November 27, 2005
Nha Trang To Mui Ne and EVERYTHING In Between (Day 60)
Nha Trang. Rainy Party Town Nha Trang.
After a pleasant 12 hour bus ride from Hoi An (sarcasm intended. For about 5 hours of the journey the girl next to me was throwing up. What is it about people throwing up around me???), we arrived in a groggy, hungover, damp, early morning Nha Trang. After finding a not so pleasant room which we quickly made our own, we agreed that we would leave the next morning. Nha Trang is known for 2 things. It's "Booze Cruises" and it's parties. We figured with the rain there wouldn't be a cruise, and we planned to check out the party scene that night.
I tried being productive and took a wet ride to a Big Buddha. Needless to say, it was big.
In hopes of making our short time in Nha Trang worthwhile, the three of us got "all dolled up" and headed out for a night on the town. By 9pm we were delightfully tipsy and had agreed to stay another day. Rain or shine we were determined to do a Booze Cruise, and a 6am bus after a Nha Trang Night wasn't very inviting.
We (and the rest of the backpackers in Nha Trang) spent most of the night at The Sailing Club. A really nice bar/restaurant/club (golf club style) which sits right on the beach. The food and drinks were great (although expensive), you could hangout all day, and you felt like you were at an exclusive resort.
Quick Aside #1: The divide between Westerners and Vietnamese can be somewhat overwhelming at times. There was a clearly visible invisible line you crossed on the beach between where the Vietnamese locals were hanging out and where the Westerners were laying out. Sometimes we only "travel", it takes much more effort to Travel.
We had a great night out, met a bunch of people and had some delicious late night street food. They take baguettes and fill them with meat, cheese and veggies, it's gooooood stuff. (the noodle stalls look the same). Oh yeah, they do have cheese, it's not hard cheese, I'm still searching for that, but it's cheese none the less.
The next day we had a 7:45am wakeup call (hey, it's better then 6am) for a "Booze Cruise" that wasn't so boozy, but the weather turned out to be great. Two days in Nha Trang, no regrets.
Now, originally we had planned to go from Nha Trang to Mui Ne. But, the day before we left, we decided to head to Dalat instead. You see, Vietnam has a well tred backpacker trail, and we were starting to see the same people, eat at the same cafes, and do the same things all the time, and as a result every town was beginning to look/feel the same. We had heard that in Dalat there were these guys called "Easy Riders" who would take you into the countryside for anywhere from a day to month and serve as your guide. Most said it was the "best experience they had in Vietnam". I was a bit skeptical about the "best experience", but I figured what the hell, and we set off for Dalat.
It was the best experience I've had in Vietnam.
The day we got to Dalat, we immediately (within 10mins of arriving) met Phuc and Lulu, two experienced Easy Riders. We worked out a price (a lot for Vietnam, I don't want to talk about it at the moment, but it was worth it) and agreed to set out the next morning at 8am.
I don't even know how to begin to tell you about all the stuff we saw and learned. Phuc and Lulu were great. They knew so much about the history of the country, and took us into places we couldn't have explored on our own. Given all of the places we saw, I feel bullet points are the only way to portray how action packed our 4 days were. Oh! I almost forgot to tell you...I drove myself! Antonia and Julia rode on the back of Phuc and Lulu's bikes and I had my own little beauty.
- Reagan Temple: It was this really eccentric temple with funny colorful statues everywhere, Dalat seemed to be into that kind of stuff.
- Flower Plantation: Vietnam is big on flowers, and Dalat is considered the flower city.
- Coffee Plantation: There were coffee fields lining the roads on the 1st day. The coffee flowers smell like Jasmine...not me, the flower. I've been pretty stinky lately. Bugspray is my perfume of choice.
- Silk Factory: Who the hell said: "hey, I've got an idea. Lets take these larva, wait until they spin cocoons, then steal there cocoons and make string out of it. I'm sure it will make beautiful cloth!"????
- Elephant Falls: Some people just aren't good at taking pictur
es. "Less of our legs Lulu! More of the falls!"
- Chopstick Factory: It's sticks of wood, do you really want a picture?
- The Ma and Jin People: We stopped at numerous villages throught the trip, I always felt a bit awkward, but the people were always welcoming (sorry no pics, I've got good video footage though)
- Lak Village: We spent the night in this village that was in some ways a bit over touristed, and had dinner with the "chief". Whether he really was the chief, who knows, but we had a blast drinking Vietnamese wine (aka: firewater) and exchanging songs.
DAY 2 (160km)
- Brick Factory: It's actually quite a tedious process. They build the kiln around the bricks everytime.
