May 5, 2023

Yesterday I had an excellent last day in hoi an. Me and a group of friends decided to take on the hai van pass. This is similar to the ha giang loop that I did a month ago but a lot more chilled. I still don't feel super comfortable driving a bike but luckily one of my new pals let me join on the back of their bike and I became the group navigator and photographer. We started the day at 9 am by heading to grab breakfast at a local place called bikini bottom. It's a great break for a western style breakfast and we all got thoroughly stuffed. From here, we took off for the first stop of our journey, the marble mountains. This is a huge mountain structure about half way between hoi an ans da nang. The mountains are vast and you see loads of marble statues around the town that are being sold. We didn't go up the mountain but checked it out from the base before hopping back on the bikes and headed to our next zone. We cruised down the coast line seeing loads of beaches and different scenery. We went up big passes to over look the city and really just enjoyed the ride. About an hour in we got to the actual hai van pass. Before we went up we found a small mountainside Cafe which was an unexpected gem. It was a location that is used for camping and coffee and if I had more time I would've spent a night here. We played on their big swings and explored the chicken farm before finishing off some coffees and heading out. The pass was stunning, it in a way felt like being on the loop again. We made quite a few stops at over looks and picture points to explore. Once we made it over the pass we found a beach side restaurant and treated ourselves to a seafood feast. Here, one of our group decided he was tired and he headed back while the other four of us continued on to dream spring. This was the highlight of the ride. We come up the cliff and end up at an incredible waterfall ans swimming hole. We were the only westerners there and ended up spending a few hours cliff jumping with local kids, swimming in the falls, and just living the best versions of our life. I was so thankful I extended a day in hoi an to join the group in this excursion because it was a top tier day for my trip. At this point, paracio, Oisin, and I were headed back to the hostel. We said goodbye to Connor as he was continuing through to Hue. Goodbyes are always tough but this one was manageable as Connor also lives in San Diego so he has to be my real friend. We parted ways and me and the Irish boys went back to the hostel. We stopped for a round of cheeseburgers when we were about 30 minutes out and celebrated a really nice day. Tomorrow I'll chill at the hostel and catch a late night sleeper bus off to my next stop.