Day 6 - Ba Na Hills & Drive to Hoi An

Met downstairs this morning to check out of the White Lotus, and unlike the TV show, there no dramatic deaths in our group, probably thanks to my trusty ear plugs that kept we with peaceful night sleeps.

We drove toward Hoi An today with our first stop being at a Lagoon where they do Oyster Farming, the rest stop was definately not what I was expecting, a very nice looking building which for some reason reminds me of a bar by the beach that you might see in the movies. Connected to that was a jewellery shop which had lots of Pearl Necklaces and other pearl based jewellery. The two were connected by a small foot bridge with lots of goldfish, very large goldfish, as well as some Catfish.

After there we headed up to check out Hai Van Gate, sitting high up on the Hai Van Pass, this was once the border between kingdoms. Back in the days of the Nguyen Dynasty, whoever controlled this gate controlled the movement between north and south. The views weren't that great due to the clouds, but the gate is still in place while a modern road now diverts right around it.

Next stop was Ba Na Hills which is a very random spot, we arrived thinking we would just see a few things, like the Golden Bridge, you ride up this long cable car up into the clouds and suddenly find yourself in what feels like a European fairytale village, complete with castles, gardens, and the famous Golden Bridge held up by giant stone hands. The best part though wasn’t the scenery, it was the surprise. As we arrived at Ba Na Hills Carpark we received a message from the parents to say they were there, we had expected to see them at night once we arrived at the hotel, but not here. I quickly sent a message back to say we were there as well as we wanted to make sure we caught up with them before they continued on.

We let my parents carry on while we investigated the tourist site, it's pretty hard to describe, but easiest way would be to say it's like a theme park mixed with a fantasy village.

What really blows my mind is the fact that they’ve built all of this on top of a mountain. Walking around you can’t help but wonder about the effort it must have taken to bring every brick, stone, and statue up here. The result is pretty stunning, fountains and viewpoints all over the place, but somehow doesn't look out of place, and of course there is the Golden Bridge. A huge curved walkway is held up by two giant stone hands.

Then there are how many buildings were almost empty inside. You would walk through the building which from the outside looked amazing, only to find there would be very little to see on the inside, even parts of the buildings closed off, I can only assume because there was no need to have them open, I snuck my phone through a gap in one of the closed off sections to see they do have esculators all setup so must be used at busier times of the year.

Later that day after finishing at the Ba Na Hill, we headed off for lunch and then made our way to the Marble Mountains, we first entered Am Phu Cave is designed to represent the Buddhist vision of the afterlife, with sections symbolising both heaven and hell. It’s meant to remind visitors of karma and morality and how your actions in life affect your fate after death. It was defiantely weird with the sculptures, showing people being sacraficed and stuff like that. We then headed up the elevator which takes you up part way the Marble Mountain to see some of the Pagodas and shrines, there wasn't a huge amount of views due to all the tree coverage, and if you wanted to see a full view you would have to take a lot of stairs to the top, after speaking to some Australians about the climb we decided it want worth the effort.

We finished off the day arriving at Hoi An Historic Hotel, where we had a drink during happy hour and then dinner, at this point I started to get bitten, this is the first time since I've been in Vietnam where this has happened, but enjoying a meal and a drink made it kind of worth it, I then went to the gym for a small workout.