Vietnam: Part Four (Hoi An to Khe Sanh)

When we arrived to our accommodation for the first night in Hoi An, our host was overwhelmingly helpful. She gave us so many tips, a room upgrade, and great food! We had a pool and a dry place to park our bikes. We decided first and foremost to take a nap (it had been a beast of a ride that day) then headed to the night market for some dinner and exploration. One of our main reasons for pressing so hard to get to Hoi An was that we wanted to be there for the full moon, which is celebrated with a big lantern festival every month in the town. After taking part in the big Lantern Festival in Thailand a few years back, our expectations were probably a little askew. The festival in Hoi An ended up consisting of a LOT of boats on the rivers that were lit with lanterns and vendors selling candles to float down the river. While it was cool to see everything lit up and all of the people there, it felt a bit crowded and gimmicky to us. We couldn’t walk 10 meters without someone offering us a boat ride and shoving a flyer in our faces. Also...it turns out that this same thing happens pretty much every night, full moon or not (although the full moon night did have some additional street performances, raffle games, etc that weren't present on our other nights).

We strolled across the main bridge to the night market area and found some mi quang (noodles and quail eggs in a thick broth) for dinner. We also snagged some LaRue beers, which were the cheapest on the menu but our first really terrible beers of (maybe) the whole trip. For dessert we found nutella pancakes and Thai ice cream (Kyle accidently walked away without paying, and rudely shrugged off the vendor who came running us down as he thought it was just another street seller). With a full meal, some beer, and resetting expectations we started to look at the city with a new perspective. On our walk home we meandered a bit and found cool alleys with crumbling buildings lit with lanterns (they're everywhere). As it was getting late and we were tired from a full day, we crashed immediately when we got back to the homestay.

The next day we decided we deserved to sleep in, and that's just what we did (note here that the Vietnamese people staying at the homestay did NOT sleep in, they were up and swimming in the pool at 6:30am, which was the earliest the host would allow them to be there). We ate a late breakfast and relaxed by the pool before checkout (we had wanted more of a "meet-people" atmosphere so we were moving over to a backpacker hostel). At this point we planned to explore the old town, but instead got caught in a torrential downpour. We quickly ducked into a coffee shop to wait out most of the rain. Then, we headed to the tailor. What we didn’t know before coming to Hoi An is that it’s famous for its custom tailoring, at a fraction of the price of back home. There are dozens of tailor shops concentrated all around the old town area, and if any "friendly locals" start a chat with you in the street, it will likely end with an invite to their tailor shop. Kyle had decided that if he found a fabric that he liked, he’d get measured and get a suit. Like we have room in our backpacks for it….but whatever. What he didn’t mention is that every guy who had talked about getting a suit there said their significant other walked out with at least 3 custom made dresses too. Well....Nicole may or may not be guilty of this now.

After picking our respective styles and fabrics, getting measured, and bartering A LOT on price, we walked out with instructions to return the following day for a try-on. After all the excitement we were quite hungry so we headed to a famous Banh Mi shop (Banh Mi Phuong, as recommended by Anthony Bourdain) for a late lunch. The weather has cleared up so we explored old town, including the central market, the Japanese bridge, and the old architecture. Hoi An is full of cool old buildings with a rustic, crumbling sort of appearance. While much of Vietnam is being torn down to make way for new, modern buildings, Hoi An has found a way to preserve the past. On our way back home for the evening we tried the other famous banh mi shop (The Banh Mi Queen) to compare for ourselves. We had a split decision as both were absolutely amazing, and each only cost 30,000 VND ($1.50) per sandwich.

The following morning we got up early to go for a run. While we have been trying hard to not think too much of our eventual return back home, we had both signed up for the Market-to-Market and a half marathon later in the fall, so we had been trying to find some training time (we also had another 10k, the Cornfield-to-Cornfield, scheduled for a quick return trip home later in June). With all of the traffic and dense building layouts in Vietnam, finding places to run was difficult. Here we decided to look up a route that all of the bicycle tours took through the rice fields. On the run we passed many locals out farming, some water buffalo, rice, and lotus flowers. While it may sound lively, it was hot, muggy, and mostly a very unproductive workout.

After the run we showered, ate breakfast, and picked up laundry (only 8 kilos this time! Our laundry lady also randomly passed us on the streets when we were on the way home...she stopped, flipped her scooter around, and let us know it was ready to be picked up...Kyle didn't recognize her and once again shrugged her off rudely as another street seller). Then we headed out to the Tra Que vegetable gardens. At the ticket counter, they told us most farmers were currently closed up but allowed us in to walk the fields for free. We thought this was awesome, but quickly realized it was most likely because another massive storm was rolling in. By the time we got back to our bikes, the rain had started. We still decided to go to the popular beach in the area for a coffee, and ride through a bit of a downpour. It was one of the few times a hot coffee sounded better than iced. It was still raining when we finished and headed back. As the rain slowed, we visited the central market and purchased a few supplies from a hardware store, along with running shorts, dry bags, and a new pair of earrings. We found a fruit smoothie spot for a late lunch on the way home and it came with two old men playing some fantastic acoustic music. We grabbed a few beers and met fellow travelers in the hostel bar area afterwards, including a group from the UK, a guy from Netherlands, and a guy from India whom we enjoyed talking to.

On our earlier pit stop by the hardware store we had found spray paint, 5 different colors of enamel paint, brushes, and tape all for around 100,000 VND (just over $4). At this point, we decided to give Nash a makeover, and “pimp our rides” (one of the main benefits of owning our bikes rather than renting them). With freshly purchased paint and tape, we gave Nash a quick spray paint job in a mint green color, and proceeded to take a few beers to our balcony and paint our helmets. While we had a blast, we knew we stayed up a BIT past our bedtimes as we had to be riding early.