- Mushroom Plantation: If you can't understand this picture I'll explain it later. This blog is long enough as it is.
- Pottery Factory: I have nothing to say...I think I was hungry at the time.
- Old Bombedout Church: I must have thought it was boring I didn't take a still shot.
- Market: a market's a market's a market...well at least in Vietnam.
- 2 Waterfalls
- Got Lost in the Jungle: the Vietnamese, like the Chinese, aren't so good with directions.
DAY 3 (260km... good god!)
- Rubber Tree Plantation
- Ho Chi Min Trail
- Women Carrying Wood in Baskets
- Tea Factory
- A Funky Situation: I'll explain later in this blog
- (sorry no pics, my camera was dead)
DAY 4 (140km)
- Rice Fields
- Dragon Fruit
- A Cool Lake: I look a bit windblown
- Mui Ne
We did a lot to say the least. Had we driven without guides we wouldn't have learned nearly as much, so for that I am thankful. But, we also wouldn't have had to deal with...
THE FUNKY SITUATION
So, at the end of the 3rd day, Lulu, the guide Antonia was riding with started to get a little more "friendly" with her. Not anything to worry about, but noticible. They were also always in front, followed by myself, with Phuc/Julia bringing up the rear. As a result of both the increased attention, and Julia wanting to be in front, Julia and Antonia switched bikes. Julia with Lulu, Antonia with Phuc. It all went downhill from there.
I didn't notice it until we checked into our hotel, but the girls had noticed fairly quickly. There was a vibe. The guides weren't happy about something, and they had started bickering with each other. Well, once we got into our room, Antonia tells us that Lulu totally blew up at her, telling her that she had greatly offended him and that in 7 years "no one has ever switched bikes on me!" She said he was almost in tears. So... note to self: If you go on an Easy Rider tour, do not switch bikes.
But wait, that's not all...
Lulu had also told Antonia that he really liked her and that he'd "taken lots of girls on tours but never felt this way about anyone" blah blah blah ("blah" because it's crap and it really pisses me off, but I'll get to my opinion soon enough). So, from then on Phuc was saying things to Julia about extending our trip to Ho Chi Min and trying to cut Lulu out, and Lulu was telling Antonia he'd take her all the way to the Mekong Delta for free because he just wanted to be with her longer. By the time we reached Mui Ne, there was so much tension between Lulu and Phuc, and the guides and the girls, that they were hardly talking. Lulu just snatched his payment from Antonia, and she eventually told him she was no longer going to recommend him. The guides that were once men, had turned into babies.
Boy was I glad I had my own bike.
I found this entire situation absolutely infuriating, even more so than the other girls, and I will tell you why.
(this is written as if I am speaking directly to Phuc and Lulu)
We are three girls who risked a lot by trusting two men we didn't "know from Adam" to take us into the countryside of Vietnam. We paid you to be our guides, but in the end you could only be sleezy chauvanist babies.
Lulu, you may not have physically touched Antonia, and may have been polite in your confessions of love, but you made all of us uncomfortable. I didn't pay you to do that. Phuc, I didn't pay you to get moody and start arguing. Both of you were completely unprofessional and childish. So what if we don't want to extend our trip?! So what if Antonia doesn't feel the same about you?!! I paid you to be a guide. So guide us god damnit, and if I need any of your other bullshit antics I'll tell you myself.
I'm mostly enraged because we trusted you and you betrayed our trust. Why do so many men continuously betray our trust?! Why can't you understand the relationship that's been established? Why must you always push the limit and try to cross the line into "more than friends". You are the men that make the entire group look bad, and each time one of you takes advantage of a situation in which a woman has trusted you either as a friend, a teacher or a guide, you make it harder for us to trust any of you at all.
Now, to all of those reading, please don't think that this situation ruined our trip or that we were assaulted in anyway. You know me, I just like to rant. We were really quite safe. Lulu never made a physical move, and Phuc was never mean, just moody/silent, and all this only took place over the last 10hrs of the trip (including sleep time). I had a close eye on the situation the entire time. I wish for once that some retarded guy would try this kind of crap on me because I would put them in their place immediately, unfortunately I think they can smell my kind from a mile away *smirk*
Quick Aside #2: To all the men reading this, I'm not talking about you because you are all my closest friends and family and I love you (if you do not fit into one of those categories I may be talking about you so you might want to do some self reflection). I just wanted to express how I feel about the crappy guys so you can all kick their butts and make the world a better place *wink*
Anyways, once we arrived in Mui Ne, things got much better. We found an adorable (I know I don't use that word, but I'm trying to expand my vocabulary :P) guesthouse and have been hanging out on the beach ever since.
Chao
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