Scotts Blog

This is where Hoi An is 

Upon arriving in Hoi An at 6am I was tired and wanted to drop my bag off. There was a guy who said he would take me to three hotels for 5000 dong which is pretty reasonable. He took me to three and they were all expensive and every time I told him cheaper he said yes and took me to an expensive one. I ended up just leaving him and going next door to a place he took me, first night $7, next three $5 so that was good value.

Even though I was exhausted I decided to go for a walk around town to see what it was like. There were tailors everywhere, every corner and every second shop all begging you to come in and have a look. The streets are very narrow in the old part of town, about a car width wide and cobbled. The houses are very old terrace houses, and mainly wooden dating back to the 19th century. Hoi An is really a sleepy paradise, I really think I could live there for a while. The thin cute streets are all different, with different historic houses, different shops and art galleries. This truly is the town of Tailors and Lanterns, they are selling them everywhere too. As you walk through the town you move towards the focus being the river, where there are two story terraces that have been converted into restaurants overlooking the river.

I was getting quite hungry so heading to the market seemed like the best idea. I was surprised how expensive everything was here, it was truly catering to the tourist. I had some good noodles and met a Physio from Newtown who was travelling with her friend from NZ. They were good value and it was good to speak with some level headed people again. On the way back from the market it was getting hot, but i walked down a few more streets and went into a tailor. Being cheap and quite skeptical I decided to just bite the bullet and get one and see what it was like. I chose a grey colour first(with funky blue lining, you are on a winner there Greg) and the material was $70 including tailoring, you just chose the material at the price then they make it for you. I managed to get a shirt thrown in for $5 so that was gold. Choosing out of a book was pretty easy and the shirt was easy as well. They said come back in about 5 hours. I also bought the book “life of Pi” which is a great read. It was getting hot so it was time for a siesta.

Later that afternoon I hired a bicycle(thinking some manual biking would be good exercise) and rode to the beach about 5km. The beach was awesome, it is about 30km long with pristine sand and palm trees. The water was if anything a little to warm, but perfect for a swim for about two hours. It was time to go and check the suit, went back and it was a little tight here and there so they said some back tomorrow and we will fix it up. It was too easy. That night for dinner I just relaxed and ate some street food which was great. On the way home I noticed some Soccer on the TV in a tailor shop, so I ducked in and ended up watching the whole game with this guy, he was making me coffee and being quite the host.

The next day I hired a bike all day which was a better idea, although the bikes are not built for anyone tall, and can be quite punishing to get any speed up. I found some great noodles around the corner from my hotel, the centre of town was right so I went left and stumbled across it. I ended up having two bowls. They were so good I ended up going back there every day for breakfast, and the lady was introducing me to her family, quite funny really because she spoke no English at all. I did notice her attitude to me changed as time went on, at first she gave me dodgy pieces of chicken on top, but she was slowly getting better and better pieces and giving more as well, so I was pretty happy about that.

While I was cycling around town I met two Italian girls and we decided to go to the beach, it was to hot to move (the whole town seems to shut down in the middle of the day for about 3-4 hours everyone is asleep and they sleep anywhere. So I ended up reading on the beach for about two hours and a swim. While I was in the water there was one of the best sunsets I have ever seen. There was a huge cumulus cloud and the sun was almost below it with a great orange glow at the base of the cloud, however at the top there was a halo of light, looked magic. It is funny how you appreciate the simpler things after a while, something like that can make your day.

After the beach I went back to check on my suit and it was perfect and the tailor was there to see what he thought. He changed a few things, and I decided to get another one, another jacket and three more shirts. So all up two suits, a jacket, four shirts $220 all perfect fits. That night I met up with the Australian and New Zealand-er for dinner which was good, then had another early night. The nights were so hot that it was hard to get to sleep most of the time.

 This was my hot date

There is a place near Hoi An called My Son, it is an ancient temple city that was built from 2nd to the 10th Century. This was sold as Vietnam’s Anchor Wat, and there were meant to be amazing pagodas there and plenty to see. Upon getting a little lost on the bike on the way there, there was a walk up a hill about 1km up in stifling heat. This was more of an Archaeological site, where most of the temples where in total ruins or there was say a 5 foot wall and a pile of bricks left. This is fine if you are into that, but I was not really and thought it was a little bit of a hoax the way they sold it. Everyone I have met that has been there has said the same thing, so if you end up going along don’t waste to much time.

I would say to anyone going to Vietnam you have to go to Hoi An, great part of the world.

Well after 6 days on a bike it was time for a rest. Also a time for spoiling myself, a two day craving for a snickers needed to be satisfied. I am not sure why i wanted one, but I did. I had a sleep in and a long breakfast which was good, it lasted about two hours with some reading. Then it was time to go and see some of the sites that I had not seen yet, mainly being the huge white Buddha statue, which was pretty amazing.  Hiring a bicycle seemed the way to go, get the legs moving again but also allow me to cover the distance i needed to. Half way there, I made a decision to taste as much street food as i could that afternoon before the bus.

My favourite thing were like rice hash browns, then they cut them down the middle and added some mince stuff which was great. After only getting one I followed that with three more. Then tasting various fruit that we don’t get in Australia, and some things that were like curry puffs but not curry. The Buddha and the main markets were pretty impressive. There was one weird thing was that there were gum trees all around this statue, nothing like home hey! The bus to Hoi An was great, leaving at 7pm and arriving at 6:30am I managed to get four seats which is a great way to travel, means you can really sleep.

