The next few days was going to be a pretty straight forward ride along the coast. To be honest I wasn't too excited about it but I did feel good to have some easy driving again. This wasn't the case. This coastal road is a highway and the main route for trucks and tourist buses. Tourist bus drivers are the most reckless ones on the road, they go really fast so you really have to make sure you're close to the side of the road as soon as you see one of them in the mirror. This road is also used by commercial trucks so you have to put up with a lot of black smoke coming from their exhausts. Not exciting at all.
Hitting The Road
We had a lot of ground to cover, if I remember correctly - about 300km till Qui Nhon. So a lot of boring driving ahead of us. The main concern on these highways is the fast paced traffic. These Honda Wins are very slow so you really need to make sure you're as close to the side of the road as possible. Everything was going smoothly and we were chipping away nicely.
I couldn't wait to get to Qui Nhon, it looked like a beautiful little coastal city. Very unknown to most tourists. It mainly serves as a night stopover for those who travel on motorcycles. Tourist buses go straight to Nha Thrang and continue to Hoi An.
We reached Qui Nhon just as it turned dark. We stayed in a very cool hostel called John & Paul Inn. The hostel itself was very basic but it had an awesome bar and mostly motorcycle travellers stayed there so we were in a very cool company. We played some drinking games and it was a fun night, definitely didn't expect it in Qui Nhon.
We were planning on staying in Qui Nhon an extra day and hit the beaches but for some reason we changed our minds and decided to continue the journey to our next stop - Nha Trang. It was looking like another boring day on the road. But we were covering a lot of distance so I couldn't complain.
The Feast
The road somehow diverged and we ended up on this empty road near the coast almost in a beach. It looked like a desert. There very few houses around, no traffic, half the road was covered in sand. It was a weird day. We got really hungry but there was absolutely nothing around, we needed a break and some food.
Little ways ahead we spotted this random house near the road that had a few locals drinking tea outside. It looked like the owner just turned their first floor into some sort of a cafe for locals. They didn't speak a word in English. We weren't expecting much, we just wanted to see if they serve a bowl of pho or something. Pho is Vietnamese beef noodle soup, It's delicious and it's everywhere. They didn't have the pho but instead we got served a fresh seafood feast. They brought out this little grill, placed it on our table and started grilling clams, snails and crabs. On top of that they also served a ton of oysters. All this seafood together with the sides and chilly sauces was the best meal I had in a long time. It was crazy. We had this huge meal for just 8$. Full and happy we continued onwards with the journey.
Russian Paradise
We arrived in Nha Trang rather early and stayed there for a couple of days. I didn't enjoy it. It is basically this Russian playground city. Situated on the coast, has a lot of hotels, casinos and other shit. Locals will actually speak with you in Russian if you're white and there are a lot of signs in Russian. That's how big the Russian presence is there. The whole city felt artificial and unexciting.
Picturesque Coastal Ride
Next stop was Hoi An and I couldn't wait to get there. I love that place, it's a Unesco Heritage site. There are a lot of coffee shops, art, old buildings other stuff tourist love so it's usually packed with people.
It was still a long way ahead but this next day was a pure joy. What followed was this incredible coastal stretch. Wide and empty road, bright blue sea on the right and perfect weather. It was a windy road going up and down. I felt so high and couldn't have enough of it. Later that day we were surrounded by a lot of green rice paddies. It was a fantastic day.
Lost My Mate, Again
Soon it was getting dark and I lost my mate again. When I realized I stopped over for a cold drink and reached out to him. His motorcycle broke down a ways back and it needed a lot of fixing. It was getting dark soon and reaching Hoi An seemed impossible that day so I started looking for accommodation. There was a town ahead with a sketchy hotel and it was the best I could find, 8$ a night. It was still 100km away so I sent the hotels location to my mate and I pressed on.
I reached the place just before it turned dark and went out looking for a meal, I found this amazing restaurant that served huge bowls of pho with lots of stuff inside. When I say amazing I mean purely food, the place itself was super basic.
I had yet to get back from my mate so I started to worry a little. When I messaged him before he already had his motorcycle fixed and he was on the road again, he ended up driving all the way to Hoi An that day. I caught up to him the next day but Hoi An was about 120km from the town I spent the night in so I was really impressed that he managed to go all the way in the dark.
Hoi An
I decided to spend 4 days in Hoi An, we had done a lot of driving so I needed some time to unwind. Again, I was here before during my first Vietnam trip in 2017 so I didn't feel like exploring. I just wandered around the town and hung out with people at my hostel.
I needed the engine upgraded on my motorcycle so that I could conquer the upcoming mountains. All the maintenance I had done on this motorcycle and the engine upgrade cost me barely anything. That's why it's really cheap to travel on a motorcycle in Vietnam.
After wasting some time in Hoi An I decided it's time to head back into the mountains and continue onwards on the Ho Chi Minh Road that goes all the way from Saigon to Hanoi. The most beautiful parts of it were just ahead. The alternative route which is more popular is sticking to the coast all the way to Hue. It is this beautiful windy stretch of road made mainstream by the show Top Gear. I had done some of it before on a scooter so I felt like it's time to jump on the Ho Chi Minh Road. Additionally the weather forecast in Hue was looking really grim so I was looking to avoid it. My mate wanted to go to Hue so we went on our separate ways from that point on.
The next part of this journey was the start of what felt like the most spectacular driving in the world.
To be continued.