Hoi An

   What are you looking at?

Sat 14 March cont...

So we're in the car with the Vietnamese man, his driving was a bit crazy. Anyway we made it, I quickly looked in the Lonely planet book for a place/area to stay. Got dropped off at a little hotel called Phuong Dong. Got a room at the back with a comfy bed and a bath! 1st bath we've seen. Luxury.

Within 45 mins we'd hired a moped and headed to Bang An beach and had a walk along the shoreline. Really pretty ride to the beach.

               

    Pretty, eh?

    Building reg's? What are they?

        

       

        

At the beach are Coracle boats (which I remember reading about in Geography all those years ago!). Always wanted to see one since then. And here they are, so cute :-).

               

 

Rode to the old town to have a look around, little streets full of shops and restaurants and a pretty river front. Too touristy, but pleasant to stroll around.

               

    Found a statue of Matt

  

The next day we rode out onto the peninsular around the coconut groves..

             

    These people live in a beautiful spot

Mon 16

Hired a bigger bike and headed off early to ride the Hai Van Pass. Stopped in a little roadside cafe passing through Danang and the lady ther gave us a quick Vietnamese lesson! She had a funny little old phrase book with so called 'everyday phrases' like 'I don't feel very well' 'I suggest you have an early night with a hot lemon' ' I wish I hadn't gone to dinner with Sue, my girlfriend saw us together and isn't speaking to me now' 'your paper on Vietnamese Economics was outstanding'. We had a good giggle, but learnt how to ask for coffee, hot/cold/white/black. That was an everyday phrase for us!

                                    

The scenery was beautiful, there is a stretch of beach coastline 30km long from Danang to Hoi An.

           

            

We rode over the pass and whilst the scenery was lovely, it was a bit misty. I think it is misty 90% of the year though!

              

               

   Painting the red stripes, quite fancied getting off to help

              

   This little piggy went to market

                

                    A few proper hairpins

At the end of the pass was a pretty village on a sandy spit of land, we found a little cafe on the beach for a spot of lunch.

            

              

         

   Mmmmmmmm...strangled chicken or mixing pork stomache?

                                   

         

  The next table had crab

Headed back to Hoi An and hit the beach again. Matt fished and I collected more of the amazingly pretty shells on the beach...

   Do you like the Vietnamese one in the middle? Hehe

Booked the Sinh Tourist Bus to Hue for tomorrow.