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Published: December 15th 2011
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After a chilled out experience in Quy Khon, where we were treated more like Irish ambassadors than tourists, Aoife and I headed for Nha Trang, a popular beach town with a population of around 300,000.
Our first night in Nha Trang was a crazy one! We went to a restaurant and we decided to break the budget for a 6 course meal, a much needed change from the Asian food. We were going to just order a main course but the waitress talked up the six course meal and as we were really hungry we were easily sold. Within 5 minutes of ordering we were the only table left in the restaurant which we didn’t really think much of at the time. Turns out they were closing up and our 6 course meal which we thought would be an enjoyable 2/3 hour relaxing dinner turned into a nightmare. The first two courses came out together (luke warm) and before we had that half-finished, the next course came out. Despite asking the waitress three times to slow the food coming out, they kept rushing it out. It was pretty awful and the food was not great at all. Then they said
it was too late (9.30ish) for the ice cream that was supposed to be part of the 'chocolate pie and ice cream' dessert. Eventually, after we complained, they went out on the street and bought some ice cream to slap on the plate with the chocolate pie. The chocolate pie was something out of a box that resembled a chocolate kimberley but did not taste very good. We’ve since seen them for sale in the local shops, 12 in a box for less than a $1.
We were so annoyed because we felt they should have told us when we ordered the food that they were about to force feed us six courses in less than half an hour. They literally had three or four waiters standing just behind us watching us. Sick of being ripped off, we complained which turned into a massive blow up. They put a discount of 10% on the bill which we still felt was unfair because we were only able to eat half of each dish, the food was poor and we had asked the waitress three times to slow the food down to no avail. The manky biscuit they gave us for
dessert was the tipping point. Words were exchanged, the owner (a crazy Vietnamese woman) and her 15 or so staff were in front of the exit around our table and a shouting match ensued. She was roaring at us 'you ate everything, you pay' which was untrue and 'you no pay, you no leave'. Then she said 'you should have complained sooner' which we explained we did and had the waitress confirm our three earlier requests to slow down the food. There was no reasoning with her and she continued to get more aggressive with all her staff surrounding us. We got fairly fired up as well because they were so disrespectful and uncompromising. She was shouting ‘you can sleep here but you will not leave without paying the full bill’ and then threatened to call the police. Then the manageress basically stepped up to the table and spoke quietly so nobody else could hear. It was something like 'this is my country, not your country', 'if I call the police it will be you who has the problem'. Not wanting to have to deal with foreign police, there was a few more words exchanged as we dropped the money
and got the hell out of there. The lesson learned was that even though restaurants like this may gave the impression of having nice food with their western style design and higher prices, we are better off sticking to the less flashy street restaurants where we have rarely been disappointed.
We were not feeling too good about Nha Trang the next day. However, everything turned around for us as the day went on. To get away from the main city centre we rented a motorbike and drove along the coast to take in the scenery which was really nice. We stopped off at a small little place, basically just a shack with a few tiny plastic chairs. It was a family that sold some coffees and drinks. We ordered two coffees and their two daughters (20 & 24) came and chatted with us, about where we were from, age etc. They were very friendly and obviously had not met many white foreigners before as they were enthralled with us. One of the girls started rubbing Aoife's arm as the other one looked on giggling. It was also the first time a father has offered me his daughter, in jest
of course. One of the girls smiling over at me said ‘you take me with you’ to which her father was in firm agreement with a big smile on his face and they joked in Vietnamese. Their friendly banter put us back in good form after our experience the night before.
Later that night it was to get even better as we had our first drinking session with some Vietnamese. We were drinking at a bar called the Ice Bar run by Tao and Quy. (Both around 23 years old) We were drinking at the bar chatting with Tao who had really good English. He had an interesting story. He started working when he was six years old, selling chewing gum and other items along the street. He then moved up to doing shoe shining, then selling books, and then he became a DJ and now he is running a bar. He learned his English on the street selling to foreigners. He called one of his friends who came down and sold us a few books on the Vietnam War and the Cambodian genocide. Afterwards we joined him and his friends outside the bar and drank free beer for
the rest of the night. It was great craic! At one point they were showing me some Kung Fu which they said they learn from age 5. “You are bigger than me and stronger than me, but I am quicker than you” type stuff. I was loving it! They showed me a few moves which were cool. They also gave us some good Vietnamese drinking food. Chicken feet and baby squid!!! Haha, very tasty (after a few beers) apart from the nails!! Around 2am we went to another bar where I attracted some negative attention from two French lads because I was wearing my Liverpool jersey (the night we beat Chelsea in the Carling cup). However, our Vietnamese friends helped bring the situation under control.
The next day we met Quy and Tao to say goodbye. Before we left Quy gave me his hat as a souvenir. The night before I’d asked him where he got the hat because it was fairly unique. His friend around the corner apparently made them. Anyway, next day he remembered it and just gave me his hat. Pure sound! I’m going to send them some Irish whiskey or something Irish if I can
get it in Oz.
Drinking and sharing stories with the lads from the Ice bar made our trip in Nha Trang. It was just the same as been out with friends at home. Hopefully we’ll stay in touch with them. It just goes to show, that whatever the country, or whatever the culture there is always like-minded people who just want to enjoy life and have a bit of craic. You probably wouldn’t expect it in a country like Vietnam so far from Ireland, but we’re not too different after all.
After an eventful experience in Nha Trang we headed for the Central Highlands town of Da Lat.
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tommy
non-member comment
well vinny!
well it would take a liverpool supporter to start the war again!!!!!!