Hoi An

Trip Start Jul 30, 2008
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Trip End Ongoing


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Flag of Vietnam  ,
Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Hoi An was great for the following reasons. The bus ride there (another sleeper) was our best one yet and one we actually got some sleep on. Russell and I rented motorbikes and we had an awesome time nearly killing ourselves (just kidding mom and dad) and seeing the beaches and another nearby city. Actually, this deserves further explanation. We started by taking our bikes to get gas. Russell made it first as I was too busy orienting myself with a motorbike for the first time and running over some Canadian tourists. The funny thing was, they didn't yell at me for nearly killing them or anything or ask if I was mentally stable after nearly killing myself, they asked where the center of town was instead. And how much the bike was to rent. And if it was an automatic. I found the whole exchange very interesting for whatever reason. Well, our bikes full of gas, we were ready to hit the ground running and tackle a country like we never had before. We eventually met some local Vietnamese girls (Russell is such a sucker) and followed them to a local tourist site called Marble Mountain View of Da Nang
View of Da Nang
 . They just so happened to have a store near by where they took our helmets and stored our bikes while we explored the mountain, free of charge, or so we thought (well, not really, but we were hopeful anyway). After getting a good view off the top of the mountain and seeing another cave (I'm done for my life on caves I think), we went back to get our bikes. They were still there, but the girls were no longer smiling but very stern about us buying something from there store. After feeling pressure from the girls and Russell (that's right Russ, it's all your fault) I bought an overpriced candle holder or something or rather. Angry I fell for such a ruse, I rejected offer to treat them to ice cream once I got the OK from Russ. We bolted out of there, while one of the girls yelled after us "why you so cheap?"to which I replied, "because I just spent X amount of dollars on a crappy candle holder I just bought from you!" We then made our way to a beach for some lunch (maybe that happened before, its all a blur sometimes) where we were charged for a soccer ball we played with on the beach while our food was cooking. Thankfully, we were able to eliminate this from the bill after Russell gave the classic "you are charging me for what?" face which also is very similar to the George Bush thinking too hard face. We then explored another city and ascended another mountain (this time on our bikes) to to watch the sun go down. We ended the day by some how maneuvering through traffic and avoiding large trucks in the dark. Good times. And a great way to spend our time in Hoi An.
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