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DAY EIGHT We travelled through the meandering limestone mountains on our way to Hoi an, taking in the stereotypical Vietnamese sights- never ending paddy fields, dense jungle, free flowing rivers of the Mekong delta....oh, and some unlucky dude who had been mowed down from his scooter by a truck. Arrival in Hoi an was only two hour bus ride, which I was glad to be over. The driver incessantly depressed his air horns constantly, warning other road faring vehicles he was coming through. It was almost at the pace of a regular human heartbeat it was that constant. Once again, saved by rock, this time Messieurs Cornell and Morello (audio slave) provided my ears the delight they required The Phong Huong hotel was to be our forward operating base, and conservations eagerly discussed a visit to My Son ( pronounced 'mee sun') temples, which is a recognised UNESCO world heritage site. Through regulating travel costs, I reluctantly agreed to hire a scooter ( well, Jasmin was a little more reluctant than me!!ha ha) and along with the two Dutch guys, Tom and Anna plus Matt the Aussie who looks like Alan from The Hangover, set off on a 29 km ride. Everything was going quite smoothly until about 18 km in when a huge cloud that looked like it meant business, appeared over the mountains on our left hand side. It looked as if we may be lucky enough just to miss it, but after five hopeful minutes the cymbal sized drops gave us a hastened inside scoop on what was to come. Tom, pulled into a farmers house and asked if it was okay to park up and use his annexe for shelter and we were welcomed with open arms. As the bikes were being parked, what was like a waterfall pouring on our heads started....tropical rain. Then the thunder and lightning started battering the area local to us, with plenty of gusto! We were given a tour of their house by the owners, who were very excited to do so. Unfortunately, none of can understand Vietnamese so the excitable commentary that was provided was perhaps wasted on us. We still all looked interested as allowing 5 random foreigners in your house, especially when the husband was an ex -North Vietnamese Army Officer, you be as polite and thankful as possible! It shows that even though he was about the right age to have served during the Vietnam War, 40 years on he allowed two Aussies, very graciously into his home. The thunder and lightning moved further south, and the rain eased to an acceptable level to ride in, and as the temples were not far, we set off again. five minutes later, we were buying plastic ponchos from a local store, as riding wearing wet clothes in combination with the wind was most definitely not a pleasurable experience. Finally arriving in My Son, we were treated to amazing history, scenery and age old architecture. The history of this site goes back thousands of years, and was relatively unknown on the world stage until the Vietnam war, when the American B-52 bomber campaign managed to destroy one entire area ( group A it's referred to as), and rest if the groups( up to F group) received partial damage. There was a ground battle around this complex also, and you can clearly see bullet holes,craters and shell scars everywhere. There is restoration campaign underway, to repair and restore to its former glory through artist impressions and pictures painted or photographed. The complex is also in deep jungle, quite high up in the mountains, so it blended itself to be quite eerie, as parts had fog floating through it. Very sleepy hollow! We can definitely recommend going there, except avoid it when there is a tropical storm on route! After a tricky 29 km ride back in the dark, which tested all my powers of concentration, we settled down for a meal at the Green Chilli,which contained again, some pretty special dishes. As we had eaten predominantly Vietnamese food to this point, we thought let's try the gourmet text mex food, cooked by a dude called Nando who has worked throughout the world in various high class restaurants. The food was incredible, pimped up nachos followed by spicy chimichangas. If you ever go to Hoi An, this place is a must, and if you speak nicely with Nando and have a laugh with him, he sends out free food and free beer. Winner!This was washed down with free beer...you heard it...free beer, no catch! I can't say honestly that it was the best beer I have ever had, but still gave it a good go!
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