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Hue to Nha Trang and Mui Ne

31/08/2011

Photograph of the bike rideEarly 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?

Photograph of the bike rideAfter 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: