My first night bus experience. I would love to say I hope it would be my only night bus experience, but unfortunately the journeys are just going to get longer the further north I go...!
I left Nha Trang at 7pm and jumped on the bus. A night bus is basically a dorm room on wheels. It has three row's on bunk beds plus 5 lots of top and bottom beds at the back. I thought maybe if I sat up the back I might be a bit more comfortable, however that was not the case. I got stuck between these two German people, and during the night you are practically spooning the people either side of you....! Now, if I was a lonely person I'm sure I would have loved it. But I'm not. And I hated it. And I only slept for about an hour the whole journey.
One thing that takes a bit of getting used to in South East Asia, especially in Vietnam, is the way they drive. Basically its one foot on the accelerator, one hand on the steering wheel, and the other hand is permanently on the horn. So, basically I would fall asleep, the bus would hit a bump, and the driver would start madly beeping his horn. This happened all the way through night, but became progressively worse the closer we got to Hoi An. Then, as we were approaching Hoi An, the bus driver decides to wake everyone up by turning on the stereo at full volume playing Vietnamese dance and pop music...what a wonderful way to start my first day in Hoi an!
I finally arrived in Hoi An at 6.30am. As some of you may or may not know, Hoi An is the Tailoring capital of Vietnam. You can practically get absolutely anything made for you. Unfortunately, this also produces a lot of touts in the street trying to get your business. Whats even worse, is at 6.30 in the morning, after traveling nearly 12 hours and sleeping for 1 hour, the minute I stepped off the bus I started being hassled by this girl telling me about her families shop. As I waited for my bag she went on and on and on about how her family could make me a cheap suite and shoes ready to take within 2 days.
I was as polite as I could be with one hours sleep at 6.30am, and tried to say I wasn't interested. However, as I headed to my hotel, she yelled after me "I will see you later on Australia!". After a couple of hours sleep at my hotel, I headed for a walk through the town, and this girl has obviously worded up her family about what I looked like, because they saw me pass their shop and came sprinting out yelling "Australia! Australia! You buy suite from me! You speak to my sister!" I just shook my head and said no and practically ran in the opposite direction...!
I spent the rest of the day walking through Hoi An old town, which is now a Unesco World Heritage sight. It had a very heavy French, Japanese and Vietnamese influences, which created a real multi-cultural experience every time you turned a different corner. Hoi an itself as a town is very laid back, not a lot of people and is very easy to navigate your way around on foot. It was nice to be in such a small city for a change.
The next day I hired a push bike and rode 5'ks to the beginning of China Beach, which stretches all the way up to Danang. I then spent about 3 hours walking up and down the beach which was great. It was good to actually do some exercise rather than take a Moto everywhere which is what I have been doing since day one....! I am starting to worry all the beer, rice and noodles are going to catch up with me...!
I headed out for dinner to a tiny little restaurant, where for 60,000 Dong (about $3.50) a had a set menu with all of Hoi Ans culinary specialties, which included White Rose, Cau Lao and home made spring rolls. White Rose is a small steamed dumpling stuffed with shrimp, and Cau Lao is a noodle soup mixed with pork, croutons and bean sprouts. It was absolutely delicious....!
Overall I really like Hoi An, even though there wasn't a huge amount to do there, it was very much a traditional town & not completely over run with tourists. I'm sure in the next few years it will start to change and expand more towards the beach, but right now it was probably one of my favorite places I have visted in Vietnam so far.
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