Day 21: Paradise Cave

Sunday, 11/10/2024

Was up at 6:00am as usual, but decided to just lay in bed for a while as I was in no rush this morning.

Eventually got out of bed to pee, then took a cold shower as I was not awake enough to figure out how the hot water heater worked.

Dressed and checked on the hours for the bike rental shop to see if they were open today, as well as the cave I wanted to ride up to see.  Both were good.

I went out on the deck off the hallway outside my room to check out the city during the daylight better and get a feel for the weather.

View onto the street in front of hotel.

I then walked over to the bike shop, the gate to the garage was open so walked in, but no one around.

I could hear people in the house, but distant enough they may have been on the upper floor.  I waited a few minutes, then I took down the WhatsApp number from the sign and texted them, but no response after a few minutes.

I walked back to the hotel and did a bit more research and found that number was current, so called via WhatsApp.

Someone answered, but they were at another location in the city as the business has multiple locations.  

After short talk about what I was looking for, we moved the conversation back to the WhatsApp texting so she could send me photos of the bikes.

I indicated I would take one of the 150cc motorbikes they had with the manual shifting.  I said I would walk over to the shop and she said they would meet me there, though I was not sure if she meant herself, or someone at that shop.

I arrived at the shop and again and no one was there, but there was a child standing in the door way into the house and they went to get someone.  The lady arrived and turns out she was the sister of the lady I spoke with on the phone.

She started to show me a 150cc bike, but this one was an odd auto shift setup where you shifted the gears, but was clutch-less.  More of a scooter.

About then a guy rode into the shop on his scooter and started talking to the girl, and he went over and pulled another bike over that looked more like the photos I had been sent.  This was also a full manual shifting bike, though it was still built more like a scooter in the frame and controls.

I sat on that bike and it was big enough for me to work with it, so agreed to rent that one, for the cost of $14 for the day.

I paid the money and they took a photo of my passport, but did not even ask about my International Driving Permit nor require any other paperwork.

Then they tried to show me how a few things worked, but was not always sure what the button or switch they were turning on and off was doing, and neither spoke very good English.

I then rode the bike over to the hotel so I could put on the proper gear and gather stuff I would need for the day out on the bike.

I wore all my gear except the larger riding boots, they were still damp, and the hiking shoes I was wearing would provide enough support for the lower speeds I would be riding and would be much nicer for walking around at the cave.

I figured out my route on Google Maps and even had the GPS plot it, but there was no way to mount the phone on the bike so I could see it

I would have to keep the phone in my pocket and pull it out if I was not sure about the route, though most of it was easy enough to remember it.

I then figured out some of the controls on the bike and hit the road about 9:00am.

I got to the edge of Dong Hoi and the highway heading out of town, and then I stopped for fuel as I noticed the tank was almost empty.  Then got back on the road and headed for the town of Phong Nha, where I had been just a week prior.

The ride up was mostly dull countryside fields and such until we reached the area near Phong Nha and the green covered hills and rocks started to pop up out of the ground.

I stopped just outside town to take a few photos of the landscape and then rode on past town and back along the highway I had ridden down the week prior.  

Approaching Phong Nha from the south.

The turn was not too far down the highway, but was not sure if it was marked well.  I stopped to check the map on the phone and thought it looked like the next road, but when I turned at the next road I saw, I quickly realized it was a smaller country lane, and not the main road I was looking for.

I stopped for a piss along this small road and then went back to the highway and down about 1km (2/3 mile) to the road I actually needed.  Once on it I stopped again a bit farther down as things would get a bit more complex from here. I also just took the gloves off as it was making using the phone next to impossible.

At one point I had the option to stay on the main road which would wind down in a big loop and come back up to a bridge over the river, or I could short cut over a smaller pedestrian/bike only bridge and cut through a village to the road I needed.  That route saved me a good distance, and looked more fun, so I took it.

This put me onto the Ho Chi Minh Trail Road again, and it was off this road that I would turn to go into the park with the cave.  This was a different section that I had not ridden before and was mostly in the lower river valley and not quite as hilly for most of the ride.

Very common road hazard on this trip, dog laying in the road relaxing or sleeping.

