noodles, pork and local greens. Really tasty and very cheap at £1 a bowl. From the old town, the tailors was only a few streets away so we made a quick afternoon stop for Chris' second fitting, where he made another few changes. From here we headed back to the hotel for a quick swim and warm shower. The slow & relaxing pace of Hoi An has made us a little bit lazy and we still hadn't sorted any onward travel to Nha Trang, our next stop. Luckily the hotel helped us book some sleeper train tickets, leaving us with just the hotel to sort. To kick off our evening, we borrowed the bikes and cycled towards the old town for dinner, stopping for beef salad, fish in bamboo leaves grilled on the barbecue by our table and mango & banana shakes. Tasty! Then a nice wander through the night market, where the stalls of lanterns are the star of the show. I couldn't resist and left with 3 medium sized lanterns. No idea where we're going to put them - we don't even have a flat anymore?! But at £4.50 for all 3 and a colourful combination of red, orange & teal, we can worry about that later :-)

Friday 20th November 2015

For our last full day in Hoi An (sniff!) we rented ourselves a motorbike and headed back to An Bang beach. Today had moments of ominous clouds and with it some crashing waves. But luckily only momentarily before the sun burst through and much fun to be had in the big waves. It feels like such a different leg to our trip when thinking back to the big cities of Japan and South Korea or the cold historically packed days of China. Kicking back with sunburnt noses and cold beers, we get a moment to realise how incredibly varied this trip has been and will inevitably be. Suitably sun drenched we headed back to the hotel for our last end of day swim in the pool before getting ready to head out for the night. Our first stop was Canali (literally been here every day!!) where they greeted us with beers and the finished articles. We were both happy; lovely end results. Smiley us and smiley staff. We took advantage of shipping back the clothes to the UK to throw in some of the other souvenirs we'd bought along the way that were now clogging up our backpacks. Shipping is not cheap we discovered - they kill you on the first kilo!! Need to remember to tell my parents to be at home in February when our box arrives. With everything paid for and goodbyes said, we headed out for our dinner. We went for a punchy choice and ordered fish in passion fruit sauce; not sure it was our finest moment. The passion fruit was a bit overpowering for fish and probably not one to recommend! We had a short walk along the lantern lined river back to the motorbike before scooting off home.

We've both loved Hoi An - the relaxed feel, the nice beach, the beautiful buildings and pretty lanterns, helped in part by our little luxury hotel treat. A great town by day & night and one to recommend :-)

---