Waking to the sound of a thunder storm was not fun, and my wet weather bike gear consisted of jeans and a thermal jacket , I decided to scrap the climbing the mountain and start.

On this 16th of August was the day that I finally became sworn enemies with Nick Ray from Lonely Planet. He is a hoax, there is no problem not going to every attraction in Vietnam but don’t pretend you do. The maps are wrong (how hard is it to make a map that is right), they are a vague representation at best of reality and the creativity shown in making roads where there are none is just frustrating. The descriptions of where attractions are located are incorrect. It makes me think he sat in a cafe asking someone because the distances are all way out, and whenever i ask a Vietnamese person directions the directions are usually right but the distances are pretty much made up. He also uses sweeping statements, like Dalat and Buon Ma Thout are connected by roads (thanks for that, i never would have figured) 

The lady in the hotel pointed me to the road from Nha Trang, and i thought there could be a turn off, I went about 30kms out of town until i knew it was the wrong way. On the way back in it started pouring, I had no choice but to get soaked. This is where i realised when you ask a question never point a direction, they will agree with you, and they will point the way they are facing if they are not sure. It all started when looking at the map there is a road that leads north towards Buon Ma Thout, too easy, on the (map)road is the Lat Village which i wanted to see, Lak Lake and other things in between. This road does not exist, Then after motoring around Dalat looking for it for three hours I was pretty pissed off. When you reach the Lat village it is dead end, thanks Nick.

The next problem is that the pronunciations of towns, Lat (pronounced Lak), Lak (pronounced Lak), and Lac (pronounced Lak) were all frustrating. So after telling people Lak Lake they would say yeah Lat is that way. After the first time i would say no, i went that way it is not it. Then they would say go south which was towards Lac, and I was like no there is a road north I want this road. Eventually after figuring out that the the road i wanted to travel on was a hoax, i had to go south past Prenn Pass and then turn right. This was ok but instead of leaving at 9am it was about 1pm, and was a long ride. The ride was good and went through some great country. I don’t think tourists go along this road because everyone was yelling Hello, and when i stopped a procession of people came to say hello and ask me where i was from. It is pretty fun when all the kids are smiling and running towards you all excited.

I had to ride through several mud slides, when they build roads they just cut into the mountain and don’t reinforce it, hence mud slides all over the place. The ride was taking longer than i thought and no matter how far I came it felt like i was not getting any closer. After it became dark i continued for about an hour then stopped at Lak, about 50kms from Buon Ma Thout. There was only one guesthouse in town and i ate a few doors down. When i went to eat there were three older guys sitting at a table, so i went to sit with them. They were drinking rice wine from an old drink bottle, and started serving it up to me, we were doing shots and it went to my head pretty quickly. They were struggling though, looked like they had been there for a while. The two ladies that served me dinner were telling me how to eat it so it tasted better, they were dead right as well.

The next day i headed to Buon Ma Thout, it was not to far so that was good. On arrival I headed to a waterfall called Dray Nur, it was meant to be the best in Vietnam. It was a battle to get there, I had to ride down a goat track for about 10kms but it was fun. Before Dray Nur, i went to Gia Long Falls, up the river from Dray Nur, these were very impressive. Dray Nur falls were amazing, they were of Niagara proportions, really wide, about 150m and soo much water. I went on an old bridge that was falling down to go half way across the river to check them out, the sheer power of them was inspiring. At this point i was waterfalled out, so decided to head to back to Nha Trang. While asking directions in Buon Ma Thout I asked a police man, he said follow us, then they put the sirens on, so i was speeding behind this van for about 25kms at about 70kms/hour. It was great and pretty funny

Further along the road after a massive storm i saw something i wish i didn’t see. Everywhere i have been in Vietnam they heard their cattle along the road in the morning and evening. I was coming down to a bridge and saw a group of people. The closer i got i saw cattle strewn across the road and everywhere. A truck must have come around the corner and down the hill to fast and hit them. There would have been about 12 dead and in all states of disrepair. It reminds you of how a care free life style doesn’t always go to plan, and there can be consequences.

It was about 7 when i was getting back into Nha Trang, dark and tired. There was a little thing that I kept noticing, when i was going at low speed the front of the bike was starting to wobble pretty badly. I kept thinking to myself don’t break now. I managed to make it to a hotel and return it without any problems, thank god. Check out the dirt dust and bugs.

Well a few stats,

• I had the bike for 6 days 
• notched up 1100kms
• Ran out of petrol three times
• Went through four storms where you would normally run for the hills
• saw 5 major waterfalls
• had an awesome time
• Broke one key
• Cost me $18

After two days of heavy riding it was time for a break, today i decided to do almost nothing, have a little walk around the city and ride to attractions inside the city. After some breakfast, Pho Bo it was time to have a look at the market. I went down to have a wander, i picked up an avocado and a roll, for 3000 Dong, then asked a lady to make it into a sandwich as i was still a little peckish. This was a great little meal and later on i did the same thing. The attractions in Dalat were pretty average but it was good to get around town and outside the city centre. There were some pretty cool gardens where they were bonzai crazy, they were massive, must have been very old.

While i was riding around i heard something drop on the road, as i went back to see what it was i noticed my horn still rolling along the road. This was a bit of a blow and makes things pretty dangerous as people use them quite a lot, thems the blows. I took it easy for the rest of the day and was getting ready to leave the following day. I was going to climb Lang Bian Mountain in the morning before riding to Buon Ma Thout.