Coming into the hills.

View from the road on the way up the valley.

The turn off to the cave was marked very well, so I turned off onto the small road headed into the hills.

Turn off to the Paradise Cave park.

The road now became very steep, going both up and down and a few curves along the way.

Steep roads getting to the cave.  Downhill section (or uphill on way back).

I reached the main area outside the park where the parking lot and several restaurants and shops were located.

As I rode into the edge of the lot some guys yelled and pointed for me to park under a canopy along the edge of a volleyball court setup in a parking lot.

All the bikes parked out here, which was the most distant point from the park you can be.  I find it strange that bikes are always forced out to the edge when they are so much more common than cars and take up less space.

I paid the 5000 Dong fee to park (20 cents), sorted out the gear into the small backpack I brought along and then walked across the main lot to the entrance where the ticket office was located.

Walked over to pay for parking, forgot to turn off camera again.

I bought my ticket (just over $10) and then walked down a short trail, through the ticket check gate and then to a waiting area to wait for an electric cart to take me up the road to the cave trail. The cart actually pulled up just as I was about to sit down.

Another couple had come in just after me and the 3 of us took the cart to the trail.  They were from Spain and we talked a bit on the roughly 2km (1.5 mile) drive.

Once at the trail head we had to start hiking up the cliff side on a sloping trail that went through about a dozen switchbacks as it made its way up, and was fairly steep at times, but at least it was not stairs! 

I Stopped about 2/3 of the way up to use the restroom and then continued to the top.

Walkway up the cliffside.

View from the walkway over the valley.

At the top was a café selling drinks and showing info on the cave.  The cave entrance was next to it and was just a small opening in the rock wall.

Café at cave entrance, not sure where the stair continue up too?

Cave Entrance.

Once inside you immediately head down a series of steps that probably took us down nearly the same distance we had just climbed up!

Once inside, it is a big walk down!

The first chamber was huge. At the bottom of the stairs you continue along an elevated wooden walkway which takes you through the entire cave.

There were several areas where you could walk over to a viewing platform, or even go up steps to get an elevated view, or see something higher up on the wall that was not visible from lower down.

Going to be fun going back up!

The cave is accessible for the first kilometer (2/3 mile), but there are roughly 31km (20 miles) of tunnels mapped.  This makes it the longest cave in Asia as measured by total distance (though this may have recently been surpassed).  It was fully mapped by a British team between 2005 and 2010 just after it was discovered.

Most of the cave is quite large, only a few sections that get narrow and nothing that would make you feel enclosed.  The formations were frequent, large and quite elaborate at times as well.  Just an amazing cave!

There were not too many people inside when I started, though as I went along, I could hear more noise up ahead, so a larger group had gone in before I arrived, but still only about 12 people that I saw passing me going back to the entrance as this cave is an in and back route.

I finally reached the endpoint where you cannot continue and turned back.  I decided to film the entire walk back on the phone so I can edit it into a video sometime later.  

On the way back I had to pass through a massive group of Chinese tourists, all shouting at top volume, coming into the cave. They were also making the walk way crowded and blocking the path for their selfies, which always had to be posed just right and took ages.

The echo was very annoying with all them trying to talk over the next one.

I liked it better on the way in when you could hear distant voices maybe, the occasional creak of the wood as you walked, your own footsteps, and even some water drips.

I reached the base of the large staircase to get out and started up.  This took me awhile as I was worn out already from all the walking and riding that day.  A group of much younger girls that was nowhere near me when I started actually passed me on the way up.  

At the very top I did not see the low ceiling as I was looking down to make sure I got my feet on the steps and smacked my head into the roof which was only about 1.5m (5 feet) over the stairs on that side of the steps.  Did not help that I had so much sweat dripping into my eyes and glasses that I couldn’t really see out of them anymore anyway.  OUCH.

Reached the top and stopped at the bar to buy a cold drink and sat down to drink it and enjoy a bit of the cooler breeze blowing up there while I checked out the map of the cave.

Map of the tourist section of the cave.

I then started to head down after checking out the stairs heading upward.  Not sure what is up there, but too tired to find out.

