Sack the guide

Breakfast at the hotel in Ba Na Hills- very ordinary. went and had cake and coffee at a local shop instead.

Had arranged to meet Quang, our very un-interested guide at the bas of the hotel cable car. When went to check out we were told that we had to take the tourist cable car and that Quang would meet us in Da Nang, which involved us carrying our own bags up and down at least 10 different sets of stairs, taking 2 cable cars, and then being left at the base of the mountain, not knowing where we were, and not being able to speak vietnamese. Started walking to what we though was a carpark to find that we didnt know where the road led.
Neil finally spat the dummy and called Quang, to find that he was in Da Nang and had just sent the driver to collect us.
Neil got onto Mrs Nhung who assured us that Quang was at Ba Na Hills looking for us. This conversation went backwards and forwards for a while with Mrs Nhung advising she had spoken to Quang and yes, he was there looking for us.

We contacted Mrs Nhung and told her what had happened and that we were not impressed. What is one of us had been injured? Also informed Mrs NHUNG that we still had not received the $20us refund. She called me back to tell me that Quang had claimed he had already given me the money. Not only a useless guide, but a liar and a thief.

Told her to get rid of Quang and to get another guide.

A passing hotel golf cart offered us a ride, which we gladly took up,
and as we were going down the road, who should come the other way but
Hero, out driver. The look on his face was priceless. He was obviously looking for us as
he was very glad to see us and kept saying sorry. We tried to tell him
it was not his fault. He confirmed that Quang was in Da Nang.

Hero drove us back to Da Nang and then on to lunch which was an improvement on previous. The Blue Whale Restaurant on the beach. There we were met by Lin who was fantastic.

Spent about 1 hour taking to her after lunch before we headed off.

She took us to a beach where we met some locals catching fish and we interacted with them for about 1 hour. She then took us on a tour of other parts of the area and we ended up in a back street which was blocked by some people moving a very large piece of timber. We stopped and went to look at what appeared to be a boat yard building fishing boats. She advised us that we could not go inside as they do not allow it, and that women cannot go in as it is bad luck.

We were outside talking to locals and just looking around when a man came out of the office and invited us into the boat yard. Lin was very surprised and said that it had never happened before. As we walked into the yard some men using a power saw stopped working so we wouldnt get covered in dust. Next thing they are yelling at Lin and she is yelling back.

Turns out they are from her village and they are building the new village boat. Amazing.

We spend a lot of time there before going back to the hotel. A great day.Read more