Oct 24 - Marble Mountains
Beau, the silly man that he is, woke up early to watch part of the Packers game, the third quarter started at 5am... Silly man. After going back to sleep for a bit we had breakfast at the hotel and rented a motorcycle from across the street. We decided to head towards Da Nang and go to the Marble Mountains. Typically, we missed the turn and drove for awhile in the not quite right direction. We were at least going north but on the wrong road. We did make it to the Marble Mountains after a guy stopped to help us lost looking tourists. We climbed all over the main mountain. There were all kinds of caves which are actually temples. There were Buddhas all over the mountain. We headed up one set of stairs and made it to the very top of the mountain. The view was pretty spectacular, with all different scenes depending on the way you looked. One way you could see the other mountains, another the city and another the sea. It was well worth the buckets of sweat it took to get up there. It was a hot one. We headed down from the mountains and went in search of lunch. We stopped at a road side seafood restaurant but it was much too expensive. We drove around a little and Beau followed his nose to a BBQ. We didn't know what to order as the menu didn't have anything recognizable on it. We ordered the little bird the guy was bbqing (might have been pigeon) and a chicken leg. It was delicious, seasoned really nicely. We were still hungry so Beau pointed to one of the cheaper things on the menu and order us that. We are pretty sure it was snails but again very tasty although a little spicy. It was an interesting lunch experience that turned out very good in the end. We headed back towards Hoi An and hit up the beach. While we were parking the bike the parking guy serenaded us with a song about Canada and the beach and swimming and looking after the bike. It was random and hilarious! We went for a nice swim in the ocean and then headed back to the hotel. We decided to keep the bike for tomorrow since it was only $4 a day. We got cleaned up and met up with Mark and Christina for dinner by the river. The food was quite good and we had strategically placed ourselves to watch the free local dance show that goes on every night at 7:30. It to entice people to come watch the full show. After dinner we headed to a tailors shop that had a bunch of recommendation from our hotel. Beau and I thought about having suits made up but it would be too much effort to send home. I did buy a green Asian style dress with embroidery down the front. It quite pretty, although after ordering I did see other dresses that I liked a lot too. We then had some cheap local beers at a riverside restaurant before heading to bed.
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| On Top of Marble Mountain |
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| The view from the top, some of the other Marble Mountains. |
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| Happy Buddha and temple |
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| On the mountain. |
Oct 25 - Lazy Beach Day
We woke up to another beautiful day! We set off to the beach again after having some breakfast. We arrived at a different beach from the one yesterday which had fewer tourists. We parked the bike and walked down. We were approached by several Vietnamese women who said we can use their beach loungers and should eat at their restaurant later. We said we might eat there later and thought we could use the chairs anyways... wrong. After sitting in the sun and going for a nice swim we wanted some lunch. We checked out the woman's menu but it was quite expensive compared to the other restaurants prices. We chose another and sat down only to have the woman from earlier hunt us down and demand we eat at her restaurant or else pay for the lounger. None of this was to our understanding and she was being quite rude so we decided to leave that area all together, without paying to use the lounger. We drove down the road near where we had been the day before and found a reasonably priced seafood restaurant. We ate some delicious clams and shrimp while standing under a patio umbrella because it had started to pour. The weather cleared up again so we were able to enjoy the beach for a bit. We went for a little cruise around on the bike and then headed back to the hotel to get cleaned up. I had to get my dress fitted, which was a little tight across the bust, surprising since it's not too big to start with.... We got a early morning tour booked for My Son tomorrow and our bus onwards to Nha Trang. We wandered around trying to find some deals on pearls and had to go back to the tailors for another fitting. It was still a little tight but they need to do the embroidery on it still anyways so it should be good tomorrow. We met up with Mark and Christina there and went to a restaurant that advertised cheap local food. It was quite good and had recently been opened by a younger guy that thought there should be one price for tourists and locals alike. Good Man! It had been pouring intermittently through out the evening, fortunately we were always under cover for the down pour. We went for some beer and dessert and parted ways for the evening. Beau and I have to be up early tomorrow.... Yuck
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