Nha Trang

Days 9 and 10 in Vietnam: Nha Trang (pronounced Nah Chahng [in Vietnamese])

We arrived in Nha Trang around 7:30a. got off the bus and got cursed at by a moto driver when we wouldn't go to "his" hotel. Good start, I think. So, we walked around and found a $5/person/night hotel...it wasn't that nice. So, we had someone take us to a hotel in my Rough Guide, Seaside Hotel. We walk in, and they ask us if we want to see a "Seaside" room. "Sure," we say. It's a giant room with a big bed, albeit dirty, a/c, and hot water. How much? $20. We really didn't want to carry our stuff around any further (we'd been doing that enough), so, again, we say, "Sure." The room, btw, has view of the coast, and it was worth it. Immediately after settling in, I get my laptop out and check my e-mail/Facebook. I had previously asked some other PCVs who were traveling in Nha Trang if they could book us a room, but didn't hear back from them. Facebook message from Katie @ 1min after I logged off of the internet before our 12 hour bus ride here: "Hey! We booked you a room for $10/night right in the center of town, and the owner's are really friendly!" Whoops. Still worth the room.

We got our swimsuits on and immediately headed for the beach, which was beautiful. After jumping into the semi-warm water and laying out for a little, we headed back and met the three volunteers who were in town (they were heading to where we had just come from in 6 hours). First place we went to: Louisiane...what's good there? Local brewed beer on tap, and it. was. heavenly. Holy crap. Both Tim and I stared into the bottom of our glasses and almost simultaneously went after the last drop of our drinks. It was fantastic getting to meet up with them and hang out (and get to have them show us around and tell us what was good to do). Once our friends left on their 6:15 bus, we went out and tasted some more good foods and ended up crashing pretty early (9:30p).

Day 2 was one of our best days on the trip. We woke up, researched spas, then got an hour-long Swedish massage for $9.50; it was heavenly. We took a short trip to a fruit shake stand and got two drinks made for $1/each:

1) Avocado, Asian pear, strawberry, aloe, milk, sugar, and ice (blended);

2) Aloe (mostly), orange, milk, and sugar over ice.

From there, we took a decent walk to the beach where we found many people selling various types of seafood on the beach: lobster, scallops, giant prawns. Some were cooked, some were fresh. Luckily, we ran into a Vietnamese-American woman who was traveling with her husband. She helped us bargain. Our deal:

Giant lobster, giant prawn, 8 scallops = $10 ($5/person). Succulent is really the only word I can use to describe the tenderness of the meat. And what a better way to enjoy what probably would have been a $50 meal on the beach looking out over the sea. After lunch, we spent our sweet time in the water and catching rays on the beach before doing what, we thought, should have been incredibly simple: getting our tickets checked for Dalat (our next stop).

The Open Tour Bus Ticket Debacle:

We arrived at our bus company's station (a long walk) and told them we planned on leaving for Dalat the next day. "No, I'm sorry," the kind man who worked there told us, "your ticket is for Mui Ne, not Dalat."

Uhh, no. That's weird. "No, sorry, we paid for Dalat."

"Sorry, sir, but this pen strike through Nha Trang to Dalat and Dalat to Saigon means that you paid for another ticket. This: cancelled."
"HOGWASH, I SAY!!! HOGWASH!!!"...okay, I didn't really say that, but I did ask him to call the company in Hanoi, and they said that our ticket numbers were registered for Mui Ne, not Dalat.

"It will be 130,000 VND ($6.50) per ticket to change this, or you can call the travel agency that arranged your ticket, and if they are willing to pay the money, then you can change your ticket."

Well, that seemed real likely, but we tried it anyway. We got a ride back to our hotel and called up the place we stayed at. After a long chat, it seemed there was a misinterpretation about what we wanted to do. We originally planned on going to Dalat first to meet up with our friends and then head back to Nha Trang with them continuing out the rest of our trip together (most of it, anyway). Our friends changed their plans slightly, and we adapted to it, but we were positive we never said we wanted to go to Mui Ne. The bright side to this (even though its never a bright side to anything to pay more money) was that if we had the correct tickets, it would have been $10 more (remember the $6.50 ticket change?), so we went back to the bus company and said we would like to change our tickets. It was a woman this time, somebody different. Oh no! She isn't aware of our plight! We tell her what happened and that we would like to change our tickets.

"100,000 VND ($5), please."

Silent victory dance. Sometimes, sometimes, not doing things exactly the way you plan them to happen can have a positive outcome.

So, it's 6:00p. What should we do? Eat, of course. Eat everything. Rather than going to a restaurant or some small shop for a meal, we ate a bit of everything. Our dinner:

-Bahn xeo (with shrimp and squid) (this is the fourth time we've eaten it, and each time has been incredibly different. Perhaps I'll write simply about that.

-Bahn Mi (the sandwiches)

-Spring rolls (don't know the name)

-Sweet rice with sugar and peanuts (just tasted)

-"Potato wedges" (french fries, but good ones)

Total cost: $1.50

We also found our way to a few bars to relax. One of them was a really relaxing place called "Guava" with an American (?)...North American owner. The next one was called "Why Not?" (where we had the french fries, or chips as they call them everywhere else...or "french fried" on menus in Cambodia). The last place was called Red Apple (?). It had a heavy backpacker atmosphere. It was okay. We ended up back at our hotel, prepared our bags to be packed, then passed out (11:00p). Time just moves so much slower here in Asia. It's so easy to lose track of time but to have had none of it really spent at all.

Day 3 (leaving Nha Trang), we showered, packed our bags, then went down stairs to gather our passports. First, though, they had to check the room to make sure we didn't mess it up. They came back:

"Problem. Yes. Room. Problem."
"Huh?"

"Problem."
That's nice. "What problem?"

"The gra..."
wt.."Huh? The what?"

"The gra..."

Hmmm yeah "Can you write word down, please?"

"Gra"

Jill and I look at each other. Yeah, that's not a word.

"Yes. Gra. Problem."

"We do not understand."

So, she opens up Google translate, and the intended words "Bed stations".

Yeah, that didn't help at all. Still lost in translation. We thought that maybe she meant bed stain? Nope. Definitely didn't spill anything. Mind you, we were barely in the room and it was dirty when we got there. She began to put our passports back in the drawer. We almost grabbed them and left. We kept insisting that our bus was leaving in 10 minutes, so finally just as we were about to forcibly retrieve our passports, she gave them back. We got to the bus station and we were off in about 30 min (our bus didn't leave until 7:30a).

I'm in Dalat, now and have plenty to say about our bus ride of confusion and seemingly certain death.

Talk to you soon,

Garrett