The way down was all steps, but that did make it shorter than the hike up at least.  But still a lot of steps, would guess around 500-600 of them.

Stairs, but at least it is going down.

I reached the bottom and walked over to the space to wait for the carts.  While several were sitting there, I guess they wanted to wait for a larger group and not just take me alone.  Finally, a few more people showed up and we got onboard the first cart and drove off.

I talked during the ride back with a guy and his daughter sitting in front of me.  They were from Kansas, but lived 6 months out of the year in Vietnam and loved it.  He said it was a bit difficult to arrange the visas, but worth it in the end.

On the walk back after exiting the cart, I saw a large pile of butterflies gathered on something that was spilled onto the roadway.  They were good sized, and did not seem to mind my presence when I got down to take a photo.  Must have been some good eating!

Butterfly dining spot?

I walked back over to the bike, got geared up and back on the road out of the park. 

On the road out, the hills were very steep, and on this little 150cc bike with my weight it was a struggle to get up them.

Due to this, I decided not to take the longer 3-hour route on the Ho Chi Minh trail as it would be hell on the bike and I might not even have enough fuel with the extra effort it takes to get up hills.

There are no fuel stops on the road unless you can find a café or restaurant that will also sell you fuel.

About half the route back I had already ridden anyway, so while it would have been nice to see the route without the rain and clouds, just not something I felt comfortable with on this bike.

I head back down the road toward the villages, but did stop for a few photos along the way.

The bike and the river valley.

Waterfalls on the river flowing down the valley.

The road heading back to the highway.

I again decided to take the shortcut through the small village to save time and distance.

Shortcut through a village and fields to save time.

Small bridge on the shortcut route.

Going over the bridge, love these things!

After reaching the edge of Dong Hoi, I took a wrong turn as the road curved here, but I did not realize I had come onto the road from the straight section next to it.  I did not recall this intersection.

After the curve went longer than I recalled on the route out I stopped to check the GPS and found I was actually on a parallel road to the one I was looking for about 2 miles farther on.

I let the GPS re-route me and followed a different route back to where the Hotel was.

I stopped at the hotel and dropped off some of the camera gear and the gloves and then grabbed my journal and took off to find lunch somewhere in town.

I was craving pizza and had done some research earlier and found a place called Pizza Cats over near the coast a few miles away.  Was not a difficult route, just needed to drive down to the main road just south of the hotel and take it across town, over the river, and then turn down a smaller road just past the river where it would be only a 1 block ride to the restaurant.

Crossing the Nhat Le River in Dong Hoi.

But when I got there I had some trouble finding it.

First I turned on the wrong side street, but that was quickly figured out with a quick check of the GPS.

Once on the correct street, I rode up and down and around the intersection it was supposed to be at, but it was not there.  I checked online and it there was evidence of it being open just a few days prior, so it was not a case of stale data.

I eventually found it, the place was actually on the other side of the street and a few buildings down, and I had actually stopped in front of it not once, but twice, and failed to notice the sign since I was so focused on the other corner.  Another reminder to not always trust the dot on the map with Google Maps.

Once I found it I pulled up along side, but it did not look like it was open.

Where I tried to eat, but owners decided not to be open today?

As I pulled up, an older lady was coming out of building next door and she started saying something to me and gesturing at the place as I was sitting in there looking confused.  She went up and knocked on the door shouting, then pulled it open and went inside.

I pulled up into the parking area and waited.

She came out a few minutes later and from her body motions and tone, I took it that the owners were not going to be bothered to open up at this time.

She gestured to a Vietnamese restaurant next door, not sure if it was hers, or just being nice, but I was not interested in local foods. 

I looked online for another pizza place and found one back on other side of the river and over into the center of town more.

I followed the map over to that place and it was open. I parked and went inside.

I had a really good pizza, some fries and a drink while talking a bit with the guys working there, who were probably the owners.

Where I ended up having lunch, and it was very good!

I then got on the bike and headed back to the hotel, but decided that I was probably not going to ride anywhere else today, so would just drop off the bike first.

I rode over to the place and pulled up inside the gated garage.  No one was around again, and must not have been close enough to hear me pull in.

