Day 52 - Relaxing for the last day . . . no chance!

I love Cargo!

Day 52 - 14th August

So I was getting used to the hostel breakfasts, with stacks of pancakes and fruit taking centre stage on our table. Buffet breakfasts are the way to go!

Mr Xe doing his handy work.

I joined Jordy at Mr Xe's for his final suit fitting, going as a wingman to offer my opinion on the overall product. His suit was that good I was convinced into buying my own. Yep, suit three was on order within minutes of arriving. Mr Xe even gave me a $30 discount and said he would give me a free gift when I returned later that day to try the suit. Jordy's gift was a free grey suit jacket, which compelled him to buy out the rest of the suit. That Mr Xe's got class.

Jordy, Sèbastien and I took to relaxing at Solo Cafe with more banana pancakes and beer, much to the friendly manager's delight. She was so good and her 3,000 VND beer (10p) was pretty good. Sèbastien was still on a high from missing his flight the night before and I was trying again to sort my Cambodia arrangements. It was getting tense, with it getting more difficult to find a quick solution. Every door was being closed on me. But I wasn't giving up.

To unwind, we headed to Tiger Tiger to dance and enjoy our last night in Hoi An with the five of us and Sabrina. After buckets of rum and coke, we were yet again in Why Not. We saw our Stoke roommates, Tom and Ron (funny guys - Tom gave me a free pair of Toms ironically and Ron was interrupted earlier on the toilet by his mum when she chose to Skype him.) These two bars were making their money from us five alone, let alone the other flocks of backpackers pouring in and out.

We made our way back and crashed out, tomorrow was our last day in Hoi An. I'd be sad to leave the old place.

Day 47 - Huè Temple, Elephant Springs and Biking to Hoi An

The temple in Huè

Day 47 - 9th August

It was hot. Probably the hottest day to date since I've been travelling South East Asia. I wasn't complaining, OK, maybe a little, but I enjoyed the heat finally because I was sick of rain.

The best feeling was knowing we were going to bike to Hoi An. The thought of flying down a motorway in control was exciting (plus no more buses for a while - yeahhhh).

Game on'

We headed out the door just after eight am and saddled up on our bikes. The girls rode off just to get a feel for the bike but rode back within 30 seconds with Julie cut open on the leg. Doctor Dan, the oldest in the group, had to whip out the first aid kit and disinfect her leg. Once I had removed the bits of grit and dribbling blood from the gash in her calf, I whacked a couple of plasters on her leg as she dug her nails into my arm and screamed. When I asked her how she did it, she said she'd revved to much, and with Anne (pronounced Anná) on the back, shifting the weight, they toppled over into a plant pot. Clumsy.

So with Julie patched up, we headed out to get petrol and breakfast. The banana, chocolate and ice cream pancakes were delightful. The best I've had on the trip at the Huè Backpackers Hostel. Our old chum, Sabrina rolled up at reception and joined us as we coordinated a meet up in Hoi An.

We headed over the ancient city and took in the cultural side of Huè, me doing my best impression of a Vietnamese tour guide and the others sparing my blushes and laughing.

And that's when it began . . . the trip down the open road to Hoi An. 

We set off in search of Hoi An. Who would know if we would get there in one piece, what with the girls' earlier incident. The road was smooth for a while until we started reaching the coastal roads. The resurfacing taking place meant that they had dug up the old Tarmac and concrete, leaving behind an obstacle course of shards of old road surfacing, shingle, rocks, bottles of water from the workers and on coming traffic that shared the same lane as us. This was going to be interesting.

To be fair, we all handled the road pretty well. The obstacles mentioned above were a nice prompt for me to pay attention. A few times I switched off, humming and singing When I Find My Heaven from Dumb and Dumber or 2,4,6,8 - the motorway song, only to be interrupted by an oncoming bus or a bump in the road.

Sèbastien, Jordy and I kept overtaking each other, doing our Mr Chao impressions and shouting at each other, "So long gay boys!" before speeding off in front.

Sorting out lunch is always a debate!

The Elephant Springs.

Half way down, we stopped at Elephant Springs and had lunch and a swim. It was a nice pitstop on a scorching day. The fried rice with liver was tasty and just half an hour down time was a nice break.

As we headed back onto the road, we drove up on Hai Van pass to see some stunning views of the coastline. And I mean, seriously stunning.

The boys . . . 

And of course, the girls.

Coming down from mountain pass, we cruised into Da Nang as the sun was going down. The warm night air was great and the water looked tempting. Jordy told me not to be a pussy and sped past me at 80 kph. Game on. I raced up beside him and we made our way closer to Hoi An.

This is how we treat the locals.

Anne and Julie switched driving duties and Sèbestien switched gears on his manual bike. Jordy and I just cruised like we had no worries in the world.

Lads on tour.

No words can express how amazing this actually was.

It was such a great experience. One I would recommend to anyone and one I would definitely do again.

It was 7:30pm when we arrived. The Sunflower hostel looked good, with a pool and bar out back and the dorm room was spacious and cool. God bless air conditioning.

We had dinner in the hostel with an over friendly Englishman, who just loved Julie's arm. My fried rice was really good but the server seemed like she wanted to push me backwards into the pool.

An old face from our travels, Dayana, who has caught up with us in every place since Sapa popped up to say hello with her two friends from the UK (Mia) and Canada (Mary). We couldn't resist telling people her secret about Disney films. They said they were heading to a couple of bars in the old town. We said we'd join them.

Us joining them was more difficult than anticipated as we made it 200 metres before giving up. It was too far to walk. Instead we all headed to bed after an awesome day.

One to never forget!