dannag 14th, 15th

Danang 14th
The train journey from Hue to Danang is probably one of the most scenic routes in the world – certainly the best I have ever seen. The trainline hugs the coast as it cuts through steep valleys, mountain passes and endless rice paddies, providing a one stop tour of everything great about Vietnamese countryside. Even if you don’t want to go to Danang youshould probably get the train there and back just for the view.
Luckily the day was sunny so we could make the best of the views and we enjoy not being wrapped up warm for the first time. By the time we arrive its getting towards afternoon and by the time we sort out a room and get sorted its around 3pm. Therefore we enjoy a quick walk to china beach across the wide river and along the central bridge which incidentally is lit up like blackpool illuminations in the night time.
China beach was a famous R and R hang out when Danang was a big military base for the yanks and you can see why. The beach stretches into infinity along the city all the way to Hoi An around 30km away. The surf is rough and breaks heavily against the shore where newly built restaurants sit eerily empty in the off season. In the distance you can see hills covered in green vegetation and large statue white against the backdrop.
It is strange across the bridge in Danang: on one side there is the built up commercial hub of a typical Vietnamese city but across the river it seems that development is an afterthought. Vast swathes of land lie dormant and every buildings stands alone, 10 or 20 feet from it’s next door neighbour. It seems like some run down American suburb with wide boulevards and detached lots. It seems to us as if Danang has suddeny started trying to market itself to the new tourism industry that is catching on, yet at the moment it isn’t quite working. Golf courses and resorts line the beach but there isn’t a tourist in sight.
This however is a good thing as we enjoy not being surrounded by other tourists and feel we can gain some insight into the real Vietnam without swathes of tourists watering down the experience. In this vain we sample “local food” at a place called the food court in the evening: the meal consists of two strange pieces of paper within which you wrap ham and veg and then dip into some bizarre fishy sauce. We finish up with some beers and a posh cocktail and retire to our nice cheap hotel (which we found despite lonely planet suggesting they didn’t exist – up yours lonely planet).
15th
Today is a bit of a bummer, as it rains all day and our plans get thrown out the window. I hire a bike in the morning from a local dude for £3 a day and head out to find the “marble mountains”. This doesn’t goto plan as the road the lonely planet says to take goes all the way to Hoi An and we miss them completely. On the way back we get caught in a tropical monsoon so we dive into a bar and wait for it to pass, but it doesn’t so we head home getting absolutely soaked to the bone. So much for my intentions of exploring the area on motorbike.
We end up spending the rest of the evening eating and drinking in the refuge of a the food court in the riverside mall, which offers a massive range of local foods and views across the river. The highlight is a spicy baby clam platter which is so tasty and succulent and has about a million clams. Mmmmm clams. We spend a long time getting on the beers during the day and I feel like carrying the party on, so we head back to the hotel and hook up the speakers and stay up til about 4am (sorry to the guys in the room next door). We raid the hotel fridge for cans of larger which we pay for in the morning.