But as I pulled in, an older lady who had been walking outside walked in and started to talk to me.  Of course I no clue what she was saying, and not sure she understood anything I said.

She seemed to be trying to accept the bike, so I took out the keys and handed them over and told her I might come back tomorrow and rent it again.  I then walked out as she started to push the bike over into the garage more.

I stopped up the road a bit and texted the lady I had talked with earlier to let her know I had dropped off the bike and that some lady had taken the keys and pushed it farther into the shop.  No response, so hopefully things are okay with that. [I did get a text back later that night from the owner, it was her mother that I gave the bike too, so all good.]

I walked back over to the hotel and got out of the riding gear and then took a 30-minute nap.

When I woke, I wrote the last two days up in the journal as I had not felt like doing it the night before.  I drank the last of my beverages too, so will need to go get more.

But I will go out later as I think I just want to relax a bit for now, and will also try to find dinner maybe then as well.

I do have chips left over, so might just do that again as not feeling very hungry right now since I had a large lunch.

For now, I will read a bit and do some research on possible things to do for tomorrow as I currently have no plans for the entire day.

Originally, I had set the day aside to visit Phong Nha cave as well, but since we did that cave on the bike tour, I really do not need to do it again, and since I cannot be sure the water levels have come down enough to get access to the parts we missed, probably not worth the rental and ride up just to find out there is nothing new to see.

Around 6:00pm I walked over to buy more drinks for the evening, but decided I was not hungry enough to experiment with the Vietnamese restaurant on the corner I had thought about stopping at.  I just returned to the room and snacked on chips instead.

I read more of my book and played around online until about 9:00pm.  Really thinking I might just turn in early tonight or just read more as I finished the one book, so could start another now.

I have not yet planned anything about tomorrow, so will do that in the morning or just have a lazy day to reset and relax as I have been on the go for several weeks straight now.

Goodnight!

Day 20: Train to Dong Hoi

Saturday, 11/9/2024

Was up at 6:00am.  Showered and got dressed, packed up the last few things and went down for breakfast.

Saw Joe at breakfast, so was able to say goodbyes, but Mark had left very early and was already gone.

I went back to the room to grab my bags and then went to check out of the room and pay my final bill. This was the 2nd night of the stay, laundry and my bar tab from the first night.  Total cost - $50.

I waited about 10 minutes for the ride to show up.  While I waited, I checked with the reception to see if they could get my train ticket booked, but the data they had access too was not matching up to what I saw on the railway site.  I was hesitant to have them book something only to find out it was not actually available as they had stuff listed that the official website said was sold out.

Decided I would just buy it online while on the drive up there to save me the hassle of going to the ticket counter and trying to communicate with an agent.  It can be a toss-up if you will get someone who speaks any English at all.

The car arrived, actually the hotels 15-person van, but I was only person going on the ride.  The driver loaded my bags in the back and I got in.  Was told the ride should take about 1 hour.

Nothing special about the ride up, just driving through the main parts of Hoi An and Danang, traffic was busy, but not too insane.  I did manage to buy my ticket online while we were on the road and it said it would process within 4 hours.  I was a bit worried if it took that long as I would miss the train I wanted, but it arrived in 30 minutes to my email.

Crossing a river in Danang.

Arrived at the station, tipped the driver as he unloaded my bags and went inside.  It was too early to enter the main boarding area, so had to wait outside in the lobby area where there were far less seats and no access to a restroom, as well as being open to the outside, so no AC either.  

That lasted 20 minutes or so; I guess they only let you into the main boarding area 1 hour prior to the train arriving.

Once allowed, I got into the boarding area, which was climate controlled and went to use the restroom I was needing quite badly by then.

I then sat and read for about 40 minutes till I heard the announcement for my train arriving.  At that point they allowed us to go outside onto the platform.

When the train arrived, there was a bit of confusion trying to find my carriage as the numbers did not appear on any of the cars. I wasn’t sure where I needed to be, so I started to walk along the train and then saw them putting out the numbers once the train stopped.  I was then able to find my carriage.

I had booked a sleeper cabin which is 4 bunks in a room.  They also have 6 person bunks for less money, but much less room, and cannot sit up in those either.  All the regular seats were sold out, which would have been even cheaper, but more like sitting on an airplane.

