More on Nha Trang

Sorry it's been a few days since I have written - I met some cool people in Mui Ne and now I realize I need to get you all caught up on both Nha Trang and Mui Ne. Time sure flies! The night bus from Hoi An to Nha Trang was once again very bumpy and loud (due to the honking), so I didn't get much good sleep. Plus one of the drivers slept in the aisle right next to me, which actually happens pretty often, but just hadn't to me yet, so that was interesting. I had to keep making sure that my blanket didn't fall onto his face! The drive into Nha Trang at about 6 in the morning was beautiful though - the sun was coming up over the South China Sea!
I have discovered that I have become much more capable of arriving in a city with no room reservation - just figuring out where the main budget digs are and heading in that general direction. And yes, my map-reading skills are improving immensely! So, as I was doing this bright and early, as usual several people offered their motorbikes or taxis to take me to some hotel or other. This can actually get quite annoying, as I am trying to forge my own way as opposed to just accepting the first offer I get. I was just getting close to my goal area when yet another guy approached me and told me he had a private room in a new hotel for $5/night, and that he would take me there on his motorbike for free - sold! The room was great - a double bed, hot water that lasted the whole shower, A/C, and a TV! This was a pretty luxurious room compared to a lot of the places I have been staying, not to mention practically the cheapest. It was a nice treat:) I walked to the beach, which was very close, and spent the rest of the day lounging there.
The guy that brought me to the hotel was actually the manager, Minh, and he was very talkative with me. He REALLY wanted to take me for a tour of Nha Trang the next day on his motorbike, but I told him that I prefered to rent a bicycle myself and go exploring. So then he moved on to talking about a place I should go for Vietnamese coffee in the morning, and he wanted to take me. And so, the next morning, Minh took me to his uncle's restaurant for breakfast (my first time trying fish pho - the Vietnamese typically have pho ~ noodle soup ~ for breakfast, as well as throughout the day), and then to another place a couple doors down for Vietnamese coffee, which they put sweetened condensed milk in unless you ask for it black. Well, then I told him I was ready to go get my bike and go explore, to which he said that he would love to join me, that it was his day off and he would be bored. How could I say no? We rented bikes and off we went. First of all, I went to the big pagoda, which also had an enormous sitting buddha at the top of the hill that was pretty cool.

 Then we went to see the Cham towers, which are really old and somewhat dedicated to phallic worship! We also tried some street food, my favorite bahn xeo, but this time it was the entire shrimp - head, antennae, shell, vein, and tail. I couldn't quite bring myself to eat the whole thing, even though that's what the Vietnamese do. I know, I know, when in Rome right? I feel like I have been doing pretty well with a lot of things, but this one I wasn't quite ready to try. We stopped for a nice break near the ocean, and had some interesting conversations. He told me about his dream to come to America to get a job and save up money so that he could come back to Vietnam in 10 years and buy land and build his own hotel. The hotel he works at is owned by his sister, and he works there day and night (he sleeps in the lobby at night to let in the people who stay out late). He told me that he makes 1,000,000 dong per month, which is basically $50. He was asking me what he would make in America to clean toilets or shovel snow. It is amazing to think that he would most likely make more in one day in the US at minimum wage than he does in a month here! An interesting perspective on the modern-day American dream.

Minh and I ended up getting separated due to the crazy traffic, so I wandered around the market for a bit, but it was closing down. On my way home, I enjoyed a street food sandwich that involved some sort of meat and veggies. That night, as I was enjoying my nice air-conditioned room and TV, I learned of the accident on Halong Bay. A tourist boat had sunk overnight, and 12 people had lost their lives - 10 foreigners and 2 Vietnamese. It made my heart sink to hear of this, since I had been on one of those boats only about 10 nights earlier. We were talking to a girl in Mui Ne last night who was in Hanoi when it happened, and she had met one of the Swiss guys who died in the accident, and she said the tourist industry in Hanoi is just dumbstruck right now, as this is huge news and they cancelled all overnight tours at least for a bit. My heart goes out to the families of those that were lost.
I left Nha Trang the next morning, and headed to Mui Ne, which I will write a post about tomorrow. It is late now and I am already in Saigon, and tired from yet another 5.5 hour bus ride. I hope to also get more pics up tomorrow, although once again there is only one computer here in this guesthouse, so I will see if it works. Looking forward to everyone's comments!