on leeches and lanterns

no phones were lost today.

we left Hue in the morning, of a cloudy day and drove south oh high way one. highway one sounds good, but this is a very slow moving road with lots of road work and speed limits, of 50k/hr. after an hour we reached the entrance of bak ma national park. we then drove up for 40 minutes, a cloudy day at the bottom, quickly became foggy on top as nice mountain views became solid gray.

we hike to the top of the hill, the path was a decent one, this mountain used to be a heli base and observation, but now one of the peaks has a Buddhist temple. we reached the top and took some pictures of the fog. a very large bell is found there as well, you have to ring in 9 and and say your wishes and so i did. after every bang the bell shakes and resonates in an impressive manner.

we walked back and saw the largest earth worm i have ever seen, probably 10 times larger then usual, it was like a snake. we walk the kilometer or so back to the car.

after a stop at the happy room.. we began the 2nd hike to to top of a water fall 300 meters high and from there 700 stairs awaits down then up. we tucked our pants into the socks since leeches can be found here. i had ankle high sock, not ideal for pants tucking and kept examining my pants tuckness often. the rain became stronger and stronger as we continued walking. we passed some vietcong tunnels and tried to spot nest od wall nesting birds. we passed interesting buddha statues then the guide spots a leech on his sock. its about 2-3 cm long, like a worm but crouched, like it walks on both ends and not like a caterpillar. its a fast moving thing. i check my pants and terrified to find one on my show as well, in a couple of minutes i find 2 more, trying to sneak in through my shoe, we shu them away with sticks and leave this vampiric nest. we reached the water fall and had to cross the river to get to a viewing point. at this point moti slipped and got another booboo. this was after 30-40 minutes walks in non step rain and leach inested waters so we decided to avoid the stairs and head back to the car. we we arrived we began a de-leechification process. when i took my pants of 2 more leaches jumped out hungrily trying to find a blood vessel. the guide had several in his shoes and mom had a couple as well. 

now leech free, we drove south out of the park, we passed a couple of mountain passes with nice views of the sea , lagoons, fields and mountains. we passed in a small town for lunch and learned the local way to harvest oysters, they use old moped tiers and the oysters cling into them. then the pull the tiers up and use the Oysters shell, once ground as cement.

this drive now is long and slow, more road work and speed limits, we seem to be driving all day, we passed the nice city of da neng with very pretty beaches and finaly reach hoi an.

once we passed the mountain passes, the rain stopped and its nice and warm out.

we walk towards the old quarter. Da nang is a new city but hoi an is old, the old quarter is closed for car traffic and it full of restaurant shops and night life. the streets are lit by colorful  Chinese style lamps and it looks unique and interesting.

we stop at a western style restaurant and enjoy a good meal then walk the 2 k back to the hotel

tomorrow should be sunny, the 1st sunny day for us in over a week!!! we have a cooking class  and then cycling through the villages, should be nice

cheers from lantern city for Hoi an.