~ a coastal journey the morning after night falls on 'ween yearn' ~
Aug. 02. In the evening. Off to the big, flash Saigon~Quy Nhon hotel. It's slap-damn on the centre of the esplanade. How many stars? It's upmarket and where normal people stay on vacations. There's a swimming pool visitors can use...not now this evening. But a good place for an English dorm mate girl to sun herself tomorrow morning! Or so she thinks. Rather that than on a beautiful but troublesome, sandy beach! At the moment this hotel seems to also be the centre of activities of an 'International Traditional Vietnamese Martial Arts' Festival.
Anyway, we walk into the lobby. Can't find the swimming pool. No staff approach to ask us who we are. Or what we want. So we hop the elevator up to the rooftop. A bar, a restaurant and conference rooms. Nice. Nice view over the city. I'm feeling uneasy in such unnaturally plush surroundings. Looking around the city in various directions relaxes. On the way out through the lobby it turns out the swimming pool's closed to visitors. Outside again and I'm feeling much more at home. On the esplanade locals are enjoying yet another quiet social occasion. We wander off to find somewhere to eat along the esplanade in the general direction of the dorm at the Kiwi's cafe.
~ Along the coastal highway to Nga Trang ~
Aug. 03. I'm not sure why I only stayed the 3 nights. Quy Nhon is a very relaxing place. I decide to move on. And not to go up to the central highlands at this time of year. It's bound to have wetter and definitely colder weather in August. The central highlands will have to wait. I'm sure they will. I move on south in the general direction of Vung Tau instead. Vung Tau...the seaside resort near Saigon that I've mysteriously never yet visited. It's a long bus ride south on the busy largely single lane main north-south highway. I stop over in Nga Trang [again].
I'd called in at the bus station in the afternoon yesterday. Umm'd and aah'd about where to go. What bus to catch. So this morning I know roughly the times of direct buses to Vung Tau. Also to Nga Trang if I decide to break the journey in about half way. I catch the a MaiLinh minibus to Nga Trang because it's leaving as I complete the footslog along the esplanade for a final time. I don't know it's route. I'd heard about the recently opened coastal highway south. I'm pleasantly surprised. We head out of the station and up the rise. We're taking the highway I'd seen yesterday around the coast.
There's a mandatory mid-morning stop for coffee and nicotine. In Vietnam, MaiLinh minibuses are very middle class. They're an excellent alternative to tourist coaches. They're by no means the cheapest local transport option. But neither are they expensive. They're definitely for those of us who want a comfortable means of local transport. And for the aspiring middle class Vietnamese who will soon prefer [and really afford] to fly. We pass high above the shore then through 'settlements' or villages which are 'basic' but 'well kept'. These days there's reticulated electricity...and doubtless it's attendant blackouts!
I arrive safely in Nga Trang. It's been an enjoyable and interesting trip. And I'm a hell of a lot more rested than I'd ever have been on a more expensive 'sleeping bus'!