From Hanoi to Hue to Hoi An

[by Franzi] So, once again, we had a night journey ahead of us. This time to Hue, as Jonas mentioned in the last blog. So, as planned, we waited in the hotel lobby at 5.45 PM, ready to be picked up by the bus at 6 PM. But there was no bus.. Again. Being as German as we are, we asked after 20-30 minutes of waiting where the bus was, and after a short phone call with our extremely nice hotel staff, they explained to us that there was a lot of traffic due to rush hour and the bus couldn't pick up everyone on time. We accepted this explanation because we have personally experienced how crazy the traffic is in the last few days. After waiting for another 15-20 minutes, our hotel staff received a call from the bus company and told us that they would order a taxi to bring us to the bus. No problem. When we arrived at the supposed bus stop, a small travel agency or something similar, we had no idea where to check in. So, we stood there a bit clueless. Shortly after, a man came up to us who seemed to be from the travel agency and asked us where we wanted to go. We answered "Hue", to which he nodded and said "wait for me". In the next moment, he disappeared. We stood next to a few other travelers and waited. The man from the travel agency came back and shouted "Hoi An" to the group. At first, we were unsure if he meant us too, because Hue is in the direction of Hoi An, but still quite a bit further north. We decided to just follow along. So, we walked around two corners, but there was still no bus in sight. Just to make sure that we were in the right place and that the bus also stops in Hue, we waited again. We waited and waited, but no bus came.. We waited for more than 60 minutes until the man from the travel agency took us around two more corners, where our bus finally arrived! The luggage was stored below, we found seats on the bus, and with more than two hours delay, we finally headed towards Hue.

From there, the journey was very relaxed and without any issues. We arrived in Hue around 9.30 AM and looked for our hostel. Thanks to Google Maps, it was quite easy and we quickly arrived at our hostel. But we could only check in at 12.30 PM. Across the hostel, there was a small, very nice café where we sat down and had two iced coffees, uploaded the last blog, and browsed through the travel guide.

Checked in at the hotel and refreshed a bit, we then went to the Citadel of the old imperial city on the other side of the Perfume River. It was the most expensive attraction for us so far with 150,000 Dong / person (€5.29). The entrance was divided into two, the right entrance was for locals only, and the left entrance was for everyone else. We don't know why it's like this. But we suspect that locals can enter at a discounted or even free rate. The entrance that everyone nowadays can use (if they paid) was only used by the emperor during the imperial era. Everyone else had to use side entrances that are not open to tourists today.

Entrance gate from the side

Some buildings from the imperial era were still very well preserved, such as the "Thai Hoa Palace" from where the emperor could oversee the gates and the visitors entering. The roof of the palace is supported by 80 columns with carved reliefs and a lacquered surface.

The rest of the citadel was rather disappointing for us, we expected more from this large and significant site. Most of the buildings were uninteresting or had been destroyed during the Vietnam War.

We didn't do much else that day. After visiting the Citadel, we went to get some food. When we stepped out of our hostel, we quickly realized that there were no scooters or cars on the street and that a stage was being set up at a large intersection. There was probably some kind of hip-hop dance competition happening on the stage. The intersection was filled with people and the music was blasting at full volume. We decided to move away from the music and ended up in an American-Vietnamese diner. We opted for burgers and beer, as well as some garlic bread (215,000 Dong = €7.46). Back at the hotel, we fell into bed.

Unfortunately, I didn't feel well during the night, so we decided to postpone our journey to Hoi An by one day and stay in Hue a bit longer so that I could rest a bit. In the morning, Jonas took care of everything with the hostel in Hue, and also sent an email to the hotel in Hoi An asking to reschedule our stay. No problem at all, so we could sleep a bit more at ease. But not much else happened on that day, in the morning we mostly slept, and in the afternoon, we decided to watch a movie. In the afternoon, we went to a local market, which was quite big, but many things were repetitive. We found the smell to be very exhausting and disgusting. I think it was dried fish or something like that, but it just smelled like garbage, so we quickly left the market. A bit disappointed, we went to have a very good pizza.

