Nha Trang

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I have a lot to write, but don't feel like it very much ... I'll see how far I get.

Leaving Mui Ne was not as easy as it seems. Well it should be ... but things went kind less good. My bus to Nha Trang should have arrived at 1pm. But of course, no bus showed. I wasn't worried, as things go a little different in Vietnam of course. I wasn't even worried at 2:22pm. A few minutes later someone came to tell me that the buss would arrive in 15 minutes. See! Nothing to worry about, the bus is just late. About 15 minutes later someone came to tell me that she would come tell me when the bus was there. Easy! So I waited, while looking around for a bus. After a while, I saw a bus, but it had parked in the street, not inside the resort as they said it would. It was just a few minutes to 2 by then, and so I asked if that was the bus to Nha Trang. Nobody seemed to know, until one guy told me "you go now!". Of course, by the time I had taken my bags the bus pulled away ... great. I asked around for when the next bus was, but nobody seemed to know or understand what I wanted. Great, so I had to wait another hour. And Caroline had to wait another 2 hours for me to arrive in Nha Trang.

So I was quite unhappy about it all, and got myself a cold water at a little shop on the other side of the street. As I got out, I saw a bus just a little further. I stopped it and asked if it went to Nha Trang and if I could hop on, using the ticket I had for another bus of course. The guy said yes and so I got my bags. Upon entering the bus they gave me a plastic bag. At first I thought it was for my trash, but then they told me I should put my shoes in the bag. ... what? It all became clear when I took a look inside the bus ... no seats.

No seats ... but beds! It was a sleeping bus. Great! So I actually got lucky! I got on and the 5 hour trip to Nha Trang began.

Vietnam is a beautiful country. But you can only really appreciate it when you're on the road between cities/villages. Only then can you really see with your own eyes why it's no wonder that the Americans lost the war here. Knowing the terrain is always an advantage in any war. But knowing this terrain opens so many possibilities. And if you take a look at the hard working Vietnamese people, you understand where the determination comes from. They can do so much with so little. It's amazing to see. I tried to take pictures from inside the bus, but it was very difficult as I only got a good bed rather late, when it was already getting dark.

There's a new road to Nha Trang, and there's a massive amount of construction involved. So the last part of the trip to Nha Trang doesn't offer any pretty vistas. It's sad to see that a beautiful countryside gets torn down for more profit ... but that's the world I guess. There's massive billboards alongside the road advertising resorts that haven't even been built yet.

Then, suddenly, you get welcomed to Nha Trang in Hollywood style. Quite literally. There are "Welcome to Nha Trang" letters alongside a mountain. And a little later ... lights. Lots and lots of lights.

Welcome to Nha Trang ... this place has nothing to do with traditional Vietnam. No, in stead, it's filled with tourists looking to have a good time or "a good time". I arrived at about 7:30pm, so it was already dark. The bussed dropped us off -somewhere-, but I knew I had to go to the Marino Hotel, which is where Caroline was staying. I got there, but only after a visit to the ATM (I was out of VND) and after asking 2 motorbike drivers if they could get me there. The third said he knew where it was. And indeed, he got me there. It was a small alley behind a small alley. The owner (I don't know her name, well ... I forgot it) welcomed me and she more or less knew I was coming, but not when. Even though she had no rooms left, she checked me in ... into her room, haha!

I put away my bags and told her I'd go look for Caroline ... somewhere in Nha Trang, as she wasn't in the Marino. She told me where I could best look, and I was off. I didn't find Caroline so after a while I went back to the Marino to see if she was there. Nope. So the owner tells me she'd go looking with me, how kind! We go around again but do not find her. So when we get back to the Marino, again. She tells a guy (her man?) to give her a phone call when Caroline gets to the Marino. That way, Caroline and I could talk using her phone. In the meanwhile, she took me to a bar where she regularly goes. A friend of her works there and she knows the owner. She gets the Vietnamese prices. Which means I had to pay only 10.000 VND for my Saigon beer in stead of the 20.000 mentioned on the menu. We talked for a while, but eventually the inevitable phone call came. I told her how to get to the bar where we were. And a good 10 minutes later she was there.

So we all had a drink (well I still had mine, a Saigon beer is quite big) and talked. Caroline left not very long after she arrived as she had a tiring day. I agreed with the owner of Marinos that I would find something to eat first and then join her to a party. Long story short : I ate some tasty fried noodles with beef at the bar, good price again! At 11:30pm we left for the party at Sailors Club. This place was quite chique. It's warm here almost all the time, even at 3am it's still warm! So anyway, it's all open ... no doors, just a roof, a dancefloor, seats, tables, a bar ... seats and tables outside, ... seats and tables on the beach, ... lots of lights ... the sea.

