Nha Trang to Hoi An and Hue'

Nha Trang to Hoi An and Hue’

Nha Trang was a tourist destination with a lovely beach and good food. We met an English couple who spend six months every year in Asia to escape the English winter and the heating costs.  We went with them to a Vietnamese restaurant where the beer was brought to the table in a large thermos so it stayed cold.  We rode out of Nga Trang along a scenic stretch of coastline for about 20 klms, until we met up with Highway 1, our route all the way to Hanoi about 1.200 klms away.  This highway is very busy and noisy with honking horns but there is a lane for motor bikes and cyclist but becomes monotonous as we pass dusty towns which line the road, in the end they all look the same.  We marvel at what people carry on a motor bike, including a coffin, we wondered if there was anyone in it. After an overnight stay at a small fishing village Song Cau we had an 11 klm climb up out of a pass and it was raining, we caught up with an old truck chugging up, billowing out exhaust fumes, it was struggling very slowly and at one stage thought we might even pass it. Traffic was building up behind so we stopped for a while until the congestion cleared then set off again, and blow me if we didn’t meet the same truck on the way down, having just as much difficulty going down as coming up – there are number of truck mechanics who have set up businesses on these hills. We got off the highway for a while and followed the coast road until we came to a lovely coastal town Quy Nhan, with a great beach and very few tourists, where we had a rest day and Mike did some maintenance on the bikes.   We had not seen any other cyclists for a long time but while we were here we met a Swiss couple, Patrick and Chantelle who had been away for almost two years following a similar route to ours but in reverse.   As we travelled north back on Highway 1 the road flattened out and the temperature dropped and we were able to achieve greater kilometers per day, it was along this stretch that we met Ronnie and Meiki from Germany, seasoned touring cyclists, we had dinner with them.  We turned off the highway to visit Hoi An and have a rest day.  Hoi An is World Heritage listed in an area where 16 century architecture is intact, very touristy and all the old building are now housing businesses selling souvenirs but it has a nice atmosphere and we enjoyed walking around sightseeing looking at the river, the temples and some very old houses open to the public and still lived in, they were originally owned by merchants trading along the river, once a busy port. We joined in a game of paddle bingo, played in the street at night where you buy a paddle with three symbols, with much singing and showmanship, symbols are drawn and if you get three right you win a Chinese lantern – we didn’t win but the man sitting next to us did and was very excited. We were able to follow a coastal road to Danang, the amount of building along this 30 kilometer stretch is amazing, resorts and exclusive villas, even a Greg Norman estate, Hoi An and Danang are almost joined.  Danang is a big city and has lovely beaches, it also has a mountain pass that we rode over, up in the clouds at the summit and most of the way down where we came to a small seaside town and met up with Highway 1 again which we followed all the way to Hue’, another ancient town which is  UNESCO World Heritage listed where we visited the Forbidden Purple City formerly reserved for the private life of the emperor before he abdicated to allow communist rule.  This was once a splendid palace but has been damaged through wars and neglected and is now being restored by funding from the German government. We made use of the good restaurants here as we suspect they will be light on during the next stage of our trip, we found one of the very supermarkets in Vietnam and bought a few things as reserves.

Nha Trang was a tourist destination with a lovely beach and good food. We met an English couple who spend six months every year in Asia to escape the English winter and the heating costs.  We went with them to a Vietnamese restaurant where the beer was brought to the table in a large thermos so it stayed cold.  We rode out of Nga Trang along a scenic stretch of coastline for about 20 klms, until we met up with Highway 1, our route all the way to Hanoi about 1.200 klms away.  This highway is very busy and noisy with honking horns but there is a lane for motor bikes and cyclist but becomes monotonous as we pass dusty towns which line the road, in the end they all look the same.  We marvel at what people carry on a motor bike, including a coffin, we wondered if there was anyone in it. After an overnight stay at a small fishing village Song Cau we had an 11 klm climb up out of a pass and it was raining, we caught up with an old truck chugging up, billowing out exhaust fumes, it was struggling very slowly and at one stage thought we might even pass it. Traffic was building up behind so we stopped for a while until the congestion cleared then set off again, and blow me if we didn’t meet the same truck on the way down, having just as much difficulty going down as coming up – there are number of truck mechanics who have set up businesses on these hills. We got off the highway for a while and followed the coast road until we came to a lovely coastal town Quy Nhan, with a great beach and very few tourists, where we had a rest day and Mike did some maintenance on the bikes.   We had not seen any other cyclists for a long time but while we were here we met a Swiss couple, Patrick and Chantal who had been away for almost two years following a similar route to ours but in reverse.   As we travelled north back on Highway 1 the road flattened out and the temperature dropped and we were able to achieve greater kilometers per day, it was along this stretch that we met Ronnie and Meiki from Germany, seasoned touring cyclists, we had dinner with them.  We turned off the highway to visit Hoi An and have a rest day.  Hoi An is World Heritage listed in an area where 16 century architecture is intact, very touristy and all the old building are now housing businesses selling souvenirs but it has a nice atmosphere and we enjoyed walking around sightseeing looking at the river, the temples and some very old houses open to the public and still lived in, they were originally owned by merchants trading along the river, once a busy port. We joined in a game of paddle bingo, played in the street at night where you buy a paddle with three symbols, with much singing and showmanship, symbols are drawn and if you get three right you win a Chinese lantern – we didn’t win but the man sitting next to us did and was very excited. We were able to follow a coastal road to Danang, the amount of building along this 30 kilometer stretch is amazing, resorts and exclusive villas, even a Greg Norman estate, Hoi An and Danang are almost joined.  Danang is a big city and has lovely beaches, it also has a mountain pass that we rode over, up in the clouds at the summit and most of the way down where we came to a small seaside town and met up with Highway 1 again which we followed all the way to Hue’, another ancient town which is  UNESCO World Heritage listed where we visited the Forbidden Purple City formerly reserved for the private life of the emperor before he abdicated to allow communist rule.  This was once a splendid palace but has been damaged through wars and neglected and is now being restored by funding from the German government. We made use of the good restaurants here as we suspect they will be light on during the next stage of our trip, we found one of the very supermarkets in Vietnam and bought a few things as reserves.