21st September
With sad faces we left Hue today, a place that we both loved. We booked the train to Da Nang, we were slightly gutted as we had heard the motorbike tour was a wonder to experience over this stretch of land, oh well, maybe next time. The train itself was not dissimilar to the hogwarts express and took us through the mountains to Da Nang. We met a nice Vietnamese guy who was telling us stories of his beautiful country and took us for an ice coffee in the canteen section of the train. We arrived at Da Nang to the sight of the China beach, a place where American Soldiers were sent for r and r during the war (yes we are taking in the history and not just dossing around). However at 35 degrees Morgane and I were in our bikinis melting on the sun beds while the Vietnamese people are in hoodies and jeans!
22nd September
Another hot day, another day to top up our tans! We relaxed by the sea for the day before venturing out for drinks and dinner. After being dropped off in town by a taxi we were hollered over by 2 Aussie guys, Wayne and Nobby. What an interesting pair, ticking off their bucket list by hiring motorbikes and travelling the length of Vietnam! They offered to teach us how to ride their motorbikes the next day, an opportunity that Morgane jumped at, I however had to spend the day in bed nursing my man flu!
23rd September
Today we left Da Nang, a nice beach but not much else to go with it. We got the local bus to Hoi An, another grand experience. Locals being packed on like cattle with no room to cross your legs. At least we were near a window. Hoi An is all that we expected and more. A European feel to it with tall buildings and tailors in every direction. We both instantly fell in love with the place, it's a definite budget blower! The day of the motor bike lesson. As said previously I stayed at the hotel, you can imagine how disappointed I was to not be able to take part. Morgane was taken to a strip of land to practice her gear change before setting out on the open roads! Anyone who knows the Asian roads knows this was a scary scene! In the evening we had a wander Round town, Morgane putting in orders left right and centre for shoes to be made...like I said, budget blower!
For the rest of the week we milled around the shops, had some clothes made an visited the beautiful beaches. On one of the days we visited the local holy lands My Son. This place was filled with temples that had been destroyed by the Americans....our tour guide loved to point this out at every opportunity and also that the French had stolen the heads of the statues! The highlight of our day in the 89% humidity was a Chinese lady who at every given opportunity was getting in photos for her family album. No word of a lie, her husband must have taken 300 photos of her posing with random statues, the poor fella didn't even get in a photo himself! In the evening I went for my fitting for my new shirt and jacket, I was like a kid in a sweet shop, being as picky as ever and making the poor ladies make alterations after alterations. So worth it though!
The next day we braved it and finally hired Mopeds. So far Hoi An is the quietest for traffic so we thought this was the best place for it. It was amazing, with the wind in our hair and our backpacks packed we headed out to the beach. At first we were hitting a measly 10mph but then our confidence grew and we hit the throttle. With my need for speed I had to have a little word with myself as I saw Morganes pink helmet in the rear view mirror fade away, we are in Vietnam and not on some deserted track, I knew when overtaking a truck that I should slow down!
This is the longest we have stayed in one place and we have loved every minute. A definite favourite. Onwards to Na Trang on another sleeper bus, please god let it be better than the last one!!