There's a few other place's with "Hoi" in their name around Vietnam, but I figured I'd get that one outta the way. Anyway, after getting my fill of Cat Ba Island and being let down by the various promises of cool tours and expeditions, I decided to cut my losses and head on down to Dong Hoi.
So long, Cat Ba. Your seafood was tasty.
Originally I had planned to go to a farmstay in the nearby Phong Nha national park, but I can't get a bed til the 30th, so I'm staying in this lovely and (even better) quiet seaside town. Dong Hoi is everything that Hanoi and Cat Ba weren't. The streets are quiet, with only a motobike cruising down every once in a while. There is considerably less honking. No garbage. Nobody's tried to sell me anything yet. The hostel has both wi-fi and ac. Top it all off, my dinner just cost me $2 (with beer!). Now my rosy opinion may be due to this being my first clear-skied day in Vietnam, but I think Dong Hoi is really just a nice place to be. That, or the sleeper bus ride was so dreadful that anything is paradise afterwards.
View from my balcony in Dong Hoi. The ocean is offscreen to the left.
Oh right, I took a sleeper bus from Cat Ba to Dong Hoi. Seems like a good idea, you save paying for lodging for a night and you don't lose a day of doing things, right? WRONG! Beforehand, I get myself all prepped. Got a good book to read, plenty of tv shows and some movies to watch on my fully charged netbook. Gonna be a good ride, right? WRONG! Come on, at least try to pay attention here. When I finally find the right bus, I'm rudely shoved onto a top bunk in the center row of the bus. This means that I have aisles on either side of me, with each flank featuring a glamorous four-foot drop and not a railing to be heard of. You see this would be fine in a normal dormitory situation, but this particular night it was on a shoddy bus weaving in and out of traffic on the wonderfully ill-maintained Vietnamese roads. Now I like rodeos as much as the next guy, but sleeping on a bucking bull ain't the most pleasant of things.
View from my cot. Featuring: my knee, because I didn't have room to lay flat.
So I figure I'll watch shows until I'm exhausted enough to pass out. Good idea, right? If you didn't say "wrong," you're wrong. First, the bus driver insisted on showing some Vietnamese version of an American Idol/Abbott & Costello hybrid. At max volume. And second, Vietnamese really love talking as loudly as possibly on their cell phones. Must be some sort of national past time. And while I'm at it, thirdly, Vietnamese seem to be super curious about whatever a westerner is doing. So when I booted up an episode of Parks and Recreation, I had three or four mouths leaning across the aisle and breathing down my neck. Whatever, I'll just sleep through it all and wake up the next morning ready to take on the world. Oh wait these cots are made to the scale of either Ewoks or Ithorians (look em up, their head shape would be perfect for the absurd headrest that complemented my cot) and designed specifically counter to comfort of human beings. I suspect sabotage on the part of the Rebel Alliance in an attempt to subdue the primarily human Galactic Empire. Bastards, I just wanted some sleep. Ah well, after twelve parsecs I made it to Dong Hoi and lived happily ever after for the rest of the evening, thinking up Star Wars references all the while.
These guys even gave me free food and beer. And this time it wasn't a trap, Adm. Ackbar!
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