Nha Trang/Da Lat
I was sad to see Saigon go but eager to see what our next
destination had in store for us. For
most of the trip, I’d been the one doing the planning, strategizing, and
general selection of the locations we visited.
On the flight from Indonesia to Vietnam, Caleb had virtually read the
Lonely Planet book on the country from cover to cover and had rattled off a ton
of ideas for places to visit and things to do.
I decided to ride passenger for this country and I have to admit, so
far, I couldn’t have been happier with the outcome!
Caleb and I had looked at the various ways to make the 350-mile
journey to Nha Trang from Saigon and this time, we decided to take an 8-hour
afternoon train to enjoy the scenery as we meandered north along the coast.
There are numerous levels of comfort a train can offer depending on ones budget
from hard, cramped bench seating without air conditioning all the way up to
climate controlled private rooms with full beds and tables. We paid the extra couple of bucks and opted
for a nice sleeping cabin with four beds, two other unknown guests would surely
be joining us. We snagged a cab and made
it to the train station with only minutes to spare, which is unfortunately
becoming a trend as of late. We hopped
aboard and made our way to our designated room and were greeted by a couple of
middle aged, Vietnamese men. They took
the lower bunks and we grabbed the upper ones, which made looking out the
window nearly impossible. Disappointed
with the fact that I wouldn’t be enjoying the scenery much, Caleb and I
deferred to some day drinking to make the event more entertaining. The train ride gave me some much-needed time
to catch up on the blog while Caleb watched a plethora of episodes of the Starz
series “Spartacus”. I attempted to
mingle with the locals but they didn’t speak a lick of English, so instead, we
ate a bunch of their food, which seemed for some reason to bring them
enjoyment.
We arrived in Nha Trang around 9pm, grabbed a taxi, and made
our way to our hