Nha Trang: Christmas spring rolls

My taxi dropped me off in the backpacker area of Nha Trang and the fare was legitimate.  Not a lot was open at 5:30AM, but I finally found a small hotel just off the main street and was able to check in.  I got cleaned up, had some breakfast at a bamboo interiored joint that serves museli with bananas and pineapple mixed in, and visited a few travel places to get the next train ticket.  The journey to Hanoi is a 3 night train ordeal, but given how comfortable the tourist trains are, I figured it would be a lot of fun.  Well no fun for the 2nd leg, as all they had were 2nd class tickets--I was trying to get a ticket for Xmas day, on Xmas Eve day after all, so I couldn't complain.  After breakfast I snuck down the road to the Spa shop to surprise my friends there.  Only Phuong was there, but she was surprised.

A few minutes later Kieu showed up--also surprised.  Kieu gave me a ride to the oceanography museum, where I spent the afternoon looking around what seemed to be a cross between Sea World and Ripleys Believe it or Not.  There really didn't seem to be anyone working there, except a guy in the lab that looked like Captain Nemo.  It was one of those places that Neil Gaiman talked about in American Gods--places that don't completely make sense as a tourist attraction but strangely draw lots of visitors.  Modern Temples.

I hung out at the Bia Hoi place next to where my Spa friends work for Xmas eve.  I met a pair from London, cousins, of Vietnamese descent--one spoke Mandarin, one Vietnamese, and both, of course, Brittish accented English.  There were some local children dressed in Santa Claus outfits too playing on the street. I couldn't stay awake very late because of the 5 AM train arrival, though.

I had just half of Xmas day in Nha Trang, then I had to catch the train to continue my Northwards escape.  I  hung out for the day and contemplated what I would do once I got to Hanoi--would I keep my original plan (or original adjusted plan) and head to Laos for the new year to meet Luke and Jo, or do I head home, defeated by my allergies, or do I do something else, like go back to Shanghai to see John and perhaps have another interview with that company?  Then Japan popped into my head--I had talked to Roh about possibly meeting there, and I really want to see Japan, despite how terrible the Yen is beating the dollar, which already compounds the expensiveness of the country.  Either way, I was enjoying myself and the free wifi at Lousiane Brewhouse and failed to make a decision.  It was this Brewery that had so much beach property you couldnt walk by it from the beach without going through it, in other words.

  I said my goodbyes and got my arranged ride to the train station with the ticketing company I got my ticket through.  The ride, however, turned out to be a ride on the motorbike of one of the girls who worked there without a helmet.  Vietnam is not the place to ride a motorbike without a helmet.  The lady who took me to the train station was nice though, and she sat in the waiting room with me to make sure I got on the right train.  When I got to the platform I noticed that there was a crowd of people around a young red headed lady on the ground.  It looked like she had fallen down and hurt her ankle.  She also had a lot of white powder all over her legs.  Our train arrived and her friends helped her into it.  She ended up in my cabin and I took pity on her pain and offered her a beer.  This was before I realized she was probably 15 or 16.  I was in a 6 bed cabin with 4 other people from the same group--a school group from New Zealand--a high school group rather.  At first I just assumed that if you are a foreigner backpacking around Vietnam you are probably at least in college.  These kids were going through Vietnam doing some community service of sorts.  The girl had tripped on the train tracks and because she was carrying a backpack that was easily 50 percent of her own weight, she fell in an awkward way and hurt her ankle.  They said some local Vietnamese lady sprinkled the white stuff over her cuts on her legs, which the suspected to be salt or flour. I still think she deserved a beer though.  I played some cards with them and then we all went to bed.  Our train was due to arrive in Danang at 7 AM.

Nha Trang: Impossible journey, improbable experience

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I got to Nha Trang in the morning and was able to walk to my hotel from where the bus dropped us off.  The bus ride was pretty terrible.  The seats were more like adult sized baby rockers that didn't rock and were too small.  The weather was gorgeous and the city had a nice balance of tourist and local.  It might be my favorite city in Vietnam.  I treked up to the local market first.  On my way this middle aged Phillipino lady stopped me on the street.  I first suspected she was a hooker, but it seemed a bit too early in the day for that, so I chatted with her a bit.  She claimed to be visiting her Uncle here and that her cousin was about to go to San Diego to work in a hospital.  This was the 2nd time I've heard someone say they had a friend going to San Diego to work in medicine (and since I've heard it a 3rd time).  Either Vietnam has a good relationship with San Diego, or these people all go to Scammer U. together.

Later that evening I popped into a Western style bar and there was a guy dressed with the pattern of the gutter in a bowling alley during cosmic bowling who tried to hustle me with some pool to get me to buy some of the books he was selling.  It was one huge condtradiction as the bar was the center of a charity towards underprivelaged Vietnamese youth, yet they had tons of kids lurking inside who were trying to scam and rip you off.

On my second day I got up and took a trip through my hotel to do some Snorkeling out on the water.  My boat had 4 people--me and a group of three from Thailand.  The people from Thailand were awesome;  They had all just finished medical school in Japan and were doing some traveling before starting to work.  The scuba diving was ok.  We also saw a floating market with some genetically mutated lobsters and cuttlefish.  The cuttlefish remind me of the ships from the matrix movies.  Our guide was really interested in English and I tried to explain to him how anagrams work but he really didn't get it.

After I got back I hit up the streets for some food.  I found a Bahn Baho lady and quickly approached.  There was another White guy there ordering some greenish bread.  I tried to ask him what it was but it was his first time as well and he quickly made his escape with the rhythm of a puddle of ooze.  Too bad because I was hoping he would stick around so I could watch his reaction to the food.  I bought a green one anyway and it was terrible, so I had to buy a Bahn Bao to erase the flavor.  The lady running the stand gave me a chair so I could eat there on the street. Three Bahn Baos later, I had made friends wih the lady and two other girls who were working in the Spa right behind me.   This food car is just a side business for the girls who work the spa.
 Next door to the spa was a Bia Hoi place, which was my next stop.  25 cent a glass fresh beer.  I hung out there for a while.  Nothing better than cheap beer and cheap egg filled bread buns.

For my last day in Nha Trang I wanted to go visit some tourist stuff.  I had told some motorbike driver I would let him take me around to the sites for 3 bucks, but then I realized the sites were all within a few kilometers and flaked out on him--or avoided the corner he hung out on.
Before embarking I stopped by to say high to my new friends and load up on some Bahn Bao.  I didn't get any Bao and somehow I ended up letting the girl who sold them to me take me on her motorbike to the two sites I wanted to see.  It was a bit wierd because her English was terrible, which meant it was hard to say no.  And then when we got there she wouldn't come in and I couldn't figure out why--if it was that she wanted to watch her motorbike, or maybe some culture issue.  Turns out it was the culture issue--she was wearing shorts and thats not allowed for women.  It was really nice of her to take me though, so I bought her some food afterwards.

 After we got back I got some more Bia Hoi, then my Spa Lady friends came over and took me out for some Karaoke.  Vietnamese are really good singers, and they really get into it too.  I really couldn't understand the lyrics, but a lot of the songs had a Communist feeling to them.  Go figure.