March 29 - Oh, No!

Hotel Riverside Long Life provided an OK breakfast - though everything was weird about this hotel, even the restaurant. I left town, heading towards My Son, a cluster of ancient (and partially ruined) Cham temples, worshipping the Hindu god of Shiva. It was a nice ride of 40 kilometers on some rural roads and I got there before the huge flood of tourists. It was quite an impressive site.

Hindu temples in My Son

After My Son, I had to backtrack for quite a while - that was the only option I had. I think to have missed a road that would have taken me east, this meant even more backtracking. Oh well. I did manage to find another road heading east, back to the HCM Trail.

Still life - the road I took - lots of pigs, not that many cars

I was riding by a river, once again through the jungle, covering quite good distance, I had done some 100 kilometers by the afternoon of that day. The next hotel was about 20 kilometers away and I was ready to get a nice sleep. I was phantasizing about checking in, where you have to present your passport, then going to the room, then falling asleep...yes, you check in, give your passport...your passport...where is my passport? I grabbed my belly bag - and soon a huge scream was echoing in the mountains surrounding me - I had left it at this bloody Riverside Long Life place in Hoi An...

This was now emergency, Code Red, call it whatever, there was no alternative except to return. It was a rather quiet road, with not a lot of traffic (just take a look at the photo with the pigs), but I had a stroke of luck within this negative experience - a minibus came after five minutes and they were only glad to have my business. Soon we were speeding to Da Nang (and, alas, not to Hoi An), with my bike tied to the top, this was the fifth bus would be taking against my will in Vietnam (the first four were in the north, where my bolt had broken). And boy, we were really speeding, at each bump in the road we were airborne for a few seconds, I was sure my bike would fall off - but we arrived safely. A passenger ahead of me had a plastic bag - I suddenly saw something moving in it, it turned out to be a cameleon (I think there were three of those).

My fellow passenger

It was already 7 pm by the time we reached the bus station in Da Nang and I learned that there were no more buses that evening to Hoi An. I thought of going there the next day, but that would have meant even more time lost. So I started negotiating with a cab driver and for about Eur 15, he agreed to drive me to Hoi An and then back - not a lot of money for a 70 kilometer trip. Even though I was really mad at the hotel staff and at myself, I enjoyed sitting in the car and being ferried around - it was an alternative way of getting some rest. With the car window open, we cruised into the warm night, found the hotel and I was able to retrieve my passport. Back in Da Nang, I chose a motel close to the bus station - my plan for the following day was to return to the exact spot I had realized that the document was missing.

The exact spot where I realized I had left my passport behind...