The Vietnamese U-Turn: Danang and Hoi An

DANANG
I really have been learning on this journey that there is no such thing as coincidence and all things really do happen for a reason. Danang had been cut off of my list of places to go yet because of my scooter issues I skipped Hue for Danang. I really did enjoy the city and all it had to offer even though I was only there for a short amount of time. As I stated in the last post the drive into the city was absolutely stunning. The city was a lot bigger than expected but it was nothing like Bangkok or Hanoi. It was surrounded by ocean and mountains. Perfect for someone like me! I met up with my friends at perhaps the nicest hostel I stayed at in Vietnam.

While in Danang I was able to find some good food, even a delicious quesadilla with Tabasco sauce! I spent my time driving around the mountain roads, exploring multiple temples on the hill and mountains, relaxing by the river, swimming at the beach  and spending time with friends. As always the beaches were nice white sandy beaches and surprisingly there weren't too many people around. Besides the ocean there was a large river running through town and at night we would sit along there watching their two main bridges (The Dragon Bridge and I don't remember the name of the other) all lit up while enjoying some beers and just each others company.

Marble Mountain View

I'll include pictures of the two bridges. At night we also walked away from the city at one point and I was able to see quite a few stars which surprisingly hasn't happened too much out here. I miss that about home in the mountains. One of the must do activities I was told to do is go to the Marble Mountains. As their name suggests they get marble from here and there are tons of places that try to sell you marble statues or figurines. The sight has 4 mountains with 4 temples. Honestly I wasn't too impressed and wasn't sure why everyone said to visit. The view of the city from another direction was also good though.

 The driving around was awesome with so many great views and sights to take in. The wind against your face to help block out the heat form the blaring sun is always a great feeling and when your hitting mountain curves enjoying the rides there's nothing better. On the hill of a peninsula outside of the city was a giant statue and a pagoda. While here we looked back at the city and saw a giant plume of smoke which you can see in the picture at the top. There was a large fire in the city and from the distance we could see the firefighters doing their work. We stopped by the statue on our way back towards town and went and saw some great craftsmanship, views of the city, and some very nice flowers as well. On the return I had one final meal before heading down south another hour to Hoi An and finally catch up with Matthias after a week of being behind.

HOI AN
Hoi An was also one of my favorite places in Vietnam. It is a very small town but with lots going on. Great nightlife with so many bars trying to compete and have great drink specials! It was real nice to meet up with Matthias once again and be back with my traveling companion. Our reunion was a fun but very long night. We stayed at a small guest house with out a lot of people but still were able to meet many so it was really nice. I also ran into a friend I had met over a month before back in Thailand and that was a really nice and random coincidence.

In Hoi An I did some shopping, went swimming in the ocean, had a Laos travel group reunion and enjoyed time with my friends and the local nightlife.  I got some new pants since I lost mine in the laundry, a nice little backpack to carry around daily, and two amazing tailor made suits and shirt. Now whenever I finally go home I can have some sexy suits to wear.  Surprisingly the beaches here were even more populated than the beaches in the large city of Danang. Even though it was still fun since we went with our Laos travel group. It was a fun reunion to get all of us together again. Four countries (Germany, Sweden, Hungary and the USA). It was a little hard to leave Hoi An and our friends but it came time to continue on our journey south in order to keep to schedule.