Hue to Nha Trang and Mui Ne
31/08/2011Early on Thursday morning and after a hearty breakfast we picked up our mighty steed and set off on our 5 day road trip heading south to Nha Trang, stopping overnight at Hoi An, Quang Ngai, Kon Tum and Buon Ma Thot. We started off on the coastal road known as the A1, which is basically the Vietnamese equivalent of the M1 at home - but what a difference. Riding past endless farmland with the coast on our left (although we could rarely actually see the sea) and the hills of the central highlands on our right. It was beautiful but we were being kept company by many trucks, buses with their very loud horns, and hundreds of other scooters and motorbikes. By lunchtime on the first day we were at China Beach were we stopped for the heat of the day (which was extreme) in a little guesthouse just by the beach so we could have a swim in the ocean before heading off for the final 30k to Hoi An
Hoi An was a great little town and we soon found ourselves regretting the fact that the bike rental meant we were only going to be seeing these places by night, basically for long enough to have some dinner and go to sleep. And Hoi An has fantastic food for our dinner so that made it seem even more of a shame. So the next day we went to a nearby set of Cham temples, My Son, which were slightly less impressive then we had hoped, and then headed back to Hoi An for a bit more of its delicious local food while waiting out the heat of the day again.After just enough beers to keep us safe on the road we headed back to bike to set off for Quang Ngai, only to find the bike gone. Eek - visions of hours fighting to get Seth's passport back, and forking out very large sums of money flashed before our eyes. However as we stared at the spot where our bike had been, as though somehow that would make it magically reappear, a helpful local managed to get us to understand the police had taken it. With this information we finally registered that all the other bikes on the street had gone too and suddenly the passport felt a bit more accessible again, although the large sums of money were now just going to the police rather then the rental company. After wondering the streets trying to find the police station we found basically a large room filled with bikes, including ours, and a bunch of rather bored looking people, only some in uniform shuffling paper to and from - and there like a vision from the heavens was our bike. After getting a policeman to understand this was our bike (fairly easy probably because it was clearly a rental bike and we were clearly not locals) we awaited the dreaded cash demand. When I heard Seth say in a slightly disbelieving voice "30,000" it took me a while to process this in my mind - 30,000 dong is less then a £1, 91p to be exact. This is the same we had been paying for a beer in the nearby bar, and I had paid to get my shoe repaired during the day. A police fine of 91p! We paid and took the bike quickly before they realised their mistake - we are just dumb foreigners at the end of the day and would have paid pretty much anything he had asked but it seems that despite everything we had seen in Sapa, some Vietnamese are honest - or may be he just wanted a beer?
After Hoi An the places we stayed were less impressive and a lot more local, which made the adventure feel a lot more authentic but also made the days more about the journey then the destinations each time which was great, particularly as after Quang Ngai where we turned in land, the road and surrounding countryside became a lot more impressive and enjoying the ride became the best thing. The highs and lows of the next 4 days:
- - Arriving at our hotel in Quang Ngai quite literally as the heavens opened making us particularly pleased not to be on the road any more.
- - An amazing road going across the width of the country from Quang Ngai to Kon Tom, however we had expected this road to be 100kms but infact it was over 200kms. Luckily we had decided to set off in the morning, rather then wait until the cooler afternoon, and yet again we arrived at our hotel shortly before the rain came.
- - In Buon Ma Thot I think (hope!) we found the only bakery in the world that only sells one type of bread. This same bakery was also described as having a selection of cheeses, which is true, you can select between Dairylea Slices and Dairylea Triangles... Not exactly what we had been picturing as we headed there to buy a picnic supper so we headed to KFC instead which served the burgers on plates which made us feel very sophisticated.
- - Another beautiful road with great corners awaited us between Buon Ma Thot and Nha Trang, unfortunately as official photographer and videographer I failed completely to get any decent footage of the road so you just have to take our word for it
- - For our last lunch on the road we stopped at a local restaurant and ordered what everyone else was eating (this allowed us to use the pointing method of ordering food rather then actually having to be understood). In the heat of the day (around 36 degrees) we were therefore presented with a fire to sit in front of - just what we didn't need - and a whole load of ingredients to put into a pot of boiling broth and meat. After confirming the meat was beef (may be) we were shown by the local girls how to cook our food, starting by breaking the egg into the hot pot. Unfortunately for us it turned out the egg was in fact fertilized, something they were expecting and I assume thought was a good thing, but we were considerably less impressed by and had to fish out rather quickly. However after rescueing our meal - which turned out to be quite good - we settled into entertaining the locals by taking endless photos of them. This caused them much hilarity and made me feel bad for how badly I react when strangers take photos of us.
- - The driving in this part of the world is always exciting to say the least but lucky we escaped with only one or two near death experiences, one involving a car overtaking a car that was overtaking a bike and forcing us off the road, and many scooters pulling onto the main road without looking. Even on our frequent breaks we were not safe, with Seth being attacked by Choco Pies on our last day. Luckily we were able to handle all these dangers.
Finally we arrived into Nha Trang with a mixture of emotions about giving the bike back. It was a faithful little machine which had served us well but we were going to particularly miss the freedom it gave us to travel when and where we wanted, stoping when we wanted, however no bottom is made to sit on a bike for 200kms a day for 5 days and that we wouldn't miss!
Nha Trang wasn't quite what we were expecting, but instead was a large town on the sea front with a lot of hotels and tourist restaurants, selling all the food they think we want to eat (and after the chicken featus for lunch, it was exactly what we did want), but it was also a nice town and we were happy to spend a few days relaxing there. There are also more Cham temples in the middle of the town so we felt we had done some culture before heading to the beach
Today we got the bus further down the coast to Mui Ne and finally feel like we have arrived at the seaside. As we checked into our hotel, and true to recent form, the heavens opened again and the nearby storm (probably the edge of the hurricane in the Philippines apparently) is currently making the waves too strong for relaxing swimming but with a pool and walk along on the beach under my belt, and a beer in my hand I can say I am happy to have arrived here where we will probably spend the next few days relaxing, sleeping, swimming and reading. It's not such a hard life...