Distance this section: 670km |Total: 1,310km
This section was quite riding heavy and took us well past the 1,000km mark. We left Dalat behind us and enjoyed a wonderful ride through the hills towards the city of Nha Trang – a party & nightlife town on the beach.
Stunning scenery for hours as a reenergized ‘La Furiosa’ carried us smoothly over a foggy and chilly 1,600m pass and into the green rice valleys ahead of our destination. We stopped many times to take it all in.
Nha Trang is certainly not one of the culture centres of the historic Vietnam, but rather a resort town for mainly Russian and Chinese tourists looking for an affordable option to vacation. However, you have a huge amusement park (Disneyland of vietnam) and some thermal springs as well as your typical water activities to choose from. There are also trips to nearby islands.
We took it very easy and enjoyed a sushi instead of Pho soup and a ‘western’ night out in the Nha Trang bars and Skylight club. No moto for 1,5 days. First season of Lucifer (netflix) completed as we sat out the first rainy day in the hotel ☔ 🤞😴.
While hunting for a decent massage spot, we discovered a German restaurant ‘Haus Bremen’. The owner has been running German restaurants for almost 20y in Thailand and Cambodia. No place, he said, is as corrupt as Vietnam. Police literally go round the businesses to collect their fee or else…
On the way out of Nha Trang we stopped at Thap Ba ponagar – a hindu temple – before we headed for the city of Tuy Hoa. There we found a superb viewing spot on top of a hill (Nui Chop Chai) though Laura was more into the dog puppet that greeted us. For lunch we paused at Bai Xer just outside of town. Very scenic.
After a long journey, we booked ourselves a bed in the town of Qui Nhon – about half way from Nha Trang to Hoi An. Not a place with many tourists and distinctly communist judging by the monuments, street decoration and the popularity of volleyball (remember that keenly from my youth).
The evening was quite busy, as football was on more specifically the asia cup Vietnam vs. Iran. I didn’t know Vietnamese were that much into football! Quite some passion on display. Sadly, they lost 2:0. Bedtime!
Before heading to Hoi An, some 340km by the end of the day, we stopped at the pretty little bay of Eo Gio – a scenic place full of local fishermen in their round boats. There was also a huge white Buddha greeting us from the hills. We also saw the first accident … Quite surprising there aint more here given the style of riding 🤔
We got to Hoi An by 4pm or thereabout. Amazing city… But that is something for the next post. Stay tuned.