The Golden Loop Motorbike Ride, Central Vietnam

Haha, funny hair on Adam. lol At the Da Nang beach before we set out on our motorbikes.

This past February brought one of my all-time favorite adventures in Vietnam! One of my absolute best friends from High School, Adam, joined me on a motorbike tour nicknamed The Golden Loop, courtesy of super-indie-traveler Tom over at Vietnam Coracle, an indispensable source for Vietnam travel.

It was a vacation for the ages, truly! Let me take you on our trip, step by step, ending with New Year's celebrations in the historic UNESCO village of Hoi An!

Another note: Adam and I did this trip just days before Tet, the Lunar New Year holiday here in Vietnam (so, early February 2018). This caused us a few stumbles in our trip, as people in the city and country were both making big preparations to close businesses and restaurants before they travelled to see family (the holiday lasts roughly two weeks each year). I'll also note those incidents as we get encountered them, as I found it pretty interesting.

The Loop can be followed in either direction, clockwise or counter, starting in the major central city of Da Nang. Da Nang is home to quite a bit of food and beaches, but we opted to get underway almost immediately upon landing. Because we wanted to end in Hoi An for the new year celebrations, we opted to go north and count-clockwise.

We were met outside the airport (across the street, actually) by our very friendly motorbike rental contacts at Xe Thue Da Nang. They speak excellent English and the motorbikes were in great shape. They gave us a short lift to their headquarters and we got our motorbikes all set for the trip. This was Adam's first time on a motorbike here and... except for one, very tiny incident involving a motorbike and a brand-new parked SUV parked across the street.... BUT IT WAS JUST THAT ONE THING, HONEST.

Aaaaand we're off!

Our first stop was the Hai Van Pass, which is supposed to be one of the most scenic and beautiful passes in Vietnam. It goes from Da Nang to Hue, with an ocean view along much of it.

However, the whole thing was shrouded in a thick fog upon our arrival at the top. Not much to see, but I did pick up two (2!) marriage conversations from mothers of young daughters going to study in America, so I guess I still got it going on in a poncho. You other mothers can't deny, when you see a guy walk in with a big pink poncho and a backpack on his chest you say "HI I HAVE A DAUGHTER, SHE VERY PRETTY AND SMART IN CALI, WHERE ARE YOU FROM, COFFEE NOW YOU LOVE? BANANAS? HAVE BANANAS." omg.

The descent into Hue was absolutely unremarkable in any way. It's a national highway and we went slowly enough for the container trucks and cars to pass us without too much trouble. We had no motorbike problems and got to Hue just in time for some more drizzly rain about 4:30pm. There are a few scenic stops for pics but nothing mind-blowing.

Hue is the old imperial capital of Vietnam, and I'm a bit embarrassed to say that, in over 5 years living here, this was the first (and only) time I've visited it! It's a weird little place. No one understood my Vietnamese, and I couldn't understand theirs (this is also a big problem for Northern/Southern VN that visit the Center - the Hue dialect is unlike anything else around it and it causes some considerable confusion).

We didn't do a lot in Hue, just kind of poke around and look for food, drive around the citadel, and such. A LOT of restaurants were closed already, which was disappointing but not surprising. We stayed in a homestay/airbnb sort of place a few KM south of the Citadel, at Luong's Homestay (recommended), and it was super comfortable. We discovered we both snore like drowning pugs, which is good because we had a few days of shared rooms ahead of us!

The absolute BEST THING we ate was Banh Khoai Hue, which is like a smaller pancake with greens, shrimp, pork, bean sprouts and more with a hot peanut sauce and IT IS REMARKABLE. I will probably go through Hue again JUST to have this dish. The family that runs this particular stall is deaf and mute, but they were so helpful, and the food was unbelievable. They helped us understand how to eat it (admittedly not difficult, but very kind anyway) and catered to our needs fantastically.

The next morning brought some fog and light showers, so our first stop was Forty Eight Shop to pick up a few extra layers for our motorbike ride into the mountains. I was absolutely freezing and forgot my biking gloves, but fortunately this place had everything we needed, and they were able to help us get underway quickly and in English.

By 11:30 we were ready for our ascent into the highlands, with our objective being Prao and a guesthouse with food and warmth.

Our ride was almost completely uninterrupted by other vehicles. The peace and quiet were only rivaled by the lush, rich scent of the jungle and the mist - the fog was everywhere on this drive. The most disconcerting things were these enormous, pitch-black tunnels near the tops of the highlands, filled with fog and zero electric lighting. I'll admit, that was the most nervous I've gotten on a motorbike in a long time. It's very strange going through a long-ass tunnel in the dark when your headlights don't throw your light too far in front of you.

Good Boy. After this it was just wild chickens we needed for our bingo card.

Although we were prepared for a long first days drive (with subsequent days being much shorter), with stops the total travel time was about 6.5 hours (we dawdled, I will admit. Because when again are we going to visit this area and get these kinds of pictures?!). The last 35 minutes were spent descending into Prao, located close to the Laos border, and locating our guesthouse (Dung Thuy Guesthouse, which was perfectly fine and had a very good dinner) in the dark. No problems. At this point, we're pretty comfortable with our bikes and our driving abilities. 

We woke up the next morning to a fantastic, sunny day! Todays ride took us to My Son Temple Complex, the site of some Cham temples being rehabilitated from decimation in the American War, and finally to the ancient port city and UNESCO site of Hoi An, sitting pretty like a jewel on the coast.

It was the best drive. The jungle leaves overhead left sun-dappled prints on the road, the weather was warm but not too hot, and the descent toward the ocean was just magnificent. We actually called the motorbike rental place to inquire about keeping the bikes one more day, in order to explore more of the country, but they were already reserved. BUMMER.

My Son has recently been the site of a lot of improvements, including new bridges, walkways and an expanded effort to restore these ancient monuments.

As always, I love poking around ruins - stone sculptures fascinate me to no end.

As the weather warmed the closer we got to the sea, we started shedding our layers and began the final drive, a short trip from My Son to Hoi An.

I've written about Hoi An a few times, from atmosphere to food to tailoring clothes, so I won't go too much into detail here. Suffice to say, everything was just lovely. The weather was absolutely perfect, and, including the ENORMOUS number of tourists, both VN and foreign, the holiday was in full swing the whole time we stayed. The whole city was a party, day and night. The karaoke competition outside our hotel window was... unexpected, but ultimately just more noise on a very noisy scene.

We ate very well, including several bottles of great wine on the main thoroughfare to celebrate our successful ride. We roamed the night, checking out street foods and polishing off beers. The New Year finally came our second night and we checked out the fireworks while enjoying the street life.

The next day saw us bringing back our rental motorbikes to Da Nang and getting a taxi ride back to Hoi An (it's about 22 km along the coast, not too bad for a quick drive).

The beach was a disappointment, except that I finished my book. Very foggy all day.

Finally, the day came to finish our mini-jaunt around the central area of Vietnam. With bags in hand we made our way back to HCMC, which was mostly deserted because of the holiday. We found a simple hotel for Adam to spend a few hours in until his flight back home, and... that was that.

I will always remember this little trip because, I have to say, we were both total badasses. Except for that one little motorbike incident at the rental shop (Adam, my lips are sealed!), we had nothing but good luck, amazing food, cooperative weather, and unique experiences. I saw so many things I've never seen before, and I think I can say the same for Adam. I couldn't have wished for a better holiday with my best high school buddy.

Thanks for a marvelous time, Adam!! I hope that we'll meet up somewhere else in the world for our next adventure...!

Have you done the Golden Loop? Got any tips for next time?