Hai Van Pass

After Marble Mountain we continued north passing through Da Nang, and then climbing the famous Hai Van pass. The name means something about clouds and the sea, and sho nuff it was completely pea soup up there. Some haunting old military buildings speak to the pass’s past. We made a quick pass through a souvenir gift stalls and visited the squat toilets, and then back in the van.

On the way down we got behind a truck full of jet fuel, which slowed us down even more. There was no passing lane in the pass.

The Hai Van pass is just absolutely on the tourist agenda, not to be passed up. But on a cloudy day like we had, I could have taken a pass on the pass. I was worried we’d have to do it all over on the way home, but my fears didn’t come to pass: we took the new tunnel instead.