The next day was a long drive, as I wanted to drive the ninh van bay peninsula to check out the recommendation from the family dinner group before continuing up the coast. I had read it was great back in the day as well, but now it kind of sucks. The drive out was a waste of my time, I only recommend it if you do not want to go to Nha Trang, and stay the night at the end of the peninsula....but to drive there and back round trip was a complete waste, and the area itself is filling up with resorts and condos, so has lots of construction going on...sadly I have missed the window on this place, which seems true for most of coastal Vietnam. Everywhere that was worth checking out at some point is now being over run with construction and tourists. Of course I live at the beach, so it is tough for me to get excited about them, maybe you will love them, but I wasn't feeling it, but still had another day or two of the coastal route I planned to follow. I then continued North which took me through some nice looking areas with fishing villages, passed blue ocean waters, and a good portion of boring old flat highway, until finally arriving in Qui Nhon late in the evening.











Qui Nhon was nice enough, a good sized small city, which people use as a base to check out beaches around the area. I only spent the night, and pushed on towards Kon Tum, as it was time to leave the coast and start ridding in the mountains, where I constantly read the real fun begins. This is where I will pick up the legendary Ho Chi Minh Highway, a system of roads which connect the Southern city of Saigon with the Northern city of Hanoi, and possibly goes all the way to China present day. This road runs through the mountains which border Cambodia/Laos, and played a crucial role in the "America/Vietnam War", but more importantly, had some great twisties and scenery for motorcycle riders. I could have picked it up sooner, but wanted to see what the beach scene was all about. I enjoyed the places I hit up, but would probably forgo them next time, but they were not bad in any way. I also plan on heading back to hit the popular locations such as Hoi An, or De Nang, before fully committing to the mountains.













All photos provided in this post are prior to the trip to Kon Tum, so as you can see there is still some very scenic mountain riding where I went, and the beaches have their moments, but I found things generally got better the farther north I went. Depending on how much time you have, I either recommend you start in Hanoi and focus only on the North, or start in Saigon like I did and head north. Many people go North to South, and comment that while it is nice, they cant help be feel slightly disappointed after starting in such an amazing area of the North and working their way South.

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