I found my cabin and 3 of the bunks were occupied by a Vietnamese family.  A couple with a high school aged daughter.

As luck would have it, my ticket was for one of the top bunks.  They all got a good laugh watching me trying to climb up into that bunk. A foot peg on the wall by the door at waist height and grab handle above are how you pull yourself up into the bunk.

I tossed both my bags onto the bunk and pulled my fat ass up.  Then removed my shoes and put them on the shelf at the foot area of the bed.

My cabin bunk view.

Was not the most comfortable, and I probably could have put one of the bags in that same area, but left them both on the head of the bed and sat so I could face out the window, though it was low enough I could only see what was on the ground just outside the train.

The train left the station on time and got up to a good pace with a bit of rocking back and forth.

As we neared the section that ran along the coast, the family moved out into the narrow hallway to look out the windows.  The mother waved at me to come down and look, so I got down and went out to view the ocean and beach that was maybe 0.5km (about ¼ mile) off from the tracks as we moved around the mountains along the coast.

This was the same range I had ridden the bike over a few days before, even saw some of the road we had ridden from the train.

The Pacific coast from the train.

Carriage hallway, very narrow.

A few minutes later, back in the cabin, the father returned from somewhere, he had left even before train took off, and he started to ask me questions.  He spoke fairly good English and understood me well enough.  He asked about my travels.

Turned out he and his family were from Dong Hoi and would be getting off there as well.

Sometime later they were all having some food they had brought with them.  He offered me a hard-boiled egg, then gave me a second one when I accepted the first, and also a napkin with some salt and spices poured out onto it to dip the egg in.

His wife was also cutting up a cucumber and he gave me 4 spears from it.  I am not a huge fan of raw cucumber, but I accepted and ate most of it as I had no food of my own beyond a bag of chips in my bag.

They next had some kind of fruit and offered me a few slices.  Tasted similar to an apple, but very sour and full of seeds.  I picked out the seeds, and ate some of the fruit, but left the rest and tossed it later.

They then dozed off and I too was falling asleep, but since my bags were in the way I could not just lay down on the bed, so had to prop myself up with the pillow and blanket, but was comfy enough to get a light nap.

But at some point, I woke myself up snoring, so I got down to go find and use the restroom, and then read when I returned.  Would also spend a few moments in the hallway each time I would use the restroom to stretch legs and get a photo if anything good was outside.

Crossing a river on the train as we got closer to Dong Hoi.

Later in the trip the staff came through the hallway selling food, but nothing I wanted to buy.  The father bought 2 bottles of water and then handed one of them to me!  The other he sat on the table and they never did use it.

As we neared the 6 hours mark, I started to track our progress on Google Maps with the GPS.  That let me know when we were about to enter the main area of town so I could get my shoes on and other things put away so I could be ready to get off the train when we arrived.

As we were pulling into the station, I grabbed my bags and moved down the hallway and ended up being the first person off the train after we stopped and the doors were opened.

I left the platform and walked through the station to get outside.  I then walked across the parking/street area to a nearby hotel that I wanted to check first for a room.

They thankfully had a room for the next 3 nights, but was a bit of a challenge to book it.  The adults did not speak any English, but some younger kids there were able to help me communicate, but was still some confusion as the kid kept thinking I wanted 2 nights instead of 3.  I finally typed in my request to Google Translate and showed it to the lady at the counter and she nodded that was what she had.

Nhà Nghỉ Lan Hương Hotel (taken 2 days later in daylight)

The lady took me up to the room and showed me a few things and then put the 3 bottles of water she had grabbed on the table.  Guess I get 1 bottle for each night.

A basic room, nothing fancy, but was clean. It had a full-size bed, small table and chair, TV on the wall, AC unit on the wall, and nice big fan on the wall.  The bathroom had a sink, shower head and toilet. There was a widow looking up the road as well.

She then had me follow her out to grab a big coat rack I could use to hang stuff on from a balcony off the elevator lobby.  Not sure why they store them out there, but was nice to have in the room.

The room was only $10 a night. The bed was a bit hard but I can live with that.

The room for 3 nights.

