We arrive in Danang after a good sleep on the train and catch a taxi to Hoi An. Once checked in we go for a walk around the old town and down to the canal. The streets of the old town are narrow and the buildings are painted yellow. Most of the former dwellings are now shops and tailoring seems to be a bit of a specialty for the town. After some food we return to the hotel and devise a plan for tomorrow. Scooter hire and the Hai-Van pass!
The Yamaha Nouvo scooters are $7.50 to hire for the day and are easy twist and go machines with 125cc engines. So they're nippy and will do 100kph easily. The lady renting out the bikes advises us "üse small gas" and draws us a map of how to get to the Hai-Van pass which is 60km away. We set off and fill up the tanks for $5 and take a wrong turn at our first opportunity. The big loop we do takes us right back to Hoi An wasting about an hour. After some frustration is vented mainly by me we head for Danang and decide the ask directions at every major junction.
What should have taken about an hour takes us three but we eventually arrive at the pass and start to make our way up. The road was described by Jeremy Clarkson:
"It was a bit of a surprise, because you expect to find many things when you come to Vietnam; "communist-ical" farming, reminders of the war, stunning food, massive heat. What you don't expect to find is a deserted ribbon of perfection - one of the best coast roads in the world."
He isn't wrong. This road is amazing. It winds its way up the hillside and every so often a little sign tells you the next section of corners will take you up another 100 metres. It's great fun and you get the feeling that the only way to do this road is by scooter. It's called the Cloudy Pass but fortunately the summit is clear and views are amazing. At the top your greeted by shouting drinks and souvenir sellers advising you should stop for a drink and rest. Conscious of time we promise to stop on the way back and head off down the other side.
To the right, the South China Sea and in front at the bottom of the road the long of beach Lang Co. The steep green hillside is covered in grey boulders and the road meanders in and out of gullies and small headlands. We reach the bottom of the other side after a level crossing and stop at the first place we find for lunch.
Fed and watered and with a bit more confidence on the bikes we head back up the pass and reach the top in no time. We keep our promise and stop for a drink on the top but soon leave when the hard luck stories and demands to purchase souvenirs becomes a little too much.
Dropping off the top we're greeted with views over the bay towards Danang. More steep green hillsides run into the bay with the odd tiny crescent beach at the shores edge. Our journey back to Hoi An is more straight forward and we take the main road. Unfortunately the traffic is busier and at times we're forced to use the 2 foot hard shoulder as buses, lorries and 4x4s constantly overtake coming the other way. There are the odd "heart in mouth" moments and we just try to follow the scooter in front. We get back around 5pm after a great day and both decide we'd like to get bikes when we get back :-)
After such a high octane day as yesterday we needed to off set our adrenaline rushes. What better way than a cooking class. We go back to Cafe 96 and Bup shows us how to make spring rolls, green papaya salad and marinaded mackerel roasted in banana leaves. All the dishes are amazing and certainly some of the best food we've tasted so far and we have the recipes so we'll definitely be making it when we get home. If you ever visit south east asia then a cooking class is a must.
It was time to leave Hoi An and head to Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon). We caught a sleeper bus at 6pm and luckily got the upper back bunks which means extra leg room for me. After a while the bus stopped and let on some locals. There were no beds for them so they just bunk down in the aisle or as one did, climb over the back of us and use the parcel shelf. As usual I get a local on one side. Nice chap, until he started playing Boyzone through the loud speaker on his phone and sang along when he knew the words. We were in histerics. With this guys singing and the two Scottish lasses on the lower row of bunks having issues with the stowaways in the aisle it lifeted our spirits.
We arrived in Nha Trang around 5am and were asked to leave the bus outside a hotel. This was certainly unexpected as we thought it was a non-stop to Saigon. The hotelier had just got up too and probably wished he hadn't. The two Scottish lasses were giving him both barrels about their lack of sleep, the stowaways and the unscheduled stop. Poor fella.
Our next bus arrived at 8am and we boarded for the rest of the journey in the belief that we weren't going to reach Saigon by the expected 2pm. The new ETA was 6pm.
Some four hours away from Saigon the bus broke down. It looked like a clutch fluid pipe had split. After an hour of toil the mechanic gets the bus fixed but the driver is constantly having the pump the clutch pedal and changing gear is not smooth. A road traffic accident and then heavy rain also slow us down. We're dropped off in Saigon at around 10pm and the 28 hour mammoth bus ride is over thankfully. Let's just hope we still have a room at the hostel.

Andy & Helena

x

Croc watch = 0