After our last day in Hue, we decided that because we loved motorbiking so much and we were so fed up of buses, that we would take up the offer of a ride to Hoi An on the back of motorbikes. This would take a whole day but the riders would stop at several places to break up the journey. We had a hearty breakfast which included sugar crepes for Zack (note the plural) and a honey crepe and a coffee for Elodie (she even bought one of the mini filters). We left at 8.30 in the morning, although there was no rush because the drivers were very laid-back and would wait for us. After dodging all the traffic of the main town we set off on the clear highways. The weather was beautiful, sunny and hot, but on the bikes there was a lovely breeze. Our first stop was at a waterfall where all the local children seemed to congregate and we had a nice cool swim in the clear waters. We then rode for about an hour before we came to our second stop where we had lunch on the beach and stayed there to paddle for a while. It was our first glimpse of a beach so far and we couldn't WAIT to see more! We carried on with full stomachs through the exact route that the people from Top Gear followed, up and down the mountains with the view of an AMAZING coastline on each side. We recognised shots from the programme and were very excited- numerous pictures were taken and we had fun taking them of us overtaking eachother. We wound our way down the mountainside until we got to Danang where we stopped for a break at China Beach, a 70km stretch of natural beach that the American soldiers used to use and goes all the way to Hoi An. Once in Hoi An, we found a fairly cheap hotel which had a pool- extremely lucky considering everywhere seems to be full. Even as we type this, tired travellers are being turned away. After a refreshing swim in the pool we went out to explore the town which was absolutely lovely. It reminded us of a little mediterranean village in France. The quietness of the streets and the ban on motorbikes in the old town after 7pm, made it peaceful and relaxing to walk through. There were lanterns everywhere and it was so pretty. We stopped at a little restaurant to have a fabulous dinner and pondered on one of our best days yet. Travelling seems to be getting better and better as the days go by! The next morning we wandered the streets to try a bit of price comparison on the thousands of tailor shops offering cheap clothes. We ended up with a tailor called 'Long Silk' and we both got a shirt each made. We showed her pictures on the Abercrombie and Fitch website and she made exact copies of the shirts we wanted- logos included!!! Afterwards we decided to indulge ourselves in some custom-made trainers at a shoe shop for only 10 pounds each! They are brilliant! And she managed to make them in a day. In fact, they were so good that Zack had another pair made. While we waited for our clothes etc, to be made, we went to hire some retro style bicylces (with baskets on the front) to cycle to the beach which was only 5km down one big, straight road.This was the 'China Beach' previously mentionned. A cycle by the river in the sun was blissful and we enjoyed the exercise! The beach was like one in the Caribbean but with a quarter of the people and cafes, despite it being the weekend. There was a lack of tourists and we could not understand why! The sea was like a bath and we just lazed around under the palm trees. At 3 o'clock we started to get hungry and whizzed back to Hoi An for lunch at our hotel. The rest of the day was spent collecting our clothes after making sure they were perfect. As we had fallen in love with the beach, we decided to have a whoe day of relaxation the next day and hired the same bikes (for a cheaper price yay! 30p for a whole day) and went back to the beach for some serious sunbathing. We met sooo many people we knew who had found the same place and it was nice to catch up on what every one had been doing since. In fact, we ended up having dinner and playing pool with two girls we had met on our Halong trip that evening. We splashed out on some niiiiice sunloungers with a little table in front and set up our picnic. We found that the restaurant we loved so much did takeaway sandwiches! So we got two on our way to the beach and they wrapped them up for us to take. We also bought a huuge bottle of coke as we were spending quite a bit on cans and this, we decided, was a very good money-saver! The sun was very bright and strong but there was a nice sea-breeze so sunbathing was comfortable. We had a quick swim in our little pool and a shower before going out for dinner. We are off to My Son today, in our first bout of torrential rain unfortunately!
Lots of love xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Elodie- Claire- YAY you went skidiving! We were so scared you were going to chicken-out or fall or something! haha! Emily- LOVED the comment about how we both hate English! Maybe if we had to write real-life blogs as coursework we'd have done it at uni! Jamie- have fun in oz! Margaux- It sounds so good in Italy. ME burn!!! YOU more like! I'm nice and brown now. I heard about Alessandro! Alehandro alehandro ally ally handrooo! Have fun au chalet xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Zack- Mum and Dad- Thanks for the email, I will send you one before you go to Croatia tomorrow. Didn't manage to get your shirt Dad, I needed slightly more measurements than just your neck size lol. Kitty- I will try and get you DVDs asap. Have a fantastic time in Croatia and enjoy the sun! Jamie- Saw your comment on facebook about the cliff jump, sounds quality! Love to you all, see you soon! xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
