We were up early and went to get the train to Danang. Its a really pretty ride, even if you are locked behind chicken wire in the hard seat carriage. If you want a clear view for photos then I would recommend taking the soft seats for once as the price difference is not amazing, but if you just want to see it then the hard seats are fine. Its a different view from down below, but is also very beautiful. You can't see the sweeping vistas, but you can see a little more of the island as the train passes in a wider arc. We arrived and checked in and immediately got the sense that we made the right decision to stay in Hue rather than here. I don't think you really need to stay in Danang and certainly not for more than one night. We got accosted by some Easy Riders who wanted to take us to Hoi An. We said I didn't like riding shotgun etc, but they said they could take us for the same price as the bus. I said for 20,000? and they laughed, saying that it was now 80,000. Of course it is. I had had friends who had told me that Danang was not a friendly place and I would have to say that it was the least pleasant of the cities we stayed in. It was where we first started to notice that the people were not as friendly in the South of Vietnam as they were in the North. We did spend more time in touristy places in the South as we were running out of time, but I would say that I preferred Northerners on the whole. We walked down to the Cham museum past the nice cathedral. I went in, but Cannelle didn't have any interest. If you have an interest in Cham culture and are heading to My Son then I really recommend that you visit this museum. You could always see Marble Mountain and the museum from Hoi An if you don't fancy staying in town. They have a large proportion of the temple statues here as they have removed a lot of them. The statues are quite cool. Meanwhile Cannelle was having a chat with an old Dutch guy outside. He was on a cruise. They got almost no time in places and he was complaining. What did he expect from a cruise exactly. He said they had gone to Ho Chi Ming City and asked a taxi driver to take them everywhere worth seeing in 2 hours and he didn't know where to go. Hmm of course. Then here in Danang he had done the same and the taxi driver had brought him to the museum, but he didn't like museums. Then why did he come here? So he was just waiting for another taxi. Sounds like its a thrilling trip. Cannelle asked him what he liked and he said shopping malls but he couldn't find any good ones here. For fuck sake. Why do people like him even travel. Could he not find any shopping malls in Holland. Cannelle wasn't feeling too well, but we decided to walk towards the marble mountains and grab a bus when it came past. Only they wanted 30,000 just to go to the mountain which is 10km on the way to Hoi An (a route that is only 20,000 in total). Fuckers. I had read they routinely overcharged tourists, but that was taking the piss. It was enough for Cannelle and she decided to go back. I carried on and settled in for the 10km walk. On the way I was accosted by a guy whose stuff had fallen off him motorbike. I helped him steady himself and then put the stuff back for him. He was happy and shook my hand. Then a little further I noticed some locals struggling with some boxes on top of a trolley and they were too short to correct it, so I fixed that for them as well. Nothing like a few odd jobs to pass the time on the way to the mountain. The marble mountains looked very unspectacular from a distance. Shit. What a waste of a long walk. When I got close they asked me to come to visit the temple, but I decided to walk around the bases of the mountains first for some photos while I weighed up whether to go in or not. I had noticed some locals coming out of an entrance not far before the turn off and it looked like it went in. Why not try it. For those who want to get in for free just look out on the left for a little path from the main road that enters just after the first mountain on the left but before the left hand road. If you get to the turnoff you have missed it. I crossed past a little pond to some Gaudi esque temple sculptures. You must come this way to see them. Then I climbed up the mountain and entered some pagodas. There I met a guy and asked him how the rest of the place was laid out. Cool I got in for free. I visited the caves and climbed up to the two vantage points. Don't miss any of them. You can climb up one through the cave, but you can equally take the stairs up for an easier time. From the top you have very impressive views over all the land around Danang. I got chatting with some locals. one claimed to be from the States, but understood nothing when we chatted lol. Was fun. Its also really cool to realize that you are walking on marble. Hmm the blog is autocorrecting me into American English now. Interesting. Its well worth the trip, even coming from Hoi An and trust me its much better than it looks when you climb up. I walked back and was quite tired as the sun came down. I was offered a free ride back by a local woman, but I said it was ok. I met up with Cannelle and Jessica, before going to see Life of Pi, which is a really impressive film.
