Day 12: Sliding Into Nha Trang

 Only staying a day in Mui Ne, we woke up early, packed our bags, and headed once again into the bus.  Compared to yesterday’s overcast outlook, the weather was nice and sunny.  It’s generally bright and clear in the morning, and then in the afternoon the clouds starting coming in and it becomes overcast.  There’s also a very high chance of rain too, and when it rains, it pours.  It’s not recommended to go outside at this time, since the rain is almost like acid due to all the pollution. 

This time, we had a larger bus to carry all of us, with a hallway for walking, and about 36 seats total with reclining chairs.  This type of transportation should be sufficient for the additional eight hours that we would have to endure to get to Nha Trang.  Unfortunately, this wasn’t the case.  Immediately upon driving, the bus shook with an endless rumble.  The suspension on the vehicle must’ve been destroyed, since it didn’t seem to absorb any kind of shock at all from the road.  To top it all off, the bus driver seemed really inexperienced.  Besides going down the main freeway, he didn’t know where anything was.  He was unable to show us anything along the way, like markets or special stops, AND he drove extremely slowly.  We were probably driving an average of 30 to 35 miles per hour the entire time.  

Before heading out, we stopped at some sand dunes near the resort.  It was pretty much like White Sands National Monument except the sand was more of a tan color.  Boy was that an experience.  Right as we got off the bus and crossed the street, we were surrounded by five kids who offered their services to us, shoving plastic boards in our faces to use for sliding down the sand.  This was obviously the main attraction, and the business was cutthroat.  As we slowly made our way up the steep sand dune, we attracted even more people with plastic boards.  By the time we made it to the top, I believe there were about thirteen people following us.  These people belonged to four to five different “businesses” in the area.

I didn’t tell this to anyone yet, but I think I was the impetus for a large fight that erupted after we made it to the top, though it’s not a guarantee.  To clarify, I originally thought that the plastic boards were just for renting out.  We would buy a board and use it to slide down the dunes, and when we’re done, we would return it to the person.  However, in reality when you buy the board, you are ushered over to a specific sliding area, where they prepare the board for you, have you sit down, and then push you down the hill.  

In utter confusion from having multiple boards being shoved in my face, I finally took a board.  Right as I took it, my aunt shoved me over to another spot to slide down, and I dropped the board on the ground.  Well the girl who I took the board from didn’t like it, and in a rage she yelled at my aunt saying something like, “What’s your problem?  He bought from me already!”  I suppose holding onto a board means that you’re forced to buy their service.  

To be frank, the aunt that the enraged girl spoke to doesn’t take crap from anyone (for the lack of a better word at the moment).  In fact, none of my family members here do.  They’re not afraid to cause a scene in public when people try to mess with them.  So the fight erupted between my aunt and the business she bought from versus the other business.  In all the pandemonium, I slowly walked through the crowd, sat on a plastic board, and slid down the hill.  To conclude, business is rough here, and I understand that.  People need to make a living to survive, and they will fight for their money.  My aunt won the fight in the end, but yeah, it's rough.

After that short excursion, we prepared ourselves for the eight hour journey down to Nha Trang, and once again, went into the bus.  I don’t have much to describe in terms of my experience on the bus, other than that it was extremely bumpy.  Oh yes, and the Paris by Night music was real.

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I was greeted with the ocean when I awoke, and I knew we were in Nha Trang.  The sight of the ocean was also accompanied by car and bike horns, so yep, we were indeed there.  We stopped at the Golden Lotus Hotel, a hotel located close to the beach, and rested for half an hour before heading down into the water.  The hotel room was better than the room in Mui Ne, and was equipped with a shower with a shower area.  Well, we actually upgraded rooms.  Our first room was fairly small, and had a window with a beautiful view of some bricks.  Our second room was much larger, and had a balcony that extended over the street and ocean.  Quite nice indeed.  

I forgot to mention the demographics of the Vietnam area.  There are only two people who inhabit the area of Nha Trang:  Vietnamese and Russians.  Nha Trang must be a major tourist hub for Russians, as compared to Ho Chi Minh City, every other business sign had a Russian translation.  In our room, the instructions to use the safe were in Russian.  

Compared to the beach in Mui Ne, this one was quite crowded, but the water was clearer.  I was finally confident enough to dip my head into the water, and having my goggles now, swimming in the ocean was nice.  We played around in the ocean a bit until some storm clouds moved in, and then we went to some rice with beef for dinner.  So many nice looking restaurants to go to, and when we asked our bus driver to find a place, he simply chose a random, secluded restaurant that was easy to park at.  That restaurant had decent food I suppose, but it took almost half an hour to get all of the food out.

After dinner, we ended our events for the day by stopping at an outdoor market filled with various items.  It was very crowded, and we had to push our way just to get to certain vendors.  As usual though, most of the items were just plastic souvenirs, or Vietnam T-shirts that I had many of, so nothing interested me.  There was only one place that seemed intriguing, and my mom and dad ended up buying some Vietnam themed paintings on polished wood.  

That essentially concludes Day 12.  As I’m writing this, I’m actually on Day 15 right now, since the previous days were filled with so many events.  I thought it would be easy to write blog entries during my free time, but resting on a nice bed with air conditioning after a long day in warm, humid weather is too much.  I shall try to post the rest of the days before I return to Albuquerque.  The entries for Day 15 to 17 will be very short too.  Well, Day 13 is a big day, and probably the day with the largest events overall.  I’ll try to keep it fairly concise.  Until next time.