First light in Vietnam

The alarm went off at 3.30am (only shortly after I'd finally got to sleep) and we were on the road by 4am. The drive was so cold that I had to wear Rachael's backpack on my front to act as a barrier to the chilling wind. There were no other vehicles around and we arrived 45 minutes later to set up in a perfect spot with a view across the bay to the lighthouse. It was still totally dark when we arrived but the sky quickly started to change colour. A group of young Vietnamese guys pulled up next to us to join in the spectacle. As we took endless photos and took in the stunning view, we were attacked by hundreds of mosquitoes. There were so many that they were getting in the way of the photos. We should have been calm and enjoying the first light to hit Vietnam (at the most eastern point) but we couldn't fully relax while we were being eaten alive. Luckily they disappeared as the sun came up.

We got back to town at 6.30am and went for some bánh căn (small rice flour pancakes topped with a thin layer of egg and served with a great sauce) alongside a load of kids having their breakfast before school. Then we used the opportunity of being up early to finally have the famous local version of Cơm Gà (chicken rice). It was seriously good, possibly the best chicken rice I've ever had. It also came with one of the best chicken stock soups I've tasted. I wish I'd visited multiple times.

Back at the hotel I managed to get a little bit of sleep before we had to check out. We met back up with My and Mai, who took us for lunch at a cơm tấm restaurant owned by the family of an 11 year old boy they knew from one of their English classes. His English was excellent and he sat with us while we ate. His mum gave us a free soup.

We used up our last hour or so by going for coffee and the girls taught us a card game called "tiến lên" which they'd talked about over the last couple of days. It was great fun! When we paid for the drinks, the staff gave Rachael a stick of gum in place of a 1,000d note. We asked the girls and apparently that's normal if they don't have enough small change!

They wanted to be with us at the train station to say goodbye and give us a send off which was very sweet of them. They were great guides and made a big difference to our time in this area. As our train pulled away and they waved from the platform, I was quite sad to be leaving. The train was much nicer than the last one, with decent A/C and we had a fairly relaxing journey north to Da Nang.

Unfortunately the train was a bit late arriving, so we didn't start looking for a hotel until well after 11pm. We tried our previously successful tactic of just asking for cheap hotels around the train station and a local guy sent us to the water front assuring us that it was the best place for cheap hotels. It was about a 20 minute walk but after a few minutes a man offered us a room for the price we were looking for and I hopped on the back of his bike to take a look at the room while Rachael waited with our bags. It turned out the guy didn't actually have a hotel in mind and he drove around aimlessly (and dangerously), stopping at every hotel he saw. After 10 minutes without luck, I asked to be taken back to Rachael and, glad to still be in one piece, we continued the search on our own.

By this time it was nearly midnight and most places were closed and we were starting to wish we'd booked ahead (even though that would have meant paying double). Finally we took a room for more than we'd normally spend but we were happy to have a place to sleep.