We lay in the following morning and watched Hemmingway and Gellhorn on tv, which we liked even if it has been panned on imdb. Then we went to get the bus to Hoi An. We knew with two days we would have more time than we needed so we could relax. They wanted 40,000 for the bus. I said 20. They went to 30. I insisted on 20,000 and that's what we paid. Don't pay anything more than that, whatever they say. Then the guy hid everybody elses transactions on the bus as he knew I was watching him and I can't say for certain, but I am 90% sure the real price is 15,000 and 100% certain its less than 20,000 as I saw people get change. You can try sticking to your guns for 15,000 and see how it goes. I quite often find LP pays more than they should, so I guess they have some really pussy negotiators. Arsenal are being destroyed by Man City at the moment, so its amusing me. We arrived in Hoi An and were offered a moto taxi for the '4km' into town. We knew it was 1km and walked round the corner to see a road km marker saying 1km. Nice try guys. We went to find a hotel and bumped into the Spanish guy from all those other times once again. 4 times in one trip now. We headed to the old town and they had raised the price for a ticket. Shitty. So we decided to get one and split it, so we could visit five places between us. Its probably best as none of the sites are that great and the city itself is worth walking around. Everyone loves the place, but I think its nice but overrated. Seeing the untouched houses up in Ha Giang was more impressive for me and I hate the colour yellow, which doesn't help when every building is yellow. Its nice, but not amazing. Both Jessica and Cannelle liked the place more than me though. We went to the Assembly Hall Fujian (nice), the Tran Family Chapel (shitty), Cantonese Assembly Hall (nice), Tan Ky House (ok but crowded) and the Chaozhou Assembly Hall (nice). None of them was jaw dropping and one house and one assembly hall is probably ok and then use the fifth for whichever one of you is not yet bored. Five places for one person will kill you with repetition. Seriously find someone and split the ticket if you bother at all. Zoltan had disappeared at this point as he had to leave Vietnam, so Jessica was back travelling on her own, but we often met for dinner. The whole town is just a tourist playground as well and feels like it is a bit of a toy town. Like Prague only worse. I was very sick in the stomach all the time here, so I didn't even get to sample the famed local cuisine. Shame. Jessica met us for dinner and told us how she had met an Easy Rider who took her from Danang to Hoi An, including waiting at Marble Mountain for only 20,000 and then they had lunch together. I can only assume he fancied her, but she got a good deal.
The next day we were up late as we only had My Son to visit. I was sick so Cannelle went and bought some croissants to have in bed. We got a motorbike for 100,000 and set off for My Son. Really you could do My Son and Hoi An in one day comfortably and I would recommend it. No more than a day and a half anyway, but we were waiting for our bus to Nha Trang. We kept our record of overtaking and being overtaken by the locals. it got ridiculous when for around 20km us, a dude on a bike and a truck just kept nip and tucking each other. I was having a lot of fun on the bikes by now. We got to the ruins in 90 minutes or so and promptly broke down. Fuck sake. Its 100,000 now and quite expensive for what it is. We rang the woman and she said she would come and get us. Yet another bike problem. I am cursed. We decided to visit the ruins while we waited. They are nice if unspectacular. I am not sure they are worth a special visit unless you really like ruins. If you are indifferent at best then stay away. Cannelle liked the location. If the price goes up too much more then it definitely won't be worth it. When we came back out a girl wandered round (the place you pay is about 2km from the ruins) and asked us where the ruins were. We told her they were where she had come from, but she said her guide had sent her this way, even though they had already visited the ruins. Weird and it made no sense. Oh well. Ten minutes after we finished the woman arrived and gave us her bike. Five minutes after we left she was back alongside us and said something had been knocked. We felt like morons. Oh well. We dovetailed behind her, almost getting flattened by a crazy taxi driver. By the way a 50,000 tank is enough to do the ruins and back from Hoi An so don't fill the tank. Vietnamese scooters will do around 160km on a full tank. Maybe a bit more. She took us the cool backcountry way back to Hoi An and was super smiley so it improved the journey massively. Then came our time to get the bus. Along came two moto taxis. Shit. We could ride them to the bus station. I don't do moto taxis and they hadn't told us, so the motorbike guy had to walk us to the bus station pushing his bike as I refused to ride it. Must have been shit for him but it was only 10 minutes. It was our first experience of tourist open buses. Fucking hell they are awful. No seat allocation, herded like cattle, no one gives a shit and everyone has to fight for a seat. So different to public transport. Fuck that. DO NOT BUY ONE OF THESE GODFORESAKEN TICKETS UNLESS YOU REALLY HATE YOURSELF. The cheapness is not worth it. Jesus. There was no space and the sleeping seats are only ok if you are around 5 foot tall (1.52m). My feet stuck out of the compartment and there was no chance of sleep. I am 6 foot 3 (1.87m) and its hell on Earth. Ironically I was reading Black Book by Orhan Pamuk and the first chapter I opened to was entitled 'Can't you sleep'. Oh the irony. No not at all.
