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Day 38 4th jan
Cornflakes with milk and toast with butter again for breakfast...
Everything's available, but sometimes the simple things are the nicest...
We are heading to around 105km south to Da Nang and with no Ho Chi Minh trail we'll be on Highway 1 again....
Thankfully the further south we've come the better Highway 1 has become.... Its still busy, but it's reduced down to a normal road now.... Ironically the bikes make better progress than almost anything else on the road... There's a half lane on either side of the road that the bikes use and in this lane you can undertake all the cars, lorry sand coaches..... It feels a little like uneasy.... Riding within touching distance of the wheels of an articulated lorry but your passed pretty quickly once you've made it through the wind wall at the front.... The coaches are without doubt the kings of the road.. They are quicker than anything else there size and big enough to push the cars into there place with easy....
The roads are dangerous here.... More so to us, as we can't read the signs, but once you work out how things generally work there not to bad... Size wins here.... Bigger is definitely better when heading towards another oncoming vehicle, horns mean "I'm passing you or I'm close to you" flashing headlight of an oncoming vehicle means " I'm overtaking something and I'll be using your side of the road and I'm bigger than you....."
Both the above description are very much a general representation of how things work, and both should have "And if you don't get out of my way you'll be going home in a wooden box"
Keep your eyes open and its fine, and we're feeling comfortable on the bike now....
Today's journey takes us off the highway and onto the famed "Hai Van Pass" used by Top Gear on the Vietnamese special and we stop whilst on this road to take photos of shots used in the programme...
The highway avoids this steep and twisting road by using a long tunnel under the mountains but we select a low gear and head up the pass.... The road weaves its way up the mountain and has very light traffic... There are many bikes making the trip up along with a few cars and even a articulated lorry, quite how it gets around the very tight bends I'll never know.... The term "hairpin" bend was made to describe this road... It looks more like a deserted racing circuit than the old main road... We spend some time trying to capture the road on film but I doubt the photos will do it justice.... We travel up for 10 kilometres passing little noticeable traffic apparat from one lorry in particular... It was carrying a very large number of dogs !??! before long we reach the top... Most of which was done in second gear....and some in first. I'm glad the bike is no heavier as we'd if been pushing it....
The highest part of the climb is a hilltop fortification built by the French and used by the Americans in the Vietnam war... There's a few road side sellers with dusty food and some selling there time to take your photo....
We avoid the sellers and take a few photos of our own.... Its high, and we are in the clouds so decide to make our way...., we get up momentum and switch the bike off... We roll for what feels like ages, down and down we go... Which is handy as we are low on fuel and there's nowhere to buy it up here....
We bump start the bike at the bottom of the mountain pass and continue the final leg to Da Nang without issue... It's only a 30 min ride along a perfectly straight costal road so we are soon at our hotel....
It's really nice... A nice big clean room with a big bed, Shiree almost wets herself when she finds the nice clean bath tub......
We dump our bags and head out on foot for lunch.... Da Nang is costal and also has a river... The rivers maybe a quarter if a mile wide and has four bridges across... One has a very large dragon on it and visually is very impressive... I'd read that the dragon actually breaths fire but hadn't told Shiree... We find ourselves in a lovely modern river front restaurant and I quietly get to work researching the times if the "fire breathing" bridge...
In typical Vietnamese style all the websites I can find, and there are many only tell you about its construction, its cost, when it was built, but nothing about its party piece.... I eventually find two websites that confidently state the fire breathing times....
It's just a shame they don't give the same time.... One says 21.00 and the other 22.00 but both agree that it's only on the weekend... Well its a Saturday, so I figure we are half way there....
We leave the restaurant and wonder around DaNang... It's less touristy the Hue and you can walk in piece.....
After a while we head back to the hotel via a shop to by more cheese and French stick.... We've decide to eat in tonight.
We are both pooped so have an afternoon sleep.... Well shiree does, I'm still trying to get some creditable information on the fire bridge but have no success....
We just have a easy day around the hotel and watch a movie...
I've told Shiree to be ready to head out on the bike for 20.30.... She still has no idea about the fire aspect of the bridge...
We ride around town looking for fuel before heading to the bridge... We are early, but that's good... It's very busy.. There are bikes and people everywhere so I guess it happens at 21.00. Leaving the bike on the side of the road we find a good place to photo the dragon... Shiree now knows what's happening and is poised, camera in hand.... The dragons lit up like a Christmas tree and randomly changes colour....
At 20.58 the traffic is stopped and dead on 21.00 its mouth opens and a large fire ball fires out of its mouth... then another and another...
At 21.05 it all happens again but this time it's followed by a massive jet of water... It's like a fireman's hose and sprays a large amount of water out... It creates a fine mist that looks like smoke as it drifts in the air..... We are stood on the wrong side if the bridge as the water is carried by the air and soaks everyone on our side of the bridge... It really doesn't matter as it's still warm...
We depart the bridge along with most of DaNang.... There are bikes everywhere and we weave our way through.... The other bridges in DaNang are also lit up and look very impressive... We just spend the evening riding around admiring all the lights and bridge illuminations... It all looks so impressive... They've poured massive amounts of money into the four bridges in DaNang and it's been money well spent.....
http://www.vietnam-beauty.com/top-destinations/12-destination-in-the-middle/272-hai-van-pass.html
http://www.atlasobscura.com/places/fire-breathing-dragon-bridge
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