[by Jonas] For the next day, we had planned to ride the approximately 150km to Hoi An by scooter. We booked a service through our hostel that allowed us to rent a one-way scooter. Additionally, the provider transported our large luggage to our hotel in Hoi An, so we didn't have to carry it. After the formalities of the contract (which, unlike in Laos, actually exist here) and the inspection of our scooter, we could get on and start riding without any worries.
At first, the Vietnamese traffic in the city was very exhausting, but as we rode further away from Hue, the traffic decreased and we covered a long distance on Highway AH1.
The special thing about the route from Hue to Hoi An is that the foothills of the Truong Son Mountains meet the South China Sea exactly between the cities. So, you ride your scooter over the "Hai Van" pass, which is said to be one of the most beautiful motorbike routes in all of Southeast Asia. It has even been featured in a special episode of the popular motorsport magazine "TopGear".

And the first impressions at the beginning of the pass were magnificent: you had a view of an endless sandy beach that stretched straight north.

As we continued, we quickly noticed that there was hardly any traffic on the pass, which is probably due to the fact that a tunnel was opened through the mountains in 2005. So, you mainly come across other scooter or motorbike riders who want to enjoy the view of this mountain road by the sea and are not allowed to use the tunnel either. Only occasionally, a big truck would come your way. These are loaded with various things, but all too often you see animal transports that are as far away from animal welfare as possible. When you see these scenes, you naturally question the impact of your own meat consumption! But that was only a minor issue on the pass, because in the next moment, you would be surprised by the next beautiful view.

But our scooter ride would not be without incidents. At some point, when it got particularly steep uphill, our scooter started to make strange noises and lose power. It didn't take long until the yellow engine control light came on. So, we decided to pull over and contact the company that rented us the scooter. The contract clearly stated that they are responsible for any mechanical issues.

Unfortunately, it took a while to make the rental staff understand that we needed help in the form of a new scooter. After about an hour, we were finally able to convey our situation to them and they told us that someone should be there in another 1-2 hours to check our scooter and, if necessary, bring a new one. So, we had to wait again, wait, and wait some more. In the beginning, we could pass the time quite well, not least because of the breathtaking view. But after a while, even that became boring, and we were just irritatedly sitting at the side of the road. After a little over 2 hours, two employees of the rental company finally arrived and checked the scooter. At this point, it wouldn't even start anymore. One of them was apparently a mechanic and immediately dismantled a few parts of the scooter at the side of the road until he reached the spark plug. I suspect that it wasn't working anymore because when he saw it, he told us that we should take one of the motorcycles they had come with. Compared to our previous scooter, which had 135cc, the "new" scooter was significantly larger. When we asked, he explained that this model had 155cc (more than three times what I'm actually allowed to ride!). So, we rearranged the luggage and the two transferred the fuel from one scooter to the other using a bottle. Then I took a test drive and already noticed that this scooter had much more power. When Franzi got on, we also noticed that it was much more comfortable since it had a raised seat for a second person.
So, we could continue! The top of the mountain was not far anymore, and due to the countless tourists, it couldn't be missed. Here, an old bunker roof served as a viewpoint. You had a view of both the aforementioned beach and the land behind it, as well as the other side of the mountains. A huge bay opened up here, with dreamy beaches alternating with patches of forest, until a cluster of high-rise buildings could be seen in the distance: Da Nang.

After taking a few photos, we decided to keep going. Going downhill, we got closer and closer to the big city and the bay. It was incredibly fun to ride this stretch. It might sound like a cliché, but it really felt like a sense of boundless freedom!

At the bottom, it became more urban again, and as a result, the traffic increased. It was exhausting, but also fun to be standing in the middle of a huge gathering of scooters at the traffic light. Then we crossed a bridge in Da Nang, which was extremely large. Here, we experienced the feeling of freedom again.

The rest of the route was not particularly interesting and eventually felt quite long. Even though it initially ran along another endless beach, eventually it was only a repetition of beach resorts and luxury hotels, and we couldn't see the beach anymore. We passed by the "Marble Mountains", but decided against visiting them because we just wanted to arrive at the hotel.

A few kilometers later, we finally arrived at our hotel in Hoi An. We checked in and informed the scooter rental that we had arrived. Shortly after, they came with our luggage and took the scooter back.

All in all, the onward journey by scooter was a great experience, and the Hai Van Pass is a route that I would recommend to everyone. However, the distance between the two cities should not be underestimated, and especially for us inexperienced scooter riders, it was exhausting but still worthwhile. Now we are in Hoi An, a small tourist town in central Vietnam. In the next blog, you will learn more about this wonderful place.

Until then :)

Franzi and Jonas