Yes, this party had class, a real nice party right next to the beach. No foreigners in sight aside from myself. So it was just a bunch of Vietnamese people ... and me. Now, I already told you this was a nice place. And so, also expensive. So only the well dressed, good looking Vietnamese come here. Let me tell you, there were some very well looking Vietnamese girls there. And of course everyone noticed the foreigner ... but that was a good thing! You know, those Vietnamese people know how to build a party! The music wasn't always great, but everyone kept moving all the time, the vibe just kept going and we had a lot of fun. I met a lot of people, especially girls of course, and 1 gay guy ... there always has to be this one gay guy huh?! He looked kind of disappointed after a while, as I made no effort at all to make any advances. The party kept going and I went along with it, dancing with a lot of people I never met in my life. Then I met Jeroen, he's from Maastricht. And he he a friend with him. He's from Italy, but spoke Dutch (with a heavy accent). So I wasn't the only foreigner anymore! But as they weren't as lively as me, then seemed to get less attention.

However, as it goes with parties, it never lasts, does it? It was no different this time. And the evildoers were ... the westerners. As it got later, more westerners arrived and took over the dance floor. This made the Vietnamese leave and now the floor slowly but surely got filled with westerners. And not for the better =/ The Vietnamese were partying and a lot of fun. The westerners just stood around on the dance floor, doing either nothing or acting like complete idiots. From that point on, the fun level dropped so I often went outside to cool off or walk over the beach a little.

Besides that, there's nothing much to tell. Normally they should stop the party at 2am, but they kept playing until half past 2. So I was back at the Marino with the owner at about 3am. I took a shower and went to bed (the owner slept somewhere else of course, no idea where =P). It was way too warm and the fan made too much noise to leave it running. On top of that, a pair of English guys (always the English ... and the Dutch) made a lot of noise when they came in. I don't know what the time was, but eventually I fell asleep. I'm guessing around 4am.

Caroline told me the previous day that she would get up at 7am. I don't know why, but I woke up at 6:30am. I looked at the time and figured I had another half hour to go. The next time I looked it was 8:30am. But Caroline was still in her room. Apparently I had misunderstood, and woken her up. But it was ok. We had a busy schedule.

First things first ... get some breakfast. We had some good eggs and bacon (hey, eating Vietnamese food -all- the time can get tiring 😉 and after that left for destination 1 :

1. The art gallery
Or more specific, the Long Thanh Gallery. He exposes in his home ... and around the world. He does black and whites with an old camera and people ... this man has some great work. The list of awards, the places he exposed (Belgium included), etc. The list is just too long. One of his works sold for more than 120.000 euros. Or was it 200.000 euros? I don't quite remember, I was busy being very impressed by what I saw. He got published in books for good reason. Anyway ... as this is text and words add nothing to what you can see. I advise anyone to swing by his place whenever they're in Nha Trang. Yes ... it's a long walk. A very long walk if it's about 40°C. But worth it. So much even, that I bought 3 of his works to put up myself. I had them sent home with Fed-Ex ... so they better not mess up. He thumb-printed, stamped and signed each of the works. They weren't very cheap, but I paid a looooooooooooooooooooooooooooot less than what I would pay if I bought his work at an exposition in Europe. We talked a while about which works, how I would arrange them and the sizes I wanted them in. But in the end, all was arranged, and I'm looking forward to seeing them again when I get home.

After that, on to destination 2 :

2. the Long Son Pagoda.
I thought the art gallery was a stroke of luck. But it all got better. The Long Song Pagoda is a very pretty pagoda where 75 monks live (all male). We got a personal mini-tour from one of the younger monks. He explained a lot about the interior of some buildings he opened for us. Told us how to pray and wish for luck. Pointed out the swastika that Hitler abused (which some people still don't know about) and much more. But the best was to come, when I had a personal talk with the head monk. He's 90 years old at the moment, and joined when he was 16. So he's been there for 76 years now.

After that, Caroline and I climbed the 151 steps leading to a big white Buddha on the top of a hill behind the pagoda. Somewhere in the middle there was also a big reclining Buddha. Very nice. Lise, I made sure to take a lot of pictures!

