Day 60! Today is another milestone day and unfortunately the last day of traveling with Lea. It’s been an amazing time traveling south with her and we had an awesome last day together traveling the Hai Van Pass again!

Another day in Hoi An means another breakfast of pancakes, bananas, passion fruit, and an egg Banh Mi!

After enjoying another hostel breakfast, Lea checked out of the hostel and we loaded her bags onto my motorbike!

As I said yesterday, there was a chance of rain today. But luck was on our side and it was a beautiful morning! It was a bit overcast, but that makes for a perfect day of motorbike riding.

We set off for Da Nang, the city 30 minutes away from Hoi An, where Lea was spending the next night. It was a bit of a somber note that this was our last adventure together for now, but we were excited nonetheless!

After a quick 15 minute drive, we made it to our first stop of the day, the Marble Mountains!

The Marble Mountains are home to a compound of pagodas that sit on top of the mountain top.

There’s a lot of stairs to climb but it’s worth the effort because you’re met with some gorgeous architecture, small caves, and even a viewpoint that has an almost 360 degree view of the surrounding city and ocean!

After enjoying a nice hike around the mountain we made our way further into the city to drop off Lea’s bags off at her hostel. On the way we stopped by one of Da Nang’s famous spots, the Dragon Bridge!

On the weekend, the dragon actually breathes fire AND water!

We then were off on our adventure through the Hai Van Pass! A road I’ve been on before, but one Lea hadn’t and I was very game to do it again!

The first stop on the pass was one I actually skipped over last time. We stopped at Chua Linh Ung, Da Nang’s large female Buddha temple (the reason I skipped over it the first time was because I had already seen a very large female Buddha in Dalat).

Interestingly enough, the outside of this temple was surrounded by monkeys! I think it was mostly because of either people feeding them or access to trash, but they were everywhere.

The architecture of the pagoda here was beautiful and I’m glad I made the stop through this time around!

We then started winding our way further down the pass and stopped at the first viewpoint overlooking a secluded beach in between the mountains!

We continued our way further up the pass and stopped a few more times admiring the views!

It was a blast driving this road again and even more of a blast having Lea joining me on the journey!

I’d glance back and she would be smiling ear to ear. It made me very happy to be able to share my love of driving with someone and drive them along one of the best roads in Vietnam!

After over an hour of driving, winding the roads up and down the pass (and even more time spent wandering the different stops), we arrived at our last stop of the day, the Lap An Lagoon.

The lagoon wasn’t much since it was high tide, but it was a gorgeous view still! It was also a great spot to turn around and find lunch.

It took us a lot longer than we expected to find a vegetarian spot for Lea, but eventually we found a place where they said they had it. We had no clue what they were going to serve us, but we ended up getting a great meal for very cheap!

After eating, we snagged gas and set back off back down the Hai Van Pass the opposite direction!

I was especially excited to ride the pass this way because I had driven it twice from Hoi An towards Hue.

The clouds were rolling in on the way back which covered some of the views, but we weren’t too bothered. It added to the ambience and made for a different ride!

After our hour ride back, we were ready for some more food! So we walked through the streets of Da Nang to a vegan restaurant.

This restaurant was called Passionate Heart and it served one of the best bowls of Quang Noodles I’ve had!

After dinner, it was time to say see you later to Lea.

It was a somber moment. I really enjoyed my time hanging with Lea! She was a bundle of positive energy and had such a goofy personality that was a blast to be around. It’s always nice hanging around someone that makes you feel comfortable being you and to have deep conversations with!

After a week of hanging out straight, you really get to know someone and I’ll cherish this week forever! It makes me excited to keep meeting people throughout this journey, but I’m even more excited about having an excuse to visit Hamburg!

I made my way back to the hostel where I met some new faces and hung out with some old ones and we listened and shared music for the entire night!

Before the night was over, an interesting situation occurred…

They accidentally had overbooked the hostel, so I didn’t have a bed at the main place where I was supposed to switch back to. But there was a private open at the same place I already was and they let me have it for the price of a dorm bed! But… because they overbooked the hostel, there was another guy without a bed.

So T, the hostel owner, ran over to me and was like “hey bro, I have a question for you…” and he proceeded to ask me if this random guy could share the double bed with me.

I met the guy and said yeah. He’s a nice guy named Yanik, ALSO from Hamburg, a strange coincidence. Very much a situation up my alley for people that know me, but I guess I’ll have a bedmate for the night.

It was another wonderful day around Hoi An! I’m not sure how many more I’ll spend here, but I’m thoroughly enjoying my time at the Seaside Bungalow!

– Elie