Our Final Goodbyes to Vietnam

As our allotted time in Vietnam drew to an end, we decided to squeeze as much into our last few days as possible. It became a whirlwind few days-tiring but worthwhile. We spent one night in Nha Trang, two nights in Dalat and one final night in Ho Chi Minh, before spending a 17 hour day on the bus to Siem Reap, Cambodia. The funny thing about travelling is that you cannot do enough research on the internet to know what to expect once you arrive somewhere. We have found the best source to be fellow travellers, who have proved to generally share the same opinions about places as we do. We had heard that Nha Trang is not so nice, but that it does have a great beach. Since we were only spending one night, we figured a great beach would satisfy us for that time. Upon arriving in Nha Trang we realized we also didn’t care too much for it. Unfortunately first impressions are telling, and the taxi driver who agreed to use the meter then insisted and whined like a child to give him double as much as what the meter said. He was the first of many locals to rub us the wrong way in Nha Trang. However, we simply walked away as he followed us, yelling, as we held tight to our purses. Eventually he took the amount shown on the meter and left. One point for us. Next, the receptionist at the hostel who barely lifted her eyes and simply mumbled under her breath to come back in three hours since our room wasn’t ready, didn’t help either. And the third strike came from the angry lady selling us bus tickets minutes later, as we could only think about getting out of there! Apart from the unhappy people and the ‘so-so’ city, the beach was indeed lovely and stretched out further than we could see. Jenn’s bug bites were at their peak impressiveness on this day, as can be seen in the photo below. We met some Canadian teachers working in Malaysia, making a Canadian teacher’s salary and “living like royalty” in the much cheaper country. My curiosity is always sparked when I meet people teaching abroad. Sign of things to come? It’s a possibility. We were excited for the ‘spring-like’ weather in Dalat as it is built up in the mountains. The views from the bus were beautiful and we all quickly layered on the clothing as we stepped off the bus. The city is quiet (well, quieter than we had been used to) and friendly. We decided to rent ‘easy-rider’s’ for our full day there. Easy-riders can be found all throughout Vietnam, equipped with not only a motorcycle but also someone to drive it and scoot you around. We spent all day on the back of motorcycles, checking out the country-side and some of the sights. I broadened my horizons by eating my first cricket and silk worm and sipping on a steaming cup of weasel coffee (for those of you who are unsure, it’s coffee made with the help of a weasel and its apparent ‘digestive enzymes.’ Appetizing!) We visited elephants and ‘fished for crocodiles’ with, you guessed it, a fishing rod! In reality we just fed them but it was cool nonetheless. Anyone who knows me well knows that I love rollercoasters or anything that gets the adrenaline pumping, so I was excited to hear that we could pay $2 to ride a so-called ‘bobsled’. Two people sit in a cart and the person in the back controls the speed with two levers on the side. When I saw all the little children boarding the carts and realized it was more of a slide than a true rollercoaster, I have to admit I started to turn my nose up at it a bit. But as I sat in the back and pushed the levers to the ground so the brakes were off completely, we flew pretty fast around the corners and I got a bit of a thrill watching Jenn’s ‘easy-rider’ yell at us to stop as we quickly approached the cart that him and Jenn were in. The look on his face was priceless as he likely had no faith in us ‘dumb tourists’ to put on the brakes. Certainly someone could get seriously injured since the carts can easily collide but it was fun being able to control the ride. Lastly we stopped off in Ho Chi Minh where the traffic was even crazier than Hanoi! We knew we didn’t want much time here so we only spent the evening. The shopping could be excellent here as they have all the big brand stores we have back home, but living out of a backpack (and on a very strict budget) is not conducive to much shopping. We did find a Pizza Hut and were overjoyed when it tasted like real Pizza Hut. It’s been awhile since I’ve savoured a meal and the taste of real cheese like I did here. We spent the last several hours of the night at a cool pub, where Jenn became the unofficial DJ. We even managed to get a little dance party going. Another point for us. We left the next morning for Siem Reap.