Day 10 Hue to Hoi An 3rd April 2004
Michelle spent most of the night up with Liam while he vomited and had diarrhea throughout the night. Liam felt better when he woke up but he was still a little seedy all day.
We started off the day by taking a minibus from Hue to Lang Co Beach. We were accosted by teenage kids on the beach trying to get foreign money and an old fisherman who offered a photo pose for small change. The beach was nice - but it was an overcast and misty day: not very good for taking photos.
As we continued south, we travelled over the Hai Van pass. It was a fairly hair raising trip with steep S bends with slow trucks and cars and bikes overtaking on the wrong side of the road. Due to the mist and fog, we couldn't enjoy the views, and we eventually reached the top with some bunker fortifications shrouded in mist. The clouds started to clear as we continued on, and we stopped for a short time to enjoy them.
In Da nang we stopped for lunch at a really nice Chinese Restaurant and stopped off at China Beach. I really enjoyed the TV Series, so wanted to see the actual beach since we were here. The Vietnamese have bad memories of this area, so there were few if any locals here. The beach isn't good for swimming anyway, due to the strong currents and rips, so Liam paddled and jumped in the shallows.
From China Beach we went to Marble Mountain. There were lots of families in the marble trade with small shops lining the streets as we approached the mountain. We looked through the huge assortment of marble carvings on display and bought a nice carved Chinese dragon.
From Marble Mountain we continued through the country side soon arriving in Hoi An. The hotel had a pool up on the roof, which quite impressed Michelle and Liam. We had a light dinner at a restaurant over the road from the hotel, which also had an Internet Cafe, so after dinner and sending some e-mails we retired for the evening, with Michelle and Liam still feeling a bit on the delicate side.