Rockin Out In Nha Trang
Post by Dom:Sorry, I know we're behind. It's been difficult keeping up to date with the blog. We're just having too much fun...and we're also a bit lazy. Nha Trang was our first real beach town in Vietnam. Our bus rolled in at 5:00am, and the locals were already up and at em...jogging and swimming at the beach. We had a crappy night's sleep on the bus, and our hotel room wasn't ready yet. So, we searched around for someplace to eat breakfast. After eating, we checked into the hotel and had a nap, then hit the beach. It was a very slow day. The beach in Nha Trang is nice, and caters to tourists...meaning bars, restaurants and lots of umbrellas and comfy beach loungers with cushions set up for our use (as long as we were willing to pay for them). We didn't paying mind because it kept the relentless vendors selling everything we didn't need at a distance.
One day we took a boat tour through "Mama Linh's" boat tours. We met two really cool people from Holland...Eric & Myrthe (brother & sister). We hung out with them most of the day. They're both very funny, and told us a lot about Holland. Apparently, a lot of people think Holland, Netherlands and Amsterdam are all separate from each other. Someone asked them if they were from Dutch. Even among travelers, you still run into people who don't know much about geography. The boat stopped at 4 small islands just off the coast. We got to snorkel at the first stop, but it wasn't very good. The water was nice & clear, but there wasn't a whole lot to see. There were tiny white jelly fish everywhere, and I wasn't sure if they were of the stinging variety, so I was swimming around like a spaz, trying to avoid them whenever I got close to one.
The boat stopped for lunch, followed by "entertainment", which consisted of a 4 piece band singing & playing songs. They spotted all of the foreigners on board, and pulled everyone up one by one and forced them to sing a song from their country (the band somehow picked a song that each person knew the words to). They saved the U.S. for last, and pulled Tony up and then started singing La Bamba (didn't see that one coming). The lead singer also called up anyone else to the stage to join in the singing and dancing. It was quite funny...especially when the band kept singing "BA BA BA BA BA BA Bamba"
After the entertainment portion was over, we all jumped in the water with life buoys and swam over to the floating bar, which was actually the singer of the band with a floating device carrying many bottles of wine. We floated around him in, sipping wine and enjoying the cool water and warm afternoon sun. The wine didn't taste all that wonderful, but I'm not going to complain if it's free! After the wine session, we got back on the boat for the "fruit party". That's really what it was called on the itinerary. After the entertainment, we had no idea what to expect. But, it turned out to be just a bunch of fruit laid out on plates for us to eat. Further along the trip, we stopped at an aquarium that isn't much compared to Monterey, but it still had some cool things to look at. My favorites were the seahorses and the turtles.
We met up with Myrthe & Eric later that evening at a nearby Bia Hoi place and had our fill of $0.20 beers while watching a beauty pageant on TV (I think it was Miss World). The locals got VERY excited when Miss Vietnam was up. Afterwards, we headed over to a club/bar right on the beach called the Sailing Club. We had to pay a $6 cover, but we got a free (rather large) vodka/Redbull drink served in a bucket. So, I guess it was worth it. After the Sailing Club the guys were hungry, so we stumbled over to Mama Thuy... a lady who sells steak & egg baguette sandwiches on the sidewalk late at night. She was very sweet and seemed to have a crush on Tony & Eric. But, maybe she is like that with all the guys.
We ended up hanging out with Myrthe & Eric the next couple of days...until we left Nha Trang. It was nice being lazy on the beach during the day, and drinking at the bars at night. We found a good happy hour at the Why Not? bar...$1 cocktails from 9:00am to midnight! We didn't take full advantage of that though...I think we might not be alive to tell the tale if we did. But, we entered into a pool tournament. I'm really horrible at pool, but with the prize being a bottle of rum I figured, what have I got to lose? I think we started with about 35 people, and I was out pretty early on. But, Tony managed to make it down to the last 3. So close!
Stay tuned for write-ups on Da Lat, Mui Ne and Saigon.