South to Hoi An

Much more civilised start time today! Regular breakfast before a 9am pickup by the minivan heading south to Hoi An. We'd booked a slightly more expensive van transfer rather than a bus which proved to be a good decision: only 11 people on board so we had room to spread out and not be jammed into small Vietnamese seats.

This bus also stopped at a few sight-seeing points as well along the way. First up was a little market town with an ornate covered bridge, and then we cruised past a series of ornate family shrines outside a town. Not burial tombs, since bodies are usually cremated, but shrines where people pay homage and respect for their ancestors.

Next stop was a lake to see some oyster and pearl farms, then a nearby beach which had nice sand but way too much garbage to really be that nice.

From here we drove over the Hai Van pass which is essentially the dividing line between the north and the south of Vietnam. Although the 20th century North/South divide was north of here, it's really more where Vietnamese think of "the south" vs "the north". Anyway, it's a nice winding mountain pass road with great views up and down the coast.

Last stop was in the city of Da Nang, apparently one of the largest cities in Vietnam though significantly smaller than Hanoi and HCMC. There's not really much of interest here beyond massive new resort hotels on the coast (Shandos said it was basically a fishing village 15 years ago), and a spot called Marble Mountain. I'm a bit hazy on the specifics of it, but there's a lot of marble quarries in the area. It's also a sacred mountain with lots of temples, shrines and caves.

We spent an hour wandering around and checking it out, definitely the most interesting place we've seen today! Then back to the bus for the last 30 minutes to Hoi An.

Stayed inside in the air con for a bit then headed out to enjoy the evening in Hoi An. It's a picturesque little town, an old trading port that became a backwater and is still well preserved. Sort of like Malacca I guess. But it's clearly the #1 destination for wannabe Instagram superstars from Korea and China because you couldn't take three steps without getting into someone's photo. A bit annoying, but it was a pretty environment with blossoming trees, lanterns strung across every street etc.

Had a local speciality for dinner called cau lau, basically just another type of noodle soup. Chatted briefly to a Scottish couple who we shared our plastic table with! Wandered around in the evening for a while but it was like being at the Easter Show so we retreated across the river where it was a bit quieter and somewhere selling fresh beer for 5000 dong (25 cents Australian). That's a bit better!Read more