A Little Vacation, Revisit to Hoian and Hue

Well I’m nearing my time to leave Vietnam again, so rather than sit still I decided to take my lovely girlfriend to somewhere for a week away. It was to hard to organize time outside of Vietnam so we decided to head somewhere in Vietnam. I wanted to revisit Hoian as I skipped over it while I was on my motorbike before and Sông wanted to head to the beach. So it was settled. We where heading to Hoian then Hue for a bit of R&R.

It was going to be a long track to get from Sa Pa to Hoian, first we had to catch a 8pm train from Lao Cai to Hanoi, this would arrive at 6am in Hanoi, then we purchased tickets in Hanoi to head to Hoian which left at 7pm and arrived at Dong Ha at 3pm, finally arriving at Hoian at 4pm. All up almost 3 days of travel, very smelly and tiring.

I knew exactly where to go to find a hotel, the city wasn’t very large and as I had driven the roads before I could remember the turns and way to get to the hotel.

That evening we went for a walk, it was nice to see something completely different but it was HOT, very HOT… even at night it was still well about 35oC. We walked around looking at all the shops, then ended up down by the river and habour for a bit of dinner.  The river was live with local music and performances and people singing and dancing. Along the river was also small beer hoi and noodle shops.

The next morning as promised we hired a motorbike and headed for the beach. It wasn’t to hard to find, just had to follow all the sun burned tourists on bicycles heading in 1 direction. We stopped in at a small shack out of the way and the lady gave us free parking and sun bathing provided we buy a drink. Was a lot cheaper than the main area, and we had a good stretch of beach to ourselves.

We spent the rest of the day swimming and relaxing in the hot sand. It was heaven…

The following day we decided to head the other way, I remember reading something about a place linked to Anchor near Hoian called “My Son” but I drove past it when I was on my trip and didn’t stop. So this time we would go and see this. It was about 40km out of Hoian, a good hours ride on the motorbike, the weather today was a melting 45oC.

My Son was 4 sites of rounded buildings from the same people that built Anchor Wat. The site was no where as grand, it was tiny infact. But it was never the less fun. It was a good 2 hours walking around the stones and old statues from the 8^th-12^th century.  It was a lot of fun having Sông with me as we played around in the ruins making fun with the statues and exploring every aspect of this historic place. It was extremely hot though, and it wasn’t doing either of us much good. The rest of the day we spent in the hotel in AC cooling down.

I had originally planned for us to head to Hue by bus on the 3^rd day, but I remembered the guys from easy rider I had talked to on my trip.  To me sitting on a bus for 4 hours and not seeing anything along one of the best coastal roads in the world sounds boring…. So I booked us both on a easy rider tour for 1 day from Hoian to Hue.

The next morning at 8am we were off, we each had a guide and a bike. All our gear was strapped to the back of the bikes.

We headed along the coast up along the beach road towards Hue, till we reached a place called Marble Mountain. So called as it was not only marble but all the shops and workshops around the town where master crafts men of marble art.

We climbed up the mountain into a old Buddhist monastery area, and then up the hill. The hill top was full of caves with shrines and carvings inside all devoted to Buddha. At the top of the hill was a amazing lookout where we could see the ocean.

We climbed down and into another cave. This cave had a grand hall with loads loads of statues and one large Buddha which was lit up by the light coming from the hole in the roof of the cave. It was very magical and looked very spiritual.

After climbing back down the mountain we headed back towards the bike. I was looking for 1 marble statue in particular to have a photo with. It was the lady featured on the top gear program and just before we got to the bike I found a smaller version of her.

Back on the bikes we reconnected with the AH1 HWY and started heading up the Hai Van pass. Last time I was here it was so cloudy I couldn’t see 2 meters infront of  me, today there wasn’t a cloud in the sky and we could see as far as the eye could see. It was amazing. We stopped at the top of the hill for a short break and to explore the old war bunkers. Sông and I went for al walk up the hill, there was so much I didn’t see last time purely because I couldn’t see them from the fog. This time we explorered the old bunkers and took some nice shots of the view point from the top of the Hai Van Pass.

Once we had spent a hour walking up and down the hill top we headed back to the bikes and continued onwards down the hill. We stopped at the view point to a town (same place I stopped when I was on my bike), but this time I had someone to take a photo with me and Sông as last time I was on my own.

We stopped on the island for some lunch, normally when Sông and I eat or are at a restaurant we play cards to pass the time and have some fun. When I took out the cards to play the motorcycle guides suddenly became all interested. Then when I told them we were playing a Vietnamese card game they all crowded around and joined in playing. 


It was a lot of fun when I started saying “Oi Zoi Oi” (Oh my god) when I was losing or someone put the wrong card down. They all laughed and loved it. Normally the game is played for money but if I would play for money I would loss all my money so we just play for fun.

After Lunch we headed back on the bikes and continued along the Hwy till we reached the other side of the next mountain pass then we turned off and took a smaller local road. The road took the long way around a large lake, which would then link up with the coastal road and take us in the back way of Hue.

The road was one I had not taken when I passed the area, so it was really nice to see. We stopped a lot for photos, the view and weather was great.

Sông and myself were having a great trip, we stopped on a bridge and could see a small fishing village below. We had a few photos together on the bikes. It was great fun. The remaining day was fairly uneventful we drove into Hue and I directed the driver to the hotel, again we stayed at the hotel I used when I was last in Hue. The lady at reception remembered me as I fixed there network last time I was in Hue.

The Easy Rider Tour was a really nice way to see the road between Hue and Hoian. It is much more expansive than the bus, but it gives a lot more to the day and you get to see a lot of things that you would otherwise miss out on if you take the bus.

The first day in Hue, we rented a motorbike and I took Sông for a walk around the old imperial palace, she was very impressed with the palace and it was fun knowing all the information and me playing tour guide. Normally it’s the other way around ;)

We wondered about the palace all day, seeing the smaller buildings. 

The following day we rented a motorbike and this time I took my lovely girlfriend for a tour around to see the outlying temples and imperial buildings around Hue. It was a very hot day so being on the bike was nice as it cooled us down a lot with the build in air-condition ;)

We visited the tomb of a old Vietnamese emperor first, the same tomb I visited before. It was decorated with ceramic pieces all over it. 

Outside was stone warriors and horses which were to protect the emperor in the afterlife, it was really nice to be back in this place and see it again.

Following this we headed to another tomb, this one was harder to remember how to get to. But with a bit of luck we managed to find it in, we walked around the large area and old buildings for some time.

We headed up the back of the tomb area and to some ruins with a large tree growing over it. Great place to get out of the hot sun and have some funny photos ;)

The next day we spent time shopping and walking around the center of Hue, it was raining so we didn’t go and see much, but the weather did stop for a hour or so and we headed to a park with loads of pine trees for a bit of a walk. There was a wall with loads of bullet holes in it. It was quiet a sight to see. It was just standing out on its own in this park.

The next day we boarded a train back to Hanoi, so not much happened.

Back in Hanoi we made ready for a bit of lite entertainment that night. We were lucky to be heading to the MTV EXIT concert in Hanoi, Sapa Ochau had been given a few extra tickets. That night we headed to see loads of great music and bands from all around the world. The concert was a charity event to provide information and to try and generate awareness about human trafficking, and to try and stop it. The last band to play was Simple Plan. It was a blast.

My time was drawing to a close in Vietnam, in 2 days I would fly out. The last few days all I wanted to do was spend as much time as possible with Sông.

That’s all from Vietnam,

Till Next Time, HAVE FUN.

Steffen.