DAY 4    PRAO TO HOI AN

Still unshowered, we set off the next day and headed for Da Nang and Hoi An, an awesome day and completely different again.  This ride took us on much smaller country roads through tiny villages, beautiful farmland, rice paddies, large rivers, small creeks and beautiful tight winding hillside roads.  

Once again we took a slightly wrong turn and ended up at the Laos border, but glad we did as the 15km section we went down and had to back track was a bloody awesome ride.  If you ride then you will love the non-stop tight little corners it throws up.

On our couple of stops in small towns, the local guys were mesmerized by Nea’s blonde hair once the helmet came off, in fact, everywhere we went she was popular.  Pete and I were totally ignored by these guys that would want to come and ‘chat with us’, but it was only Nea they wanted to ‘chat’ to!

When we finally hit Da Nang, the traffic was a little intimidating but we got through it ok, in fact I would say that for how busy and chaotic it seems, that the Vietnamese are the best drivers/riders in all of SE Asia that I had seen by far. 

Feral and unshowered we hit a slightly up market place for a long awaited pizza!  We pigged out on hot pizza before jumping back on the bikes to head the last 20 km to Hoi An where we would stay for the night.

We checked into the Sunflower Hotel where we FINALLY had a hot shower, it felt amazing to be warm and clean again.  Pete went off to see a mate of his while Nea and I went for a wander around town, then decided to hit a travel agent for tickets. 

She had to get to Saigon and I was also trying to get down there for a couple of days to meet some people about a position on a sailboat.  It was proving impossible for me to get down there in my time frame, with Tet celebrations still happening but Nea managed to get an overnight bus ticket from Hue in a couple of days time.

Originally we were going to take the bikes so I put my ipad under the scooter seat for later but we changed plans and walked, so after about 10 minutes up the road I had a panic attack.  I had left the keys in my scooter and the Ipad under the seat… fucken dumbass!  I raced back and was well relieved to see the keys still hanging out the ignition and Ipad still there.  Whew!

Off we went back up the street and found somewhere to get a bottle of wine and have a beer.  About halfway through our bottle Pete turned up, we sat and finished the bottle (well Nea did!) and then went out for some fine dining at The Little Menu.  It was pricey but some seriously great food there, if you go, check out the duck spring rolls, absolutely amazing.

Never one to call it an early night, we found another little bar somewhere, 3 Dragons, and upon walking in I saw a Sydney Swans scarf hanging over the bar and a bottle of Wild Turkey behind it!  Was I dreaming or had I just stepped into my house?!  

I have only enjoyed my favourite drop once in my SE Asian travels which was in Phnom Penh, obviously I proceeded put a pretty good dent in this bottle and more good times were had, I couldn’t have asked for 2 better travelling companions.  Somehow we found our way home, there was no sober voice of reason among us tonight!

The Little Menu