I was on the 4th floor, but there was an elevator, so not a huge issue.

The noise was a bit high at times when the trains arrived and people were coming and going, but really did not bother me and not enough to wake me up or anything.

I sorted the bags some to get out what I needed to use the next few days, put a few things on the charger and then I walked over a few blocks to find the motorbike rental place I was going to use.

I finally found it in the lower level of a house in what was a residential area, but no one was around. They were supposed to still be open, and it was only 6:00pm.

I decided I would just stop by in the morning as I was not going to rent anything tonight anyway as I had  nowhere to go and would just be a waste of the day’s rental fee.

I walked up the street a bit to check out what shops were in the area, mainly to see if I could find a place to buy drinks or snacks, and also what kind of restaurants were around or anything else that might interest me.

I did find a Vinmart, so drinks and snacks were easy, but most of the restaurants were local cuisine only and most were dives that did not look that good to me. They could be a challenge to order food from as I had no clue what the foods I had been eating the last two weeks were even called and the menu's I saw had no English or descriptions, and very few had any photos either.

I stopped at the Vinmart and bought some drinks and some chips to snack on, plus some candy bars for breakfast, then returned to the room to put it away.

I finished the bag of chips I had bought in Hoi An, drank one of the drinks, and then ate one of the new bags of chips and finished the water from the train.

I then read for a bit, but was exhausted, not that hungry, and decided I would just skip going out for dinner and go to bed.

I will figure tomorrows activities out in the morning!

Goodnight.

Day 19: Ruins and Hoi An old quarter.

Friday, 11/8/2024

Woke at 6:00am and showered.  Very tired today.  Dressed and got cameras ready for my excursion to My Son.

I went over for breakfast after dropping laundry off at the front desk.  I was the first person at the buffet right as it opened.

Sat outside on the covered patio and enjoyed my meal.  As I was finishing, Jerry and Atti arrived for breakfast.  Then a bit later Mark arrived followed shortly by Pierre and Tammy.

Breakfast patio.

Talked a bit with the group until it was time for me to go up to reception for my ride pickup time.  Said my goodbyes to all but Mark as they will all leave in the next few hours while I am out.

Came back to room to grab the cameras and my hat, then went to the lobby around 7:40am.

My ride is scheduled to be here between 7:45 and 8:00am.  At 7:45am I went and stood in the open doorway to see the parking lot where they would pull up.

Spent the time talking with one of the hotel staff that worked in the reception area.

At 7:50am he called to get a status and again at 8:10am as they had not yet showed up.  They were running behind he said. 

My ride finally showed up at 8:15am.  I was the last person to be picked up by the van which now had 13 people plus the guide and driver on board.

We drove out of Hoi An while the guide talked about the history of the Cham people who built the My Son site we were going to visit today.

After about 40 minutes of driving, we stopped at a local place that makes the edible rice paper used in the local cuisine.  They showed us the process, let us sample a few things made with the paper and allowed those who wanted the chance to create a sheet using the same tools.

Making edible rice paper.

I did not attempt that, but took a few photos and walked over to see the pigs in the pen nearby and even pet one, they seemed quite friendly.

Friendly pigs.

We then boarded the van again and continued on to the My Son ruin which is another UNESCO site.

Arriving at My Son site.

We exited the van and waited while the guide went over to pick up our tickets, except for two women who for some reason had booked the transport, but would be buying the tickets themselves.

Once we were all ready, we went through the gate and got into electric carts that would drive us the 2km (1.2 miles) up the hill to the actual site.

The entire complex was originally for use by the Cham royal family and few others were allowed here, and the remote valley location meant many did not even know it existed.

My Son site map.  Visited Group E, G and B-C-D. (and took photos of Group H from trail)

Once at the site, we hiked up a paved pathway to visit some of the building sites that have been excavated as well as cleared of mines, which were used heavily in this region during the past wars.

My Son walkway. (Very slippery morning rains)

The first site was not much to see, the remains of what was probably a main gate entering the area.

The next site was Group E, and had much larger buildings and was in better shape, but most were only partially there.  Some efforts at restoration had been going on though.  I did bump into Mark at this area, he was going in reverse order through the site, but did not have a guide, just going solo.