After hitting the included breakfast the following day we took off towards Hue - going over the famous Hai Van Pass. This would be the second shortest route of the trip, but one of the most scenic. In fact, a lot of people rent scooters just to do this little portion of Vietnam (this portion was also heavily featured in the Top Gear episode in Vietnam). We initially passed through De Nang, which has a dragon-decorated bridge that on weekends does a fire and water show. Unfortunately, we were passing mid week and early in the day so we missed the show but still made sure our route took us over the bridge (and stopped for some cool pics). As we left De Nang we started driving along the water and were able to see the pass we were heading towards. We began the ascent to the top, stopping for some of the amazing views along the way. When we finally reached the top, there were multiple coffee shops with spectacular views. We stopped at one to enjoy and celebrate beating the rain that we thought we would encounter. When it was time to start the descent on the other side, we decided to put a bit of our “water bottle gas” in the bikes to ensure we didn’t need to fill up for a while. Kyle LOVES when he’s trying to do something and tons of people are watching, so he especially enjoyed when 3 of the female Vietnamese shop owners came over to ask if we needed gas and watched as he removed his luggage and poured in his gas (leaning in and watching the whole process for no apparent reason). Flustered, he hopped on to start Sabrina and drive away, when she decided to be her teenage self and not start. To Kyle’s horror (again, being pestered by random people is not his thing), a younger guy and his dad came over to help. Now, with an audience of 6+ and a bike that won’t start, Nicole was having the time of her life watching Kyle’s reactions. After about 10 minutes Sabrina was turning on again, but shutting back off after 2 minutes. The young guy and his family were leaving so they waved goodbye and 2 other Vietnamese guys came

over to pick up where they left off. After popping the gas tank a few times, leaving it running, and tilting the bike side to side she would stay running a bit longer before shutting off. At this point they all started walking away and pointed down the pass - we took that to mean start driving down and you’ll be fine. After 25+ mins of people helping us start the bike and no payment required, we were happy to be on our way again (Kyle especially).

The route down was nearly as stunning as the ride up, and again we stopped multiple time for pictures before crossing the train tracks on the opposite side at the bottom. Here, we saw a few monkeys and started winding along waterway once again before the rain actually began. We stopped at a spot to dry off and get lunch (where Kyle tipped his bike and broke a side mirror - he and Sabrina were really getting along this day). We took a side road the rest of the way in. While this added some mileage, it took us past much more rural countryside, including fish and rice farms, little traffic, and small communities. It also took us down “tomb road”. This road had multiple kilometers next to the road dedicated to burial sites. Eventually we passed a soccer game that we pulled in to watch. Here, another scooter pulled along side us where a guy asked us where we were from, whether we had rented or bought or scooters, and how much we paid (while letting us know that was way too much). After moving on, we finally reached the destination for the day - Hue. While on our way in, we had stopped to fill up gas, where another guy asked us where we were from, whether we had rented or bought our scooters, and how much we had paid (while, again, letting us know we had paid to much). We were now very confused as to why this was happening. A few minutes later we were pulled over we had pulled over to look at hostel directions and another scooter pulled up beside us.....you probably know what questions they asked, and that they think we overpaid for our scooters. From this guy we finally found out that these were "easy-rider" tour guides offering their services for the day. Basically, they take people around from site to site on the backs of their bikes, throwing in tid-bits of info along the way. The Hue-Hoi An route is one of the most popular for tourists to rent an easy-rider package, but as we had already bought our scooters we were obviously not the best targets.

Our lodging was a home stay - generally meaning staying in someone’s home where the family actually lives (although they had pretty much just been hostels/hotels up to this point). This one, however, was true to the name. As soon as we walked in our hosts son walked up to us to show us his “school picture” he had received that day while his dad prepared us tea and fruit. We enjoyed a nice chat and check in with our snack before he showed us the way to a mechanic. It was time for Sabrina and Nash’s second oil change (plus a new mirror for Kyle). The oil changes are very consistent at 100,000 VND ($4-$5 USD), and you literally pull up your bike, they immediately drain and fill, and in 7 minutes we were done and paid and on our way back. Two new mirrors cost 80,000 VND by the way (just over $3).

We had seen a broken rice restaurant very nearby that we were planning on eating at....okay it was actually the dark, heavy keg beers on the sign that actually drew us in. We had met an Italian upon check in and invited him to dinner with us. We enjoyed the conversation and beers (the food, not so much) before calling it an early night. We woke early the next morning for a run across the river, past the Imperial palace and walled in section of town, returning just in time for breakfast. We hadn’t even gone so far as unpacking our bags which made it easy to load up for the next ride.

From Hue we headed to Khe Sahn. An abandoned water park sits on the way out of town, so we decided to pop in. We examined a few areas of the park and were pulling our bikes up to the giant dragon arena when a Security guard pulled up and shooed us out of the area. We were disappointed we hadn’t captured any photos, but didn’t want to tick off security in a foreign country. We were slightly ascending for a majority of the day as we climbed towards Khe Sanh. We entered a region known for their goats (we immediately saw why). After a few coffees with spectacular views on the way in, we found a dinner spot and upon looking for a snack afterwards stumbled into a wedding. We were quickly offered by the father of the bride or groom, to join them for drinks as his wife vehemently shook her head “NO”. While he still invited, we politely declined as to not tick off the mother of either party. We grabbed a few snacks for the road the next day, got Kyle's phone repaired (his camera didn't work, in addition to the audio and calling problems), and called it an early night ahead of the next of our back-to-back-to-back riding days. Up next: Phong Nha.