Following a bullshit bus ride and being attacked by the tuk tuk mafia (as they know where you will be with these buses) we checked into our hotel in Nha Trang. I think the guy wanted to charge us for the wrong night and not the right price, so I made him give me a receipt and put the date on it. Nothing like nipping a problem in the bud before it happens. We went to the cathedral and found out that both trains and buses were too expensive to Mui Ne and we would have to take the shit tourist buses again (its the only way in and out of Mui Ne realistically as they bullshit the prices here). I miss the North. Nha Trang is underwhelming unless you love beaches, in which case its ok. We went to some art galleries and chatted with one of the local artists. He told us about his photos and chatted away, but I think he was disappointed when he realized that we didn't want to buy anything. A little awkward. He said how he used to have to do shitty party photos to make money, but after being in LP he sells to foreigners and doesn't have to do bullshit jobs anymore. Good for him. The little Cham Towers in town are worth the trip and are probably prettier than My Son. We couldn't upload photos again. I hate facebook and couchsurfing for dicking around with their websites when they were perfectly fine. Spurs drew Lyon in the Europa League. That is going to be difficult. Grabbed dinner in Lotteria and turfed in early.
I have written 'I like it so much' in my diary. No fucking idea why. I need to stay more up to date with my blog. When I catch my tail I will stay ahead. They wanted to check the minibar when we left. Annoying, but we waited while they verified that we hadn't had any of their overpriced stuff. Good job I got that receipt on day one. I always pay in advance when I arrive, so they can't change prices on you or anything, because if they do you won't check in. Much more secure than when you leave. On the bus to Mui Ne we got a Victoria's Secrets models video. Cannelle and I chatted about how the models were so much better than the sticks you get on normal catwalks. The scenery in Mui Ne is really stunning and so is the route to get there. I am so glad we went there. I wanted to come back with the motorbike the following day and yes that lake you see on your way in is Lotus Lake and yes it is that pretty. There are a lot of Russians in Mui Ne, which meant that we got great Russian food for lunch. Blinis, borsht and everything you could want. Good stuff. We were the only non Russian speakers in the restaurant though. We walked out to the Fairy Spring for the afternoon. They told us we needed a guide, that the water was too deep or you can't find the waterfall. All total bullshit. We just took off our shoes and waded down the creek. This is a very, very beautiful place. Don't miss it and don't take a shitty tour either. It needs to be savoured. Who needs a guide to follow a stream. Just follow the water. Its hardly rocket science. The colours are exceptional. Pink, white, orange and a full spectrum in between. Wow. I was impressed. Part way you can climb up on the left to get a view over the creek. You have to climb the dune for that. Amazing stuff. You can follow it to what looks like the end, but carry on and you will eventually get to the waterfall. Its not that amazing, but its the end of the trail. It is not that deep either, unless you are 0.5m high. Then you may get waist height at some points :-) We rented a motorbike for the next day, but they told us the police were super corrupt round here and often stopped foreigners, so we decided to park the bikes and walk to the mini golf for the evening. Its a really pretty little course that is atmospheric in the evening. We had fun playing even if I whacked my head on the same bunch of bananas about 4 times. Cannelle ended up winning when Jessica and I both took the maximum 10 shots on one hole and Cannelle got a hole in one. Its not possible to come back from that. She was happy as it was the first time she had won. We walked along the beach and saw a skinned crocodile. They grabbed some waffles. Apparently there was a spider. Not sure where, why or how. Spurs drew 0-0 with Stoke. Shame.
We left early to see the sun rise over the dunes. We got to the red dunes and everyone was there. Anticlimactic. The dunes were still really cool, though they are really orange. They only get that red look around sunset. There were loads of kids trying to sell stuff to slide down the dunes on. We couldn't find the canyon. I am not sure it even exists. We found something that looked like a canyon, but it doesn't look the photos in town. If anyone finds this canyon can you tell me where it is. The road that winds itself along the coast is very beautiful. We had a great time just cruising along and checking out the scenery. Its a nice area. We found the white dunes and then the lotus lake which we reached along a shitty bumpy road. Its very peaceful and picturesque out here. If you want some beach time come here and not Nha Trang. Nha Trang is an average beach town, Mui Ne is a stunning dune location, with the beautiful Fairy Spring, that happens to also have great beaches. I know which one I would choose. Hand down. We dropped off the bikes and it was time to head to Dalat.
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