Group E buildings.

Statue of Nandi from Hindu mythology.

The next site was Group G, and it was smaller again, but had one nicely preserved/restored building you could explore.  We also walked by a nice pond with some water based flowers in it on the way there.

Flower in the water.

Group G building.

The final section was Group B-C-D, and was the main location and largest grouping, with several really well preserved/restored buildings and most of larger constructions.

Buildings in the BCD grouping.

The BCD group of buildings.

During all this, the guide would describe what the sections were most likely for, though some of this is speculation as the writing system used by the Cham during much of the sites use has not been fully translated.

I took several photos and walked among the buildings with the 360-camera, so hopefully that footage will turn out okay.

The site was quite crowded around the final set of buildings, so hard to get pictures or video without dozens of people, but did my best.

When we were finished with the main building group, we were to meet at the theater at a certain time for a local dance performance.

The dancers are descendants of the Cham people, who were driven out of this region in the 14th century, and now mostly live in the south of Vietnam, Laos, and a few other countries (the US being one).  But a few are invited back to perform at the site each year.

The dances were intriguing and I enjoyed the music, but we only stayed for 3 of the performances, not sure how many they would do, but guide indicated it was almost over.

One of the dances by the Cham dancers.

We walked a long distance back toward the main gate where I took a short detour up a small flight of steps to photograph the building ruins of Group H.  The walk was surrounded by thick jungle foliage and there were many butterflies going about.

Butterfly visiting a flower.

We arrived at the gate and then took the electric carts back to the main entry where we found and boarded the van.

We then drove into one of the nearby villages to stop at a local restaurant for lunch.  It was a smaller affair than we had eaten on the ride, but mostly similar foods.  

Once done with lunch we headed back to Hoi An.  However, we stopped about 3 km (about 2 miles) out of town and boarded a boat on the river to ride it to the main dock in the Hoi An old quarter.

Basically the same kind of boat and much of the same route I had seen the day before, actually went right past my hotel. I should have just had them drop me off.

Once back on land, the van picked us up and started to return us to our hotels.

A few people were asking to be let off in other spots around the old quarter, and I myself got off with another group as I was only a few blocks from the hotel and needed to stop for some drinks anyway.  I also figured would be faster walking than waiting to drive in these narrow and congested streets.

I arrived back at the hotel and found Joe sitting poolside reading, so spent a few minutes talking with him.  He had basically been in the pool or sitting there most the day, taking a day off from doing anything.

I then tried to get into my room, but door would not open.  After a few tries the key pad for the card just started to beep.

I went down to reception to make sure the card had not gone bad, or they had messed up and forgot to extend my key for the 2nd night.  The card was good and they had the night setup, so they dug out the physical lock key and we went over to the room.  The guy tried a few times using my card and the master card as well, but lock just kept beeping.

He suspected the battery in the lock had failed (as did I), so they left the physical key with me for now until they could get it fixed.

I sat in the room for about 20 minutes with it beeping every 10 seconds or so until he showed back up with new batteries and got them replaced.  We then tested the lock with the card and it worked.

Back in the room I sat and cooled off for a bit, then went over to reception to return the physical key and to see if they knew where I could find a place selling blank journals.  I had filled the one I bought in Hanoi and needed another.

They gave me the name of a shop and marked it on a simple, low detail map of the old quarter.  Was about a 1.5km (1 mile) walk.

I started over to this location which was farther than I had walked before, and took some time to look at a few temples I walked past, one which was quite large with a large pool in front.

Temple in the midst of the Hoi An old quarter.

I eventually reached the shop location, but nothing was there, at least not the type of store I was looking for, nor did I see the name of the store.  I walked around the area a few times, just to make sure he might have marked it off a bit, or put it on the wrong side of the street or intersection, but found nothing.

While walking down an alley behind where it was supposed to be, thinking it might be in the shops down there, a woman came along side me and started asking questions, making small talk.  She said no book or stationary shops were there, and then tried to tell me where one was, but her directions were a bit confusing, and at this point she then tried to direct me to the tailor shop she likely worked for.

Kind of shocked she walked with me as long as she did, most of the business touts usually give up if you walk beyond the business they are working for.

