Day 6 (4th Feb 2013)

The sea when cycling down from Hi Van Pass.

Bachma is a beautiful place. Our guest house was right at the entrance of Bachma Sanctuary entrance gate at the base of Bachma mountain. We could not go inside as the sanctuary is not yet open fot tourists. Slept well, used our newl silk sleepingbags :-)

We started at 7.15 am passed through lush green paddy fields to take highway AH 1.  We reached Long Co town at 9.30am passing two small climbs of about 1 - 2 kms. These were our first climbs on this trip. Long Co is a small but beautiful place. It has a touristy flavour as it is located on the beach and has its fair share of 5 star resorts (120-280 USD per night). We had breakfast of Bun mi ( Bun mi is Bun stuffed with vegetables, variety of meat, egg & some sauce- just like what we get at subway, but costs much less) Soya milk & vietnamese coffee.

After breakfast we crossed a bridge on a river. Then there were 2 roads, one for four wheelers which passes through a tunnel and another for two wheelers and big trucks which climbs up a lovely mist shrouded mountain and crosses a 'Hi Van' pass. We obviously had to take the second route which climbs about 1500 ft in 13 kms. It was a tough climb but it was all worth the toil and strain. The scenery was just breathtaking. Green vegetation on the mountain, exceptionally beautiful sea coast of Long Co, waterfalls, mist on the mountain tops and even the weather was doing its best to keepus comfortable. Along the way we had to stop for few minutes at the railway crossing. The gate keeper at the crossing was a lady, immaculately dressed in a smart blue uniform. There was hardly any traffic & we immensly enjoyed the climb. At Hai Van pass we stopped for a while to catch our breath, had coffee and cold drinks, saw the old bunkers and then freewheeled 11 kms down towards towards Danang. Reached Danang at 12.30 pm & stopped at a corner cafe to fill up the water bottles but ended up drinking soya milk. The cafe was run by a girl & her mother ( as a rule women run eateries in Vietnam) They very sweetly gave us a dessert - Jelly with a slice of kiwi fruit & cherry on top of it, on the house.

Danang is a big city with booming development - modern buildings, stadiums, bridges, wide roads, may be it's a newly developed city.

Left Danang at about 1 pm & took AH 17 for Hoi An. Reached Hoi An at 3pm & checked into 'Hoa My' hotel. It is a very good hotel with AC, wi-fi, swimming pool and all the amenities of a good, modern hotel at just $ 17 for 3. ( about Rs 900)

Had lunch at '41 cafe', the cost of a glass of chilled beer is 3000 dongs-about Rs.7.5 and 1 glass free if on 2 glasses... Water ina bottle works out tobe much more expensive :-) who needs water anyway....