For the lowdown on the rest of our trip so far, click here.

Quy Nhon

As you probably gathered from my previous post, upon arriving in Quy Nhon we really weren’t up for doing much. Our night consisted mostly of hunting for an ATM (which proved more difficult than it really should have been), grabbing some food and getting an early night. We did pick up a couple of things about Quy Nhon whilst we were there though.

Firstly, this was the first place we’d visited in Vietnam where we really felt out of place. Maybe that’s the wrong phrase to use, but we were certainly a novelty. People were slowing down on their bikes to stare at us and just say hello. The novelty wore off after about 30 seconds.

Secondly, James commented that nothing actually seemed to be finished in Quy Nhon. It seemed like the sort of place that could potentially be a popular tourist spot, but the roads, buildings and just about everything else appeared to be undergoing a lot of work. I’d be interested to see how it looks in five years time.

The journey

We went in to this journey with mixed feelings. In part, we really couldn’t be bothered doing anything. The previous day had taken it out of us so much that staying in bed all day seemed a very attractive proposition. However, looking at it from the positive angle, it couldn’t get any worse than the day before, could it?

Hands down, the best part of this journey.

Thankfully not. The journey itself was actually something of a non-event, which was absolutely fine by me.

There were a few things to report, however. Firstly, we saw a guy carrying a shotgun on his bike…as you do. I’m sure there was a perfectly logical (ha!) reason for this that we were unaware of. That reminds me, I must remember to pack my shotgun for my next journey.

Also, just after I found myself complaining/commenting on the rather boring nature of the drive I happened to drop my phone into the road. This was one thing I was fearing as it had been our main navigation tool throughout the trip and as I got more confident on the bike, I fancied myself as the human equivalent of a TomTom and decided to navigate on the go. The myriad of scratches on my phone would suggest I’ve not quite got it down to a tee yet.

We pulled in to Kontum around mid-afternoon in much better spirits than the previous day. The journey had been exactly what we needed – uneventful and painless. At the halfway point of our four day trek to Hoi An, we’d fallen back in love with the trip.

Click here for the next part of our journey: Kontum to Kham Duc!