On our first full day in beautiful Hoi An, we rented a motorbike and zoomed off into the countryside, map in hand. Our first stop was Bang An tower, which was much further than the map suggested, but after going a bit too far, asking for directions and turning around, we finally found it. It was a wide, stumpy tower, built in the 11th century, with plants and a tree growing out of the roof. There was an ancient, musty shrine inside. Within 10 minutes of leaving, however, the inner tube on the back tyre burst and we had to come to a wobbly stop at a garage to get it fixed. Luckily though, this is how we found out we were going in the opposite direction to the one we wanted. We set off again with a new tyre and in the right direction. After stopping for lunch in a little village, we continued on our way through beautiful scenery and quaint towns. Everywhere we went, there were scarlet blurs on the side of the road as we whizzed past which turned out to be thousands upon thousands of chillis drying on the floor in the sun. We were very proud of our directional skill until the road we were on came to a dead end at a river. The view was beautiful; the shimmering river, green fields on the other side and a family loading a boat at the bank. We asked for directions (now giving up on the map) and headed across some fields. Very dubious about this being the right way, we asked a few more people and they waved us on in the direction we were going with big smiles on their faces. We found My Son at 4:30, 6 hours after we set off and only 40km away from Hoi An. By this time, there were barely any people there and it was very peaceful. We wandered through the ruined temples which were deep in thick jungle. The ride back was much faster but it got dark and the traffic was terrible. We only went wrong once and we were back at the hostel in time for tea.
We went across the road for pizza, which the waiter assured us was the best in town and then proceeded to ring a takeaway, take it into the back, put it on a plate and served it to us. Very non-discreetly. Our day of epic adventure was at an end!
We went across the road for pizza, which the waiter assured us was the best in town and then proceeded to ring a takeaway, take it into the back, put it on a plate and served it to us. Very non-discreetly. Our day of epic adventure was at an end!