Hoi An
Flight up to Da Nang was pretty quick and we jumped in the taxi for the 45 minute drive to Hoi An for our five night stay. During this time we had arranged for a driver to take us to the local sights. For the first two days we were on our own to explore the local area. We stayed at the Memories Resort, which was about a twenty minute walk to the main part of the town. The hotel is on an island with bridges linking to the mainland. First up, we bought a suitcase. This was to make it easier to navigate the hand luggage and allow us to leave some stuff behind when we arrived in Japan, for all our flights going forward we had 2 x 23kgs each. Now we could buy some bits and pieces. Booked the Memories show at the “theme park”next to the hotel, whilst it wasn’t our usual thing, we were scared of missing something. It told the story of Hoi An through the ages, with 500 performers and a mix of music, dance and special effects, we both agreed that it was a good choice. Whilst staying there we also visited Ba Na Hills, which is a theme park located in the mountains above Da Nang. Again this probably wouldn’t have been our first choice but we wanted to see the Golden Bridge, held with two massive stone hands and ride the cable car, which is one of the world’s longest and highest. It was a cold, foggy and miserable day, but we went to two of the 3d theatres, wandered the French village, visited the Linh Ung Pagoda and strolled around the gardens. One surprise was a tulip festival, over one million tulips had been grown on the mountain for the festival, with all the bulbs being imported from the Netherlands. The final day we were collected by Nhon and he presented M with a massive bouquet of flowers, it was international women’s day and they go big on it in Vietnam. Headed off to My Son Sanctuary, a world heritage site, built between the 4th and 13th centuries and featuring Hindu Temples. Weather was a bit iffy again, however we managed to dodge the rain. We then headed off to a 500 year old pottery village, there was a great museum and then you could wander through the narrow lanes and watch the pottery being made and drying out in the sun. We had a pitstop at a small cafe on a driveway of a villager, opted for a new favourite of coconut coffee. The final destination was close to Hoi An, for a coconut boat ride. Absolutely bonkers and we couldn’t stop laughing. Our “Captain” was enjoying it too, singing along to Gangam Style, he really worked hard for his tip. Before leaving we went to a local restaurant and tried the local specialities – Spring Rolls, Pancakes and Chicken Fried Rice.
Hue
We checked out and then set off for Hue, which is around a three hour drive over the Hai Van Pass, however we stopped on the way to visit the Marble Mountains near Da Nang. Five marble and limestone hills with caves and temples, plus a lot of uphill paths. We spent a couple of hours there but it was so hot, we called it a day as were had another two and a half hour road trip. By the time we reached the top of the pass, it was thick with fog and cloud, the view was none existent. We had a quick coffee and then carried on. Arrived in Hue around four’ish, so we were dropped to the hotel for an early finish! Hadn’t realised when booking that the hotel we had booked is where Charlie Chaplin spent part of his honeymoon. Went in to the town in the evening for a few drinks and a meal, however it was raining.
The next morning the rain continued and first on the list was the Mausoleum of Emperor Khai Dinh, we decided to hire and English speaking guide, so we had some idea of what we were looking at! Good choice and the guide was not only informative but funny too, the actual cost was around £2.50 to hire him. Next up was the imperial city and again we hired a guide for a few pounds. This time there were other English speaking tourist with us, however the guide was pretty chaotic and all over the place. We did get some useful information, at the end of the tour she was keen to give us the details of her friends massage parlour in Hue. We had a further look around the city and palace before meeting up with Nhon. Our final stop of the day was the Thien Mu Pagoda, located on the Perfume River. We had hoped to take a boat trip on the river but the weather was against us.
Da Nang
It was raining as we left Hue for the journey back to Da Nang, we checked the weather forecast as we had booked a hotel for three nights, near the beach. We were hoping to have a few days in the sun, resting before flying off to Hanoi. We were really unlucky with the weather and managed zero beach time. The first day, we stayed in the room and did some forward trip planning, going out for food only! Next day had a few dry spells and we managed a few short walks and an hour by the pool, before the rain arrived. Dropped our washing to the laundry, for the bargain price of £3.50, we collected it seven hours later. We had hoped to go to night market and the Dragon Bridge, but couldn’t face getting drenched. Went out for food and that was it. Central Vietnam done. Onwards North for our final week in Vietnam.