Ok so all that was great, but let's continue. Destination 3 :

3. The Po Nagar Cham Towers
This was another long long walk. Just to get to the pagoda we had already walked for more than an hour after breakfast in the hot hot sun. But Caroline was up for more walking. Now that's my style! Hehe. "Never give up, never surrender"! We had to give in to the heat of course at some times, so we bought cold bottles of water to drink every now and then. And then ... suddenly ... cakes ... pies ... chocolate mousses ... and more. It was surreal. When we walked to the gallery we were already far from the tourist area. There were -no- foreigners in sight, and I mean -none-. Everything was a workshop. And I mean -everything-. It was just house after house that were actually garages. Everywhere people were shredding, mending, cutting, welding, etc etc etc. And in the middle of it all ... a cake and pie shop! Haha. So we made the excuse that we needed the energy and bought ourselves a cup with cake in the bottom and on top of that chocolate mousse ... and some cold, healthy water of course. We sat down in the shade a little further and enjoyed the "meal". And right after that ... more walking of course. After about another half hour (I guess, it could be more) under the sun we saw the Cham Towers up ahead. I would like to say that it was great and all ... but it was just that. Cham Towers. You'll get to see the pictures and then you'll understand ... it's just that. There was a show you could watch of course but it wasn't really interesting.

We had a fourth destination ... but we were done. We had some excellent views from the hilltops we were on (at the pagoda and the cham towers) and destination 4 was just a viewpoint. So we decided to get some motorbike drivers to get us back. I bartered a driver to take each of us back for 14.000 VND, coming from 20.000. He was a pain in the ass as he wouldn't go below 15.000. But as I was one too, eventually one had to win. And he's the one who wanted to make money. So off we were and we had a quick and easy ride back to where we came from.

Strangely, Caroline wanted to have a look at the beach. As "there are so many people". I didn't get that at first. But then she explained that the beaches in New Zealand (where she's been living and working for quite some time) are always deserted. So it was kind of a peculiar sight to her.

After that, dinner! I had an ok noodle soup, too bad it wasn't great. But I don't think you can find great food here in Nha Trang easily as everything is tailored to the lame tourists. Btw, just throwing this in. But you see a lot of young western guys and especially girls working here. Passing out flyers etc. I didn't realize that Nha Trang is such a party place ... everything closes at 2! It made me think of the guy I met at the Dour festival who told me he came to trek through Vietnam but got stuck in Nha Trang for 2,5 months.

I -do not- understand that guy. And I'll be happy to leave tomorrow morning. I would have been happy to leave at 7pm today with Caroline had not all (and I mean all ... a lot of calls were made when I went to book my ticket out of here) buses been full. I don't think I need to explain that I do not like Nha Trang. Yes ... it's been fun and all, for the short time I was here. But that's because everything was new. But if you've seen one bar ... you've seen them all. Excuse me for passing judgement ... but if you stay here because it's so much fun ... you're a complete retarded mental stupid idiot who gets milked for every Dong you have.

SO! I'm in my room at the Marino at the moment. Well I have been for quite some time actually. Caroline and I came back here after dinner. I took the room she checked out of. My things were moved to it. She did not have a room anymore she took a shower in "mine". After that we talked a little and then she left off. Then I took a shower and ... here I am. typing all this.

And whow, I managed to get it all ... well I probably forgot a thing or two. But I made it from Mui Ne right up until this moment.

But this is where it ends. My bus leaves at 7:30am tomorrow morning. So I'll do some more things (read book, watch an episode of some series I brought along) and get to sleep.

Hoi An ... I can't wait to exchange your promised classical beauty for this buzzing, boring place called Nha Trang.

Bye all!

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Photos

Long Son pagoda
Front view, after entering through a beautiful gate (that they were working on, so no pictures of that)

Long Son pagoda - reclining Buddha
The big reclining Buddha at the Long Son pagoda

Long Son pagoda - big Buddha
The big Buddha at the top of the hill (151 steps up) behind the Long Son pagoda

Long Son pagoda - scary dragon?
This is supposed to be a scary dragon, at the front of the Long Son pagoda ... kind of cute, isn't it?

Long Son pagoda - head monk
The 90 year old head monk of the Long Son pagoda

Caroline, happy with cake-chocolate-mousse
The cake and chocolate mousse in a cup we each had. It was good =)

Po Nagar Cham Towers - women praying
Title says it all

Po Nagar Cham Towers - main tower
The main tower of the Po Nagar Cham Towers with Caroline in front

Comments

[du-lich]

https://du-lich.net/
This is my Nha Trang city. Nice to see you in here