560 kms, mostly on Highway QL 1A. From Hoi An till Ha Tinh the road is reaonably calm (for Vietnamese standards), after that it’s a crazy frenzy again. I’m now fully convinced that most Vietnamese drivers, especially bus drivers, are complete lunatics. (We were in an accident ourselves, see following message).

– Hoi An – Danang, 34 kms, via China beach.

– Lang Co beach, 41 kms.  Passed a beautiful pass, alt. 490, beautiful views on the sea, but foggy, moist and cold.  A bit tough climb. Some hotels and resorts in Lang Co, a bit delapidated and a bit expensive. Nothing going on, no nice weather, lousy placees and lousy staff, no place to stay.

– Hue, 65 kms. Rain all day. Nice hotel with very nice staff, Bing Dong III (and I) in a narrow but very nice alley.

– Dong Ha, 70 kms.

– Cua Tung beach, 34 kms. The only reason to stop here was a visit to the Vinh Moc tunnels, not far from here. A number of hotels, we found a friendly one at the beach, simple, not all too clean, but very nice people and good food. Nothing going on again here. Passed the DMZ and the 17th parallel on the way, many remnants of the wars, momuments, musea, cemetries.

– Dong Hoi, 80 kms.

– Phong Nha cave, 46 kms. Left QL 1A to go landinward for some 30 kms. A number of guesthouses, a visitor centre and a boat ride to the caves. Nice.

– Kyoto resort, somewhere along the coast between Deo (pass) Ngang and Deo Con, 60 kms. Bungalow at the beach, dead quiet, no sun, no beach weather. Sleeping receptionist, bad restaurant.

– Ha tinh, 77 kms. Started in the rain. Good hotel, Binh Minh hotel, good room, free internet, big place, nothing interesting to see.

– Vinh, 50 kms. Pouring rain all morning. At noon, on arrival in Vinh, took a bus immediately for Ninh Binh. The weatherforecasts were bad, we just didn’t want to make all those kilometers in the rain for the next few days.