After wrestling with my camera, my laptop, and Facebook, I have succeeded in uploading photos from my work computer. Not during work hours, of course. [Cough.] Never. So I now can write about my adventures and link you to the albums as I create them.
On Sunday, September 13th, I left Saigon for Nha Trang, which is a city on the coast of Vietnam (see my map in the older post for a reference). The bus ride was easy enough—the bus wasn’t full, the 9 hours passed uneventfully, and the weather was nice. I arrived around 5 p.m., found a hotel that was $6 and run by some friendly folks, and then set out looking for somewhere to get dinner.
[Me on the first bus]
While strolling the backpacker/tourist district, I was beckoned over to a table already covered with empty beer bottles, and introduced to some new friends—Sheri, a Canadian, and Tom, Andy, and Steffie, all German. Later we met Thomas, another German, at another bar.
Something to explain: Nha Trang seems to be known for primarily 2 things: the beach and the bar scene. It is a party town. Practically every bar had ridiculous drink specials (For example, the bar where I first met these guys was having a happy hour that lasted all night, where you could get 2 bottles of beer for 15,000 VND, which is about $0.85.), and because all the bars are competing with each other for business, they all keep things super cheap. We went to one place where a double cocktail (2 shots of vodka, splash of tonic or whatever) was 10,000 VND. That’s $0.60. And most places gave you a free shot just for walking in. Needless to say, once I had found a good group of people to hang out with, we did a fair amount of drinking. (Nothing unsafe, Mom and Dad, I was responsible, I promise.)
So, that first evening, I made new friends, and we drank some beers together, had dinner, and then played pool (or, as I like to say, “playing pool,” as I have zero pool skills whatsoever) over more beer. The next day 3 of them (Sheri, Andy, and Steffie) went with me on a boat tour of some of the islands off of Nha Trang. At the first island, we were given snorkels, and waded into the sea. The water was clear but the marine life was limited, save for millions of these small, translucent jellyfish that stung us; they are harmless, just annoying, and leave little bug bite-looking marks all over one’s body. After snorkelling we got back on the boat and had lunch, followed by a “floating wine bar,” where all of us hopped in the ocean in inner tubes and drank local wine from plastic cups. And met more jellyfish, some of them less friendly than others, and these were fished out by the guides. Following this, we went to another island to chill out a bit, and then went to yet another to go to the Nha Trang aquarium, where they had sea turtles that looked incredibly disapproving, and giant fish and moray eels, looking sufficiently intimidating. After returning to Nha Trang in the afternoon, we all went back to our hotels and hostels to shower and rest a bit, before meeting up again for dinner and drinks.
The next day, Sheri, Thomas, Steffie and I rented 2 motorbikes and headed off in search of a waterfall that was supposed to be scenic. Thomas had ridden one before, Sheri had motorcycle experience, and I was just eager to try it. It turned out to be a nice little motorbike adventure—not enough traffic to be truly terrifying, and enough straight highway for practice. On the way out of town we stopped at a temple with a few giant Buddhas, which was exciting, as I’ve been working on a book about them for months, and there they were. Then, after 40 km of biking and a few near accidents in puddles (I now know that instead of trying to swerve around them, you should just power through them, otherwise you have the tendency to lose your balance and topple over), we found the waterfall—only to be vaguely dissatisfied. But the ride was a rush, and now I feel a smidge more comfortable on a bike.
[Sheri, rockin' it on the bike]
I was never planning on spending more than a few days in Nha Trang, since I had expected to be on my own. However, since I had connected with a good group, I was easily persuaded to stay longer. So, on my third day, we all slept in and then headed to the beach, where we had some wine, listened to music, read our books, and just chilled out.
That evening, we parted ways, somewhat: Sheri was staying in Nha Trang before heading south to Saigon, and Tom, Steffie, and I were heading north to Hoi An. It turned out Tom and I were on the same sleeper bus that evening, and as soon as we arrived in Hoi An we spotted Steffie getting off her bus. The group was not disbanded! The three of us ended up exploring Hoi An together.
So: Nha Trang was a great introduction to my trip: the weather was beautiful, I got the beginnings of a tan (for those of you who know me, this is a feat), and I found some awesome people to hang out with, so I wasn’t wandering around on my own as I had anticipated. The photos are here, and there will be more to come soon.
Love!
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