After following her directions I ended up in same position, nothing to be found.  I finally decided to try and find it online, but the name did not come up.  But after doing some cross checks on stationary stores, I found an alternative spelling for the business name and found it on the map, 1 block over from where the guy had told me it was.

The girls’ directions might have been correct, she just did not specify the distance correctly to me.

I walked the extra block down the street to the next road and then up it.  I actually missed the shop first time I walked by it, but backtracked while watching the map and found it.  From the street it did not look like a stationary shop, and I was looking at goods, not signs the first time by.

Once inside the shop though, the back wall was full of paper and other writing materials.  I found a bunch of journals and picked out one that met my needs and bought it.

I then walked back toward the hotel, but took a different route to check out some of the other parts of the old quarter I had not yet walked through.  I stopped in a clothing store to see if I could find a pair of shorts to buy.

I had only brought the one pair of convertible jeans/shorts with me, and the 2nd pair I had bought in Hanoi at the beginning of the trip had broken within a day, and later in Laos when I tried to use them, they fell apart beyond even being wearable so  I tossed them in trash.

This meant my shorts had not been laundered in a few weeks, and were a bit dirty.  I only wore them a few hours each night, but had still eaten and walked a lot while in them, so needed to wash them, but had nothing to wear while they were in the laundry.  I had also never wanted to risk a sink wash as I doubt they would have dried in just the few hours I was sleeping.

I did find a pair, but the price was bit high, but did talk them down 20% and decided to buy them.

I then stopped again to buy another drink or two for the evening and then headed back to hotel.

I started to repack the two bags, getting all the riding gear put into one and the rest into the other, just as it had been on the flight over.  

I then laid down on the bed to stretch out and ended up taking a 30 or 40 minute nap.

I was woken by the doorbell when they were bringing my laundry back that I had dropped off that morning.

I went ahead and packed up that stuff as well.  Finally, everything was packed that I would not be using that evening or first thing in the morning.

I then sat at the desk and started to write in the new journal to get it caught up to the present time.  I was not even done with the first page when the pen ran out of ink.  Again!

I decided to put the rest of the stuff in the bags and make sure everything would zip up correctly so I would not have to fight it in the morning.  While zipping the big bag with the riding gear the pull tab pulled off the zipper.  I tried to put it back on and bend it back to hold it, but the zipper just snapped at that point!

So, I can still zip the bag as it has two, but it can no longer be locked with the bag lock, and this is the bag that gets checked on the plane and is out of my control.  Never fails.

I went out to see if I could find a shop to sell me a pen, but when I went outside I saw Joe sitting in front of his room nearby talking on the phone.  As I started to walk by, he hung up and we started to talk.  I mentioned my mission to find a pen, but he said he had one he did need and went inside to get it.

I dropped the pen off, but we had also decided to go wander the market street and old quarter to take photos.

He had already eaten at the small food market they hold in the main courtyard with the free samples, so was not going to join me for dinner, but I was good to wander a bit first as I had not yet decided where to eat.  Figured I would stop for dinner about 7:00pm since I was used to eating around then anyway.

We roamed over to the street market first and looked around, and he stopped to buy some rolled ice cream, just like I had seen Pierre and Tammy eating back in Laos.

We then crossed over the canal and wandered in the main section of the old quarter taking photos and checking out the various shops.

Boats on the canal again tonight.

Street of shops.

Street shops and the bank of the canal.

Eventually I took off on my own to find food and decided to eat at a little burger joint on the main waterfront.  Had a really good burger and fries, but the Coke they gave me was flat or something, tasted horrible.

Then I walked back to the hotel, relaxed a bit, and finished up the days journal entry now that I had a pen.

Tomorrow, I have to be up early to catch my 8:00am car to the Danang train station.  Then I will need to buy a ticket to Dong Hoi and hopefully will be able to get on the train around 10:00am which will get me in about 4:00pm.  This should give me time to find a hotel before it gets totally dark.  But there are 4 departures throughout the day if I cannot make the first one.

Should be an interesting experience as I heard that the train route has some decent views along the way, just not very fast. It is a 6-hour ride.

Goodnight!