Our next stop was Dong Hoi, with the view to visiting Phong Nha-Khe Bang National Park and the world’s largest cave. We booked the train for Sunday morning, 29th November, at 9am.
We had decided at this point we were no longer taking night/sleeper buses or trains anymore as the journey is never long enough see you right through to the morning. Rather arriving in to a new town/city in the early hours of the morning not knowing where to go!
Therefore we booked a day train from Hanoi to Dong Hoi via our hotel. Mind you it was expensive at 40USD each, however being a 10 hour journey and enjoying a nice soft bed in 4-man berth we were happy to run with this. Also, we thought it would be nice to see some of the scenery en-route to this new place. Sadly, we were given two upper bunks in our room therefore, as you can imagine, there was little or no scenery other than the heads of the unsuspecting locals below!
The night previous, we ran in to a friend of ours from home, rather she ran in to me, I was too busy trying to wade through the crowds at the local market. We decided to have a few drinks that evening which was lovely for a catch up firstly and secondly to share some travelling stories and tips to date! (I know now not to take a 24 hour bus journey, for fear of breaking down with no w.c. and taking nearly 30 hours to reach your destination, eeek!)
We were feeling a little rough then Sunday morning and we weren’t sure if it was the beers or the dodgy street food we ate afterwards. Either way our train was booked for 9am, we had to be there 30 minutes if not more before departure. That meant up at 6.45am, breakfast at 7am, re-pack bags (again! – this is now the bane of my life) and down at the reception for a taxi at 8am (yawn!) Nonetheless, we were to be lying down for the next 10 hours, what have we to complain about?!
The train journey was good, took a few shots of the scenery although it was quite overcast and I guess, the scenery wasn’t all that great! To be honest, it felt like we were travelling parallel to a main road therefore not so off the beaten track as you’d imagine! But it was comfortable and not so monotonous as the few night buses we have taken. We arrived in to Dong Hoi at 19.20, exactly as planned and we were on our way to our hotel by 19.25.
Dong Hoi, is not the liveliest of towns I must admit although we have not seen a whole lot yet, having quickly whisked through the town in the taxi last night. It is a port and sea side town and offers great trips to Phong Nha-Khe Bang National Park, Paradise Cave & Dark Cave. Jamie wasn’t feeling the best last night and I didn’t think, by the look of things, he would be much better today so instead we have booked a tour to the National Park and Paradise Cave tomorrow, Tuesday. We booked this tour with our hotel, The Sunshine Hotel, and have decided to stay another night with them, two nights in total. We hope to then hop on a bus from Dong Hoi to Hue tomorrow evening, Tuesday (the 1st of December, December already!?)
We decided to explore the town by foot today, (it’s not that big a town!) and visited the one sight as recommended by Lonely Planet; Tam Toa Church. The church is located on this beautiful promenade overlooking the Nhat Le River however is in ruins with just the façade remaining therefore you just admire same from outside the barriers.
It was a beautiful afternoon, temperatures in around 28 degrees Celsius. The town is quite unusual in that, it almost looks like a scene from Beverly Hills but there’s almost nobody about. The few people that do pass up and down on their mopeds sure do stare a lot. We seem to be the only tourists around, either that or my long pants and tank top is inappropriate wear!
Strolling towards the promenade.
Beverly Hills like or what?!
....yet there's no one around.
That's all for now. I'll fill you in on the tour once we've arrived in Hue and set up with wifi and what not. Toodles!