Taking a Deep Breath in Hoi An and Nha Trang
We weren’t sure where to go after Hanoi. Do we go to Hue and visit the Citadel? How about Da Nang for China Beach? We eventually settled on a route that would take us to Hoi An and then onto Nha Trang – the therory being that we would be able to explore the historic town of Hoi An and then get some quality ’sand in bum’ time in Nha Trang.
We flew down on what was the least comfortable flight of my life – the local low-cost airline is Jetstar Pacific and is used to ferry around 5ft Vietnamese chaps and not monsters over 6ft such as myself. However as it was only a one hour flight I wasn’t too bothered.
I got on with Hoi An very well. It’s a stunning town steeped in history, so much so that the Old Town of Hoi An is deemed a World Heritage Site. Sure, there’s still blokes sat on their bikes on corners shouting “Moto!” to you and the workers from hundreds of tailoring shops try to get you in but the pace of Hoi An is a million miles from the mentalness of Hanoi. And, you’d be stupid not to check out some of those shops, Pezza managed to get a new dress (adjusted and relined) for under a fiver.
The Japanese Covered Steps, Hoi An
I could wax lyrical for ages about Hoi An, I really liked the place; especially the food – these Vietnamese can REALLY cook! However, our trip to Hoi An was not plain sailing all the way; with so many things to see and 
do we thought it would be best to rent a motorbike to whizz through them as quickly as possible. This was an ill fated decision as we managed to come off the bike at the first corner – it wasn’t even my fault, at no time was I asked if I could ride one. How hard can it be? Fortunately there was an old chap who now has a shop nearby. He said he was a doctor during the American War and patched me up on the spot with some of his home-made antiseptic. He was one of the nicest blokes I’ve ever met!
That put a dent in the rest of the afternoon for us but we ended up staying in Hoi An for an extra day, this allowed us to go and visit the ancient ruins of My Son. It was exceptionally hot over there but it was good to see these old relics, even the ones that survived the American bombings – the old bomb craters are still there for all to see.
With a few days in Hoi An (complete with new dress and earrings for Pezza) it was time to get the train down to Nha Trang – the 9 hour train. It wasn’t too bad really, we had comfortable seats and the only real downside were the babies sat immidiately in front and behind us but as it was a day train and not banking on any sleep we were ok. We arrived in Nha Trang at around 10:00pm and made our way to the hotel – we had decided the splurge a bit here and ended up at the lovely Ana Mandara hotel, complete with pools and its own private section of the beach. There’s not a great deal to write about here as the two days we spent here were very ’sunbed heavy’.
We did venture out in Nha Trang at night and found that the further south you go in Vietnam the more ‘western’ it becomes as we whiled away the evening in various bars finishing in the famous Sailing Club that goes on until later than most places. By the time we had had a few jam jars of strong stuff we were more than ready for bed. Cue another beach day before our long night train ride to Saigon (now: Ho Chi Minh City).
The train was very interesting this time, as it was a ten hour night train we had booked a sleeper cabin and were chuffed when we realised the other two beds in our four-berth cabin were empty. Or so we thought. During the fist hour and a half of the journey I think around 15 cockroaches had come a cropper courtesy of my right flip flop and we were on bug alert for the ramainder of the ride. We did manage a few hours sleep though and rolled into Saigon just after 7:00am.
Once again, to see all my pictures, click here for my photo page. It shows the latest slideshow together with links to my Flickr page and links to all my SE Asia albums.
Show on map (The map link is for Nha Trang)
Great pic of Chua Cau bridge! I love the Japanese legend that spoke of an underground dragon stretching from India to Japan, which caused earthquakes. Apparently, the Japanese emperor dispatched engineers to build this bridge over the dragon’s heart, thereby calming the beast!