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Published: January 28th 2012
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Wake up. Breakfast. Depart for Airport. 30 minute taxi. hour flight north on Vietnam Airlines. Land. Grab a cab. Ending up at
Hoa's Place near the beach. It must have been here since the war in 1973. Everything is crumbling or falling in around it. It's the only old structure still standing as far as the eye can see. And the eyes can see at least 5-kilometers up and down China Beach.
Hoa is a super friendly gentleman, running a family owned and operated establishment. Really we cannot complain, after all. The price for the night is less than dinner $12 USD.
What bothers me most about 'Nam... the American dollar being charged everywhere. And if you want to pay in Dong, 'Nam's currency, they (Vietnamese) up the price.
Dumping our bags, we packed a beach bag, ate lunch and went to see China Beach and the South China Sea. White sand stretched out as people played in the ocean waters. We found two chairs chilling under an umbrella. No one around. We sat down. Stretched out. Played in the water. Dove around with my snorkel and mask. Found tidbits of things on the bottom. Could walk
Hoa's Place
Hostel near Da Nang along China Beach nearly 50 meters in knee to chest deep water.
Showered. Went for a walk. Shauna stayed behind chilling out with other backpackers. Across the main drag several sculpture shops carving marble statues of Buddha in hundreds of poses. Searching through sales people exclaiming my utter joy for getting up the hill before sunset. Sprinting I exited the shops as hands tried pulling me back in.
A hundred steps led to the top. Step happy steps. Until an old lady started asking questions. "Where you from sir?" "How are you sir?" "Come to my jewelry shop sir?" "See my family sculptures sir?" My only response...
"I swear I left my wife behind for this reason. No get away from me before you take a tumble down these stairs." I know it was rude. It was meant to be. I wanted to BE ALONE. Have some ME time. For F-s sake!
Cheer up. Buddha is present. Buddha picture here. Buddha picture there. 5-story pagodas and an awesome sunset across China Beach. Sweating, I quickly descended the steps. Fifteen minutes until dinner. Arriving back plates scattered everywhere solemn faces and empty beer bottles. I missed dinner. They ate
Clothes line
China Beach in background early. On my own back to the main drag in search of food. Random lady invites me into her restaurant. Little girls asking me questions as they peer around the corner then run off giggling only to be back two minutes later with more questions. This went on for fifteen minutes. It was one of those treasured moments on a trip.
Dinner. Meat and rice. At least it was fully cooked. I drenched it in sauce. Cracked a beer. Drank and ate. Happily. Paid the tab heading back to the backpackers to drink and play cards. In the morning we ate a quick breakfast, always with a baguette. Getting tired of baguettes and egg-only omelette's. Getting tired of Vietnam. Been here less than a week. Damn it!
Talked to the proprietor. Packed our bags. Sat until we got a ride to the train station. Station packed. Tickets are nearly impossible to get. Random guys trying to help us. What's his angle? Train doesn't head to Hue, until 3:00pm. Takes an hour and a half. Hue, is only 90 kilometers away. Lame. Screw this. Back into the morning heat. Sweating. Looking for scooter taxi drivers. There everywhere. Who to
trust? Who to pay? We choose to loungers... they smile. They laugh. They'll rip us off, too. We get on the back. Helmets secure. We cruise ten minutes down ruthlessly busy streets. The moped taxi drivers idlly chatting in Vietnamese to each other at every stoplight. Its a chaotic mess. Would rather be driving myself. At least there would be a small portion of control. Down a street, around a corner, they park letting us off.
Over pay the moped taxi guys and duck inside the travel shop. Ask about bus tickets south to Hoi An. Bus arrives as we are talking. We get two and a hotel room, too. We get on bus. Drive back past our original hostel from the night before. Laugh and keep on going to Hoi An...
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Ivan Mendis
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Great post
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