Day 40 6th jan
We are up and having breakfast for 8.00 today as we travel to Hoi An 31km south....
It's the shortest distance we'll travel between over nights stays....
With the bike fully loaded up we depart Da Nang heading for the Dragon Bridge....
Every time we have ventured out of the hotel in Da Nang we are instantly lost.... I'm sure they move the buildings every night....
It's the only place we've been to where we fail to get a fix on where we are, so more by luck than judgment we find the bridge, cross it and follow a near deserted road towards Hoi An.
The road runs directly along a Palm tree lined beach and if it was sunny would look like a Hollywood beach set... Its hot today, and when we stop moving it soon becomes very hot in all our biking gear, but there's a hazy in the air and its a little overcast.....
I'd read that Da Nang is having large amounts of dong pumped into it in an attempt to make it more attractive to tourists and proudly offers some of the best roads in the entire country.. And it shows.... The roads really are fantastic.... Our chosen road today running along the beach is pothole free.... In fact its smooth... Very smooth, and is 6 lanes wide with a raised grass central reservation with Palm trees and there's grass banks on either side... The best part of this road is the traffic though... There isn't any... Its a little like a modern day Ho Chi Minh Trail...
We arrive after an hour at our hotel in Hoi An... Its a bigger hotel and was described on trip advisor as being in a good location, except for being tightly wedged between two other hotels so views are limited... And they were not joking... The fronts very grand and the bike with all its travelling paraphernalia looks a little out of its depth but we don't care....
As for a view.... There is no gap down the sides of the hotel, so there is no view...
Our hotel room is the nicest we have stayed in yet... And believe it or not we have a window overlooking the rear of the hotels grounds.... Very nice...
It's a large clean room with two large white beds and a bathroom that looks new... We are here for three nights so we're happy...
There is also a swimming pool on the roof.....
We take our map and wonder in the direction of old Hoi An.... Its a short walk to the centrally located river, that's made very long by the impressive number of tailors offering very good value trailer made suits, dresses, coats and shoes.... You name it, they make it here... And Hoi An as a whole has a good reputation for it....
As we walk passed the first view I have to grab Shiree by the ankles and pull her back out...,, I'd of lost her for hours otherwise.... Getting something made is something that we had spoken about, and will do, but I'm keen to look around the town itself first.... Time is on our side here as we booked three nights...
We arrive at the central river and it's by the the quaintest place we've visited in Vietnam so far.... It's lovely and has a very relaxed, laid back feel to it.... We could stay here much longer...
There's a strong French architectural theme here.... Most of the building were built between yr1500 and yr1700 when the French had a large involvement here...
The weather is hot here and in over dressed so we walk back to the hotel ( 5 min walk ) for me get grab some shorts are return to the riverside shops... We wonder around... Every single shop we pass has a worker trying to get you to come in.... EVERY ONE !!! In the end Shiree she's a dress she likes and we enter.... I find a shirt I like and we both get measured up.... We learn quickly that the prices start low and overtime as you look around the price increases... The shirt I looked at first off started at $20 and slowly increased to $35 before dropping back down to a discounted $20 again.... $20 is £12.15 so I'm happy... It's made to measure in any style and fabric... I order one shirt and Shiree orders a couple of dresses.... We leave the shop and wonder the streets before having a shower back at the hotel before walking back into town again for dinner... The streets are pretty quiet in Hoi An as the central area is largely pedestrian only, there is a huge number of lanterns in Hoi An and in the still darkness of night they throw viberantly coloured light onto the dark streets.... There hung in volume from all the shop front, trees, street lights, boats.... Anywhere were its possible.... Some shops have in excess of 50 lanterns on display.... We are staying on the "old" side of the river.... On the other side, which you get to on a narrow draw bridge is the newer side... It's still accent and looks no younger, but this side really has gone to town on the lanterns...there everywhere, and there reflection in the still river water just adds to the whole picture perfectly....We find a Italian restaurant where we have dinner before dodging as many sellers as possible on there continuous quest to get you to enter there shop on our way back to the hotel for a good nights sleep...