British Backpacker Bastards & Back On A Bike

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That’ll teach me for posting a blog before the night is over.

We thought it was but we still had a few hours to go. The noise from the teenage English Backpackers was already raucous when we returned to the hotel but by 2300 it was unbearable. Even the usually mild tempered Jo got out of bed and yelled at them.

We made the call to check out and paid the US$10 for the night. The bloke at the front desk (I hesitate to call it a reception) called us a taxi and we went straight to the Novotel right on the beach front. We found a really helpful staff member who seemed to realise our situation but seemed a little stunned when two smelly backpackers showed up at 2330 asking for a room.

“You know it over US$100 – yes?”

He was probably quite correct to check that we knew what we were in for. I asked for the cheapest possible room and we were told it would be cheaper if we didn’t get breakfast. He could do a room for US$115.50 – much less than the US$200 suggested on the sign behind him. We snapped it up and he even upgraded us to a superior room with a seaside view.

We had the best sleep we’d had all trip and didn’t wake up until 0815.

After a lazy ciggie on the balcony we used our iPhones to look for alternative accommodation and I found one on Expedia that was 50 metres up the road. We walked to Happy Light and booked a room for 2 nights at D900,000 (NZ46). It was a little more than budget but in a backpacker town, famous for drunken poms we thought that now was as good as ever to go just a little upmarket.

Breakfast was at Kirin Restaurant. My beef pho was as good as we’ve had so far and Jo’s omelette wasn’t too bad either. We also ordered bread and cheese with coffee.

We’ll stop here for a second because I’m not sure I’ve mentioned how good the bread and coffee are here in Vietnam.

The bread is French style baguettes made the proper way – crispy outside and fluffy inside. You just can’t buy bread this good in New Zealand. The coffee is always served super strong and either with milk, condensed milk or just black (my preference). It is always nice and strong and had a very slight hint of sweetness that we believe is because they roast the beans in butter.

Bread and coffee for breakfast will do me just fine.

We repacked our bags as somehow Jo was carrying 10kg more than me. After one last lookout from the balcony on to Nha Trang Beach below we reluctantly checked out and walked down to Happy Light Hotel.

We arranged a rental motorbike from reception at D150,000 (NZ$10) – a little more than we payed in Hoi An but we figured if anything went wrong, we’d be able to call the hotel to bail us out. 10 minutes later a bloke showed up and explained how everything worked to us.

About 2 kilometres north of our Hotel is the Po Nagar Cham Towers, built mainly with bricks between the 7th & 12th centuries. Not only was the North Tower an impressive sight, rising above the others, the location offered views across one of the rivers and towards the city. We spent a fair bit of time lingering and taking a leisurely walk around the complex that was relatively devoid of tourists and completely devoid of drunk English backpackers.

The parking ticket had a price of D2,000 on it – the first time we’d seen a price on anything but a menu and we were stoked to be charged just that.

We filled up with gas and (after a minor 3km navigational error) made our way down a windy residential road to Thap Ba Hot Spring Centre and it’s spas, mineral pool and mud baths. The mud baths interested me but the D450,000 price didn’t so we decided to order a late lunch – it was already 1430.

I had seen frog on most menus, but every time I ordered it in the past I had been told it wasn’t available. At Thap Ba I finally got my chilli frog and it went down a treat. Jo ordered shrimp with cashews and seafood spring rolls – both were excellent and not lacking in seafood. The bill came to D250,000 (NZ$17) and we left full and contented.

We rode back past the Po Nagar Cham Towers on the way to our next stop the Long Son Pagoda.

One of the great things about being on a motorbike is the ability to see parts of places that you may not normally see. Hidden behind the touristy beachfront, 315,000 people live in Nha Trang – and all of them seemed to be on the road with us. It was the heaviest traffic I’d ridden in but the last few days in the saddle had given me a little bit of confidence and I was able to commit to a line as well as getting the feel for the road rules.

1) If you are not going to be the one that stops to avoid an accident, toot your horn.
2) If neither, or both, parties toot simultaneously the tiebreaker shall be won by the first person to flash their lights.
3) If you run a red light you should give way, unless you toot your horn first.
4) When riding the wrong way down a street, keep left unless overtaking.
5) The accepted signalling to identify that you plan to stop in the middle of the road is to stop in the middle of the road.

We made it to the pagoda after a two kilometre navigational detour and I parked the bike where a self proclaimed parking warden suggested. On being told that parking would be D10,000 I reparked a few doors down. White man tax was 500% at this lady’s carpark.

I walked back to Jo, who had already dismounted and was waiting for me. She’d been told that parking at the base of the pagoda was free so I moved yet again.

As expected the advice in relation to the free parking was not free and we are now the proud owners of D50,00 (NZ$3) worth of postcards bought from the girl that pointed us in the right direction. A net loss of D48,000.

The Long Son Pagoda was a fully functioning area and we saw a few monks in training walking around the area. It was larger than many of the temples and other religious sites that we’d seen previously but the standout sight was a huge buddha statue that towered over the pagoda. We walked up the 100 or so steps to check it out. It is so large that there is a prayer area located in it.

We rode via the beach road back to the hotel and returned our ride – we’d only busted the seat luggage clamp so it was an improvement on our previous attempts with Vietnamese machinery.

We had a quick Larue beer at Crazy Kim’s bar before dinner, but the speed of our drinking was mainly due to having 6 hawkers come in to the bar to try and sell us silk art, wallets and assorted chinese made junk. As much as I have enjoyed the trip to date, the hawkers and touts have been atrocious – far worse than even Cuba,

Dinner was once again at Veranda Restaurant. Jo had a couple of glasses of Dalat white wine and I had a Saigon Lager. We shared garlic bread, a squid and shrimp pizza and 200gms of fresh, tasty sea bass. The bill came to D182,000 – about NZ13.

We dropped back into the dive shop to discuss an advanced diving course and were back at Happy Light Hotel by 2000. We were half way through the trip already and spent the rest of the evening making plans for more diving in Nha Trang, some time in Dalat and our crossing into Cambodia.

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