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Published: September 29th 2007
Quy Nhon
Basket boy!Hi Friends and Family,
Again, we had a lovely breakfast and then continued our journey. we were on our way to a small town called Quy Nhon.
We travelled via scenic sections of Highway 1 - a new intersection - and saw huge granite cliffs which fell away into the blue of the South China Sea.
We stopped over at a beautiful beach that was lone of people except us and a local woman selling live shell-fish. It was wonderful to just roll up our trousers, take off our shoes and walk into the sea. We also saw a lot of fishing vilages. My companion had seen lots of green bottles of liquid for sale at almost every stall we passed, and wondered if it was some sort of rice wine.
It wasn't. It was petrol!
We visited the Nguyen Nga Training Centre which is a charity institution set up in 1993 with the aim of teaching skills to orphan chiloren with disabilities in order to support themselves. We were welcomed with a musical duet by two of the children who were blind, and shown around the venture which is skilled in weaving and custom jewellery-making.
In fact, they had woven the Intrepid bags that we had been wearing and Intrepid sponsors the charity which is void of funding because its based in a village in the middle of no-where.
Since my companion's birthday is in September, they presented him with songs in English, a woven notebook and mooncake which we all shared!
Set up by a single female individual, they're doing a good job so if you're ever in the vicinity, do check them out.
On to our hotel which was one of the best we've had. The "Khach San Hai Hotel" or Seagull Hotel is located on a beautiful beach and bay
AND is truely off the main tourist trail. The rooms were huge with lots of tables and delicate chairs scattered all over. The landing had a carpet that you could get lost in and our room had a verendah that faced the sea. And what a sea and a view. Fantastic!
The hotel also had a swimming pool, a gym and a Panorama bar that had staff but no guests!
This however, was the first place that we experienced a power failure which was slightly unpleasant as
it was so steaming hot. They did have a generator which was a godsend but it meant that we couldn't have a cup of tea in our rooms, or watch the telly or use the internet so whilst my companion went shopping for essentials like water and beer, I searched out an internet cafe with a generator. I went to the university sector of the town and da-da, found one. 12.5 cents an hour!
We decided not to join the others for dinner but headed out by ourselves into the Vietnamese part of town. I guess there really weren't any travellers in town as everyone seemed to know that we were from the Seagull Hotel, and it wasn't even the only hotel in town!
Anyway, we found a local food joint and negotiated 50 cents each for one of the best bowls of "Pho" I've ever had. White noodles, bean sprouts, bitter herbs, beef, other veggies and shallots. We sat with some of the locals and chatted. Not long after, some kids came in dressed as dragons. Its the Moon Festival at this point in time. I don't really know much about it except its a Chinese tradition
On the way to Highway 1
Who will buy my shellfish? and its an opportuntity for the kids to dress up and perform, in exchange for gifts and money.
We did give them some money but apparantly, it was too petty. They showed our "gift" around, laughed and danced away. I guess its their time now!
On the way to dinner, I had spied a road-side woman selling local kebab, which we bought. Meat on skewers scattered with sesame seeds. We had 3 varieties- bacon, liver and beef. We also saw some fresh beer sold by the jug.
A full jug was 75 cents so we ordered half a jug for 40 cents. It was lovely and light. We bumped into a Kiwi who we invited to join us for a drink, which after a lot of protest, he accepted. He was a Forestry inspector on a two-year contract there. He told us that there were only 13 Westerners permenantly based in the town and since the town is
NOT on the tourist trail, they knew who was new and who wasn't.
We had a pleasant few drinks and then it was time to go back to the hotel as our start-up time tomorrow was 7:30.
On the way to Quy Nhon
Pirates of the Vietnam?! Enjoy the beach pictures!
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