Welcome to Hue

In the late afternoon I arrived in Hue with the sleeperbus. From the bus stop I first had to take a Grab taxi, which brought me to the hostel. I had only booked one night in Hue because I wanted to ride up the Hai Van Pass to Hoi An with a scooter the next day.

In the hostel I was greeted directly by the owners with a fruit plate. The hostel reminded me a lot of a homestay. There really wasn’t much going on there either. In general, there is not much to do in Hue either, which is why not many backpackers travel there. After bringing my things into the room, I went out and looked around a bit. But the area around my hostel wasn’t really interesting. So I came back to the hostel.

Organizing my trip along the Hai Van Pass

There I organized a scooter for the next day, with which I could drive to Hoi An. This was easily possible via my hostel. In addition, someone was organized to bring my luggage for me to Hoi An directly to my hostel.

I had the opportunity to book a tour and drive with an Easyrider like I did on the Ha Giang Loop. But I could also rent a scooter and drive myself. Since the distance was only 140 kilometers and the roads were well developed, I decided to drive myself this time. On the one hand, I could ride all by myself or join the tour group and I wouldn’t have had to pay extra for it. Of course it would have been cool to do the Hai Van Pass with other people, but I wanted to be flexible with the places I wanted to stop and the pace at which I went.

After sunset I went out again to have dinner in a restaurant. After dinner I went straight to bed because I wanted to leave as early as possible the next day and of course wanted to be fit for that.

Heading to the Abandoned Water Park

The next morning at seven o’clock I got my scooter for the day. I left my luggage at the hostel because it was supposed to be brought to Hoi An for me later. Luckily my scooter had a phone holder so I didn’t always have to stop to look for directions.

My first stop of the day was the Abandoned Waterpark, just outside of Hue. For the first time I had to fight my way through the traffic chaos in Asia with a scooter, which is particularly bad in Vietnam. But I made it. Eventually I was on a more secluded road that was supposed to lead straight to the water park. However, the road was suddenly closed and there was a big sign saying No Visitors. I had observed a few people who simply drove past the barrier anyway. However, these were all Asians and as an obvious tourist I didn’t want to risk that.

As I was standing in front of the gate, a little helpless, a Vietnamese guy suddenly stopped next to me. He also spoke a little English, so I asked him if he knew where the entrance to the Abandoned Waterpark was. He said I would have to go back and take the next street. So I turned around and did what he told me to do. When I finally stopped to check Google Maps to see if I was on the right track, the Vietnamese guy suddenly stopped next to me and proudly said he had followed me. I found that a bit strange already.

He finally said that he would just take me around the barrier. So I followed him and together we passed the barrier. Shortly thereafter we also arrived at the water park. Even from a distance the waterpark looked pretty deserted and scary.

Exploring the abandoned water park

The Ho Thuy Tien Waterpark opened its doors in 2004 having cost $3 million to build. At this time it wasn’t even finished and the business wasn’t proving lucrative. Just two years later the owner closed the waterpark after running out of funds and left it abandoned.

At first I thought the Vietnamese guy just wanted to show me the way to the water park, but he also parked his scooter and came in with me. It was obvious from his clothes that he was on his way to work. I also asked him if he had ever been to the Abandoned Waterpark. He said it was his fourth time.

I then looked at the leaving place. It was pretty spooky at times, which is why I was glad that there were a few other tourists there besides me and the Vietnamese guy.

There was broken glass and dirt everywhere. It was dark inside, only daylight shone in and the walls were painted with graffiti. So it was obvious that the place had been pretty deserted for several years.

You could also climb into the dragon’s head via a staircase. I always explored the place together with the Vietnamese. In the head of the dragon he asked me if I could take a picture of him, which I did. Then he asked me if I would like to have a photo, at least that’s what I understood. I agreed and was about to put my backpack down for the photo when he just turned and ran down the spiral staircase we had come up.

I was a little surprised, since he had actually asked me if he should take a picture of me too. Then I wondered if he might have asked me if I wanted to take photos myself since I had my camera with me. Then, from above, I watched him run out of the water park back to his scooter and then just drive away. After that I didn’t see him again.

I immediately checked to see if I still had all my items with me. But I still had everything, so I found his departure rather odd. In the end I was glad to be alone again as I didn’t have a really good feeling with him since he followed me the whole time.

Almost breaking my phone

Unfortunately, I didn’t had time to see more than the famous dragon, as I still had to drive 140 kilometers over the Hai Van Pass to Hoi An. I would have liked to see more of the site.

I then drove on first, through Hue to the coast, where a somewhat quieter road went along. But first I had to drive almost 20 kilometers through Hue. This time, however, Google Maps did not guide me directly through the city but around the outside via an expressway, which fortunately was not too busy.

While driving, my phone suddenly fell out of its holder and all I could see was how it fell on the road and hit the road a few times before it finally stopped. I stopped immediately and of course I was incredibly scared that my phone was broken. I think the worst thing that can happen to you while traveling ist hat your phone breaks down. Without Google Maps I would not have come to Hoi An that day and many photos would have been gone that I had not yet saved.

Luckily, my phone was still intact and apart from a small crack in the protective film, nothing happened. I was also lucky that there wasn’t much going on on the street, otherwise someone would have run over my phone.

Another challenge to overcome

After the little shock I drove on. A short time later, an older Vietnamese guy, who was also on the road with his scooter, made it fun to stare at me the whole time and always ride at the same height as me. That made me extremely unsure. Whenever I passed him because he was driving way too slow, he passed me again shortly afterwards, only to drive extremely slowly in front of me again to slow me down. At some point I tried to shake him off by driving quite slowly. However, that didn’t stop him from slowing down as well and continuing to watch me through his mirror.

Apart from the fact that this game is extremely dangerous anyway, especially for me, since I don’t know the traffic in Vietnam and can judge badly, we were also on a road on which trucks, buses and cars with high speeds are under way. I really always try to be nice to the locals and adapt to them as a foreigner in the country, but when older men start putting me in extremely dangerous situations that make me feel uncomfortable, my understanding of foreign cultures starts to fail.

Breakfast Time

At some point I got rid off him and I also got off the dangerous road to the road that should now lead to the Hai Van Pass. I hadn’t even had breakfast and had experienced way too much for one morning. I looked for a café to have breakfast in, but couldn’t find one nearby. Finally I found a café on Google Maps, which was on the way and was still 30 kilometers away from me. I then made my way there and finally had breakfast there and of course drank coconut coffee.

After breakfast I drove on. I wanted to stop at a beach before going to the Hai Van Pass. The road there was really nice, I passed many local villages and also numerous temples.

But when I was finally not far from the beach, I was already wondering whether there would even be a beautiful beach. Because there was nothing going on on the road I was driving on and on the side that was supposed to be the beach there were only trees. When Google Maps finally showed me that I was there, of course, as expected, there was nothing there.

Then I drove on and finally made my way to the Hai Van Pass. To get there I also had to cross one or the other major road and fight my way through the traffic there.

Starting the Tour on the Hai Van Pass

Shortly after 1 pm I finally arrived at the Hai Van Pass. A large sign showed me this too. At the same moment that I got there, the famous train also passed me.

Full of anticipation, I then set off. Right from the beginning of the pass I had a breathtaking view of the sea and nature all the time. I kept stopping the whole time because I was just so impressed. At that moment I was also glad that I hadn’t joined a tour because that gave me the freedom to stop whenever I wanted.

The Hai Van Pass is not long, about 20 kilometers. But since I kept stopping, it took me almost two hours to get to Da Nang. From there I finally had to drive to Hoi An. Since I don’t officially have a driver’s license to drive a scooter in Vietnam, I had to take the longer route around the city center. Most police controls are in the city center.

I had hoped that the traffic around wasn’t that bad, but it wasn’t any better than in the city. It’s incredibly exhausting to fight your way through traffic for kilometers because there are hardly any rules. Everyone just drives without looking. I had to brake far too often because someone gave me the right of way again and didn’t even look to see if someone was coming from the side. Added to this were the many traffic lights at which everyone pushed as far forward as possible.

Tired and exhausted after a long day

I had actually planned to visit the Marble Mountains, because there should be very beautiful temples there. However, since these were about to close, I decided not to stress myself out, as I was already pretty exhausted. Instead, I stopped at a café on the beach and had another coconut coffee there. In the meantime I had quite a bit of sunburn, so I was glad to sit in the shade for a while.

Luckily, after I had my coffee, it slowly got cooler. I still had 30 kilometers to go to Hoi An. It’s not far in itself, but of course it was super exhausting due to the traffic and I was already totally exhausted. I totally underestimated the long drive. Nevertheless, I have not regretted for a second not to have booked a tour.

When I finally arrived at the hostel in Hoi An at half past five in the evening, I was quite relieved. I had already been on the road for 10 hours and had covered a total of 180 kilometers on the scooter at 35 degrees and in the sun. Unfortunately my luggage hadn’t arrived in Hoi An at the time. However, I was able to check in and of course I immediately lay down on the bed.

Luckily my luggage came half an hour later and my scooter was picked up at the same time. Immediately I took a shower and then went to dinner. I had decided on a small local restaurant right next to the hostel. I was just too exhausted to go looking for a restaurant. The food at the restaurant I went to was very cheap and pretty good too.

After dinner I went straight to my room and went to bed. My whole body hurt and my eyes kept closing. That’s why I avoided the social area of ​​my hostel that evening because I had no more energy.

I then explored Hoi An for the next three days. If you would like to know what I experienced during my time in Hoi An, please read my next blog post Between the romantic streets of Hoi An – Vietnam Travel Diary.