On motorbikes from Hoi An to My Son and the beach

Motorbikes are essential in Vietnam and probably the best way to move around in the busy chaotic city traffic and in the suburbs. We were not very sure about the idea of renting a motorbike in Hanoi because of the extreme intensity of the traffic their, but Hoi An seemed like a perfect place to gain some motorbiking experience. 

The rental "office", consisting of three guys hanging out on the street, was just in front of the hotel and the personnel assured us that we will not be disappointed. The motorbikes were much cheaper than we expected - 4$ per bike for the whole day, excluding the gas money. We had to stop at the gas station later on to refuel and were offered an escort for free.


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One of the guys drew us a map on how to get to My Son, which turned out very accurate later on, another one explained how to start/switch off the engine and how to honk, the most important skill of all :-)) Vietnamese honk all the time without any apparent reason and we did the same just to get even. The reaction was lots of smiles and waves :-))

After 30 min we were all set to go.
We wanted to see the My Son temples, or what was left of them. They are situated 40 km outside of Hoi An and as was mentioned before, we got the map from the guys who rented us the motorbikes. On the way we got to see some rural countryside.

We got to My Son an hour later.

As it turned out, of the several so called temples, there is only one actually worth seeing.

The rest of the ruins are mostly a few stones lying around in small groups.

Although butterflies flying around seem to like them a lot.

Altogether, My Son alone would probably be something that can be easily taken off the itinerary, but just driving around the country side was absolutely fun and we enjoyed it enormously.

 

On the way back from My Son we decided to drive to the beach to see where to go the next day. On the way we stopped at the river to see the sun going down.

And finally, there was the sea...

Vietnamese fishermen use round boats when fishing, but I have no idea why... It was funny though, because I've never seen a round boat before. They looked more like huge pots than boats :-))

The guys wanted to try the water...

... and Lena was trying to take a picture of the very cute puppy.

Because we got here only in evening, we didn't have much time left before dark. So, we got some cocktails and decided to comeback here for the whole day next day.

In the evening we met with Eva and Daniel to have our last dinner together at a family restaurant recommended by the Lonely Planet. The restaurant turned out to be an all-you-can-eat place, which we didn't know, so there was some misunderstanding in the beginning but was resolved quickly and we had a great evening.

The next day we spent at the beach, the same one we found a day earlier. I didn't really want to take any pictures as Lena was busy with it already; the ones she made are available HERE.
Before going back to the hotel and returning our bikes, we went for a last drive around the suburbs.

In the evening we were planning to take the train to Saigon and decided that it will probably be best to get some dinner before going to the train station in Dananag, since there is no train station in Hoi An. Just walking around, we got to the local market, which we haven't seen before. It reminded me of the markets in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, I guess because it's all Asia after all.

In the middle of the market there was a large pavilion where all kind of food was prepared and sold at the spot.

We decided to get some food here instead of going to the restaurant as everything looked quite tasty and smelled great.

The dish we all ordered was ok, but the guys decided that they want an additional one, which tasted a little bit strange, but we blamed it all on the specifics of the local food. 

After dinner we all got back to the hotel where the taxi was arranged and left Hoi An, arriving to Danang one hour later and two hours before the train departure. 
Our next stop was Saigon.

Hoi An, the city where time stands still

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We arrived to Hoi An late in the afternoon, and when we wanted to pay the driver remaining 50% of the agreed amount, he started to say no, no and then something in Vietnamese. Considering that his English was limited to 3 words, we understood that he wants us to pay the full price for the car, while we already paid the first half at the hotel in Hue. After several calls made to the hotel, some translating from the people walking around and lots of hand and feet gestures, we finally understood that he wants us to pay 1 more dollar because his exchange rate was 21K instead of 20K for 1$. I don't know how expensive it is to make phone calls in Vietnam, but the guy seemed very happy when he got his 1 dollar after half an hour of explanations. :-)

Our Polish friends' suggestion of the hotel paid off for the second time. After some negotiation (again) we got 3 rooms for 18$ each and these were the first rooms that I wanted to make a photo of.

With the nice view from the balcony

The first impressions of Hoi An were of the town at night. Its colonial buildings in French style, the slow tempo of life, the friendliness of the locals and the overall romantic atmosphere made us feel like we traveled back to the beginning of the 20th century when this part of Vietnam still was one of the French colonies in South-East Asia.

Hoi An is a town famous for its tailors and here you can order any kind of clothes just by showing a picture of what you want. A full suit with complementary shirt will cost you from 60 to 180 dollars depending on the material chosen.

Also Hoi An is a very colorful place because of the many lanterns hanging outside in every shape and color imaginable.

Being also famous for its different food specialties, we decided to chose a restaurant that will offer a broad choice of different local dishes. The choice of where to eat is enormous, from cheaper, street food like places...

 ... to more expensive ones

The variety of food is more than enough for every taste, so we decided to order all different dishes and share, so that we can try as much as possible.

The town is so relaxing and enjoyable that even after a long day of being on the road we still didn't want to return to the hotel and decided to just walk around.

The locals, spending all the time outside, try to entertain themselves with performances and music.

The others try to seduce tourist with Chinese special drinks :-)

We really didn't feel like trying one of those... Brrr
After walking around a bit more, everybody agreed that it was time to call it a day and get some good night sleep, so that we can start earlier in the morning.

Eventually, earlier start wasn't meant to be, and we managed to get up and to get outside closer to the afternoon. During the day the town was as charming as during the evening.

Typical sleepy provincial town was doing it's day to day routine

The town is even so relaxing that most of the tourists don't even feel like walking, so they are slowly driven around by the rickshaws. 

I guess this photo wouldn't have been much different, say, a hundred years ago.
We were different than most - we actually walked :-)

We loved walking along the river, even the water felt like it was sleepy too, same as the rest of the town.

From the sightseeing point of view, the guide mentioned two places. One was the Japanese bridge

Other tourist were eager to get into a very small room right in the middle of the bridge, but since we had no guide and nobody explained to us what it was for, we didn't.

The other one was a pagoda. At the entrance some lady was trying to sell the entry tickets, but wasn't even noticed by most of the visitors.

After just wondering around all day and relaxing, we felt like we need to change the pace.
Therefore, our plan for the next two days now included first renting some motorbikes to visit My Son, the old temples that are located at about 40 km distance from the town, and then to go to the beach to get some sun.

Next: My Son

Hue's imperial tombs and the road to Hoi An

  

Hue is not only the former imperial city but a burial ground for the emperors, who were building the palaces around the city to live in first and to be used as tombs later, when they die. The three most recommended ones are: Tomb of Tu Duc, Tomb of Minh Mang and Tomb of Khai Dinh, also the Thien Mu Pagoda is worth a visit. 

The imperial city of Hue

Hue old city, main gate

Hue - the former imperial city and one of most recommended places to visit in Vietnam. The interesting sightseeing includes the old city's Citadel, the Purple city and the forbidden city inside. The tombs are located just outside Hue and come highly recommended for a visit as well. 

The fairy tales of Halong Bay

 

The trip to Halong Bay was the one we especially were looking forward to. It seemed a bit of a mystery because of the legends and the uniqueness of the place. 
The owner of the Harmony hotel we were staying at in Hanoi suggested that we book the trip with his friend who owns the Aurora Luxury Cruises. He booked our train tickets as well and was very honest about the prices, so without any second thoughts we agreed to a 2 days/1 night trip for 110$ per person. The original price was 140 and the offer sounded reasonable to us. The pictures shown looked great as well so we agreed. 
Saying ahead, as you might already thought, it turned out to be a scam, our very first one in Vietnam.

Hanoi: what to see and what to do

 

The next day we decided to visit all the "must" places in Hanoi. Considering that the city is not that big, we were hoping to cover everything before dark. The weather wasn't bad, its been raining all night and exactly up to the time we were done with breakfast. It was a bit windy and chilly, but other than that we managed to stay dry all day.

Hanoi: first impressions

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Our first time journey to South-East Asia began in Hanoi, Vietnam's capital and second largest city. Well, to be specifically, at its airport which is located about 30 minutes away from the city center. The ride to the hotel was prearranged and the taxi was waiting when we arrived. To be honest, we expected to see palm trees already along the road and I had my camera ready to shoot our first holiday pics. Instead, there was a concrete wall, build on both sides of the road. We had to stair at it for quite a while until we were finally able to see some of the country side before getting into the city.