An early start was needed Tuesday morning to get all the way to the My Son temple and on to Hoi An. While I had sick stomach for the first time in many weeks, the bad roads didn't make me any worse and the trip down from the mountains was enjoyable also. We stopped off to see a cinnamon tree growing, and were shown that the cinnamon is extracted from the stem of this tree, joining the leave to the branch. Another stop on the road was to see a grave that is very famous in Vietnam, as a replica of it is in the main museum in the capital Hanoi.
As a short cut to My Son, the EasyRiders got a boat across a river, with the bikes. This was fairly mad, as the 'boat' was a very basic structure. How we got 3 bikes and 6 people on each boat, I don't know, but we were told to stay sitting, and so we did.
We got to My Son a lot earlier then I though we would, about 11.30am, so glad we got the early start. When we got there, Bean gave us a background on the temple and the history of Vietnam and how the country came into existence. The biggest thing we noticed when we arrived however, was that we saw fellow tourists again for the first time in a week It was indeed weird to see Westerners again,, as we'd being off the beaten track so long, we were now back in civilization.
My Son is a listed UNESCO world heritage site, so it is one of the top sites in Vietnam, or so we thought. We had a look around for an hour, and it wasn't that special, probably as we were so spoilt with Angkor in Cambodia. We still had the craic for a while, and took a few pictures, however the best pics I got there were of a lizard in the grass, who was a bit of a poser!
There is a shuttle service for tourists from the main entrance to the beginning of the sight, and on our way out, we asked if we could instead be driven out in an army jeep that was parked in the yard, and to our surprise, they agreed, and piled us into the back of the jeep. This was the highlight of the trip to My Son, but at least we can say it was done.
Quiet hungry after a long morning, we got back on the bikes and headed towards Hoi An. Peter warned that we shouldn't get lunch around My Son as we'd be paying tourist prices, and took us off the beaten track one last time. Here we had a seafood lunch, wasn't the best we've had, but hit the spot regardless.
After lunch, I savoured up the last trip on the bike, that took us right into our hotel in Hoi An. Peter and Bean were staying the night in the hotel also to get some rest, while the 4 younger lads were getting back on the road asap to head back towards Dalat, for what would take them 2 days. After saying goodbye and thanks to Kim and the other 3 lads, and getting a pic of me on the bike, we checked into our hotel for a quick rest.
Hoi An is the number 1 place in SE Asia to get fitted for a suit, so we made our way to the tailors to see what they had. After a bit of bargaining and shopping around, I decided to get 2 suits, shirts and ties, for a decent price at that. Everything was custom made, and we would come back the next day to try them on and for any last minute alterations.
Ross also bumped into a lad he knows, Coleman, and hence we joined these lads for a night out. There seemed to be a lot of fellow backpackers around town and this was a novelty for lads like us down from the mountains. Good enough night, highlight was probably when I had to take one of the lads home on the back of a motorbike taxi before returning to head to the late night spot, King Kong.
Wednesday morning, we headed back to try on the suits and they were good fit. I asked for them to be posted to Ireland, by surface, so a little present for myself for the new year. They also kept my measurements in case I wish to have another suit sent in the future, they take orders online.
The days on our Vietnam visa were numbered, so we had to make a quick exit to get north Vietnam in also before Nov 16th. We got a taxi Wednesday evening to Denang, from where we got an overnight train to Hanoi, Vietnam's capital. We said goodbye to Marie, as she wasn't getting the train, so the 5 lads that were left had our own sleeper carriage for the trip. As mentioned by the guidebook, the scenery from Denang to Hue was superb, and we were able to catch this before sunset. Even after sunset, the moon lit up the ocean, but I couldn't get a good picture to capture this but made an attempt!
While some of the lads opted for rice wine to help with the journey, I relaxed on the train catching up on my blog, and listening to music - glad there was a plug for the laptop.
Thursday morning, we woke about an hour before arrival to Hanoi, after a decent nights sleep. We were now in the capital of the socialist republic....with 4 days left on our visas.
As a short cut to My Son, the EasyRiders got a boat across a river, with the bikes. This was fairly mad, as the 'boat' was a very basic structure. How we got 3 bikes and 6 people on each boat, I don't know, but we were told to stay sitting, and so we did.We got to My Son a lot earlier then I though we would, about 11.30am, so glad we got the early start. When we got there, Bean gave us a background on the temple and the history of Vietnam and how the country came into existence. The biggest thing we noticed when we arrived however, was that we saw fellow tourists again for the first time in a week It was indeed weird to see Westerners again,, as we'd being off the beaten track so long, we were now back in civilization.
My Son is a listed UNESCO world heritage site, so it is one of the top sites in Vietnam, or so we thought. We had a look around for an hour, and it wasn't that special, probably as we were so spoilt with Angkor in Cambodia. We still had the craic for a while, and took a few pictures, however the best pics I got there were of a lizard in the grass, who was a bit of a poser!There is a shuttle service for tourists from the main entrance to the beginning of the sight, and on our way out, we asked if we could instead be driven out in an army jeep that was parked in the yard, and to our surprise, they agreed, and piled us into the back of the jeep. This was the highlight of the trip to My Son, but at least we can say it was done.Quiet hungry after a long morning, we got back on the bikes and headed towards Hoi An. Peter warned that we shouldn't get lunch around My Son as we'd be paying tourist prices, and took us off the beaten track one last time. Here we had a seafood lunch, wasn't the best we've had, but hit the spot regardless.
After lunch, I savoured up the last trip on the bike, that took us right into our hotel in Hoi An. Peter and Bean were staying the night in the hotel also to get some rest, while the 4 younger lads were getting back on the road asap to head back towards Dalat, for what would take them 2 days. After saying goodbye and thanks to Kim and the other 3 lads, and getting a pic of me on the bike, we checked into our hotel for a quick rest.
Hoi An is the number 1 place in SE Asia to get fitted for a suit, so we made our way to the tailors to see what they had. After a bit of bargaining and shopping around, I decided to get 2 suits, shirts and ties, for a decent price at that. Everything was custom made, and we would come back the next day to try them on and for any last minute alterations.Ross also bumped into a lad he knows, Coleman, and hence we joined these lads for a night out. There seemed to be a lot of fellow backpackers around town and this was a novelty for lads like us down from the mountains. Good enough night, highlight was probably when I had to take one of the lads home on the back of a motorbike taxi before returning to head to the late night spot, King Kong.
Wednesday morning, we headed back to try on the suits and they were good fit. I asked for them to be posted to Ireland, by surface, so a little present for myself for the new year. They also kept my measurements in case I wish to have another suit sent in the future, they take orders online.The days on our Vietnam visa were numbered, so we had to make a quick exit to get north Vietnam in also before Nov 16th. We got a taxi Wednesday evening to Denang, from where we got an overnight train to Hanoi, Vietnam's capital. We said goodbye to Marie, as she wasn't getting the train, so the 5 lads that were left had our own sleeper carriage for the trip. As mentioned by the guidebook, the scenery from Denang to Hue was superb, and we were able to catch this before sunset. Even after sunset, the moon lit up the ocean, but I couldn't get a good picture to capture this but made an attempt!
While some of the lads opted for rice wine to help with the journey, I relaxed on the train catching up on my blog, and listening to music - glad there was a plug for the laptop.Thursday morning, we woke about an hour before arrival to Hanoi, after a decent nights sleep. We were now in the capital of the socialist republic....with 4 days left on our visas.
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