I never expected a 16 hour bus ride to be enjoyable, but the journey through the mountains, heading north, really got off to an awesome start! First of all, it was our first "sleeping" bus so that was a real novelty, and soon after we got going we were greeted with heart stopping views into the valleys, hanging off the edge of the cliffside as we bumped along the gravel tracks! I tried to take some pictures of the waterfalls and jungle as we went along but it was impossible to catch the breathtaking sights, one after another, as we got higher and higher, until we were at cloud level. When it got dark the novelty soon wore off and we were left tossing and turning most of the night in a tiny bed that was a huge seat just a few hours previously!
It didn't get too much better when we arrived at Hoa's place, a mouldy shack that was to be our home for the next couple of nights. Hoa himself is super friendly, and I know we've been really lucky with the last two rooms, so this one does seem worse simply by comparison, and when we saw the beach, just a pebble throw away, it was a small compensation! China Beach was the R&R hang out for the US soldiers in the war but now the tides have washed away the anguish to leave a sleepy town with basic amenities.
After a delicious breakfast of noodle soup, we take a trip to the only alternative to the beach, Marble Mountains, which is a group of Hindu and Buddhist monuments set in natural caves up in the mountains, which used to be 5 marble outcrop islands. We chose the cheaper tickets at 15,000 dong and walked to the sumit! What a trek! The stairs were supersize and slippery, but the view from the top was great, and the artifacts were really interesting. The only annoyance was the huge amount of kids who must have been on a school trip and were running around like headless chickens at full speed, I don't know how they do it without falling! The town has loads of marble statues for sale which are very impressive but a bit to big to carry in your backpack, so we managed to refrain. We spent the rest of the afternoon using the gorgeous pool of a nearby hotel as the waves were huge and we couldn't swim in the sea.
On the 20th, we took a trip to Hoi An by motorbike. Its a wonderful little city which is like stepping back in time and is now UNISCO listed. It was an international trading port as far back as the 17th century. We strolled around, taking in the pretty chinese lanterns that hang in every doorway, in every colour. After visiting a few historical sites, we gave in to the searing heat and headed to the beach, which was amazing but definately more touristy than our stretch further north.
As the sun went down we decided to go and explore some more, but it turned out the bike had no lights! The roads are bad enough in the day and I unfortunately made the sensible decision to head back so we missed out on seeing Hoi An at night, which is sad, definately a go-back place one day.
Back at Hoa's, we then spent the rest of our night hunting the biggest cockroach we've ever seen! He was a sly guy with lots of places to hide but luckily I had a cunning plan and tempted him out with a cheese snack, it was a waiting game and after a few hours we trapped it under a bowl and I swept him down the stairs! He put up a good fight on the way down so I felt bad and swept the cheese snack down after him, I hope he enjoyed it!
The following day we took an afternnon bus to Hué to continue, again, our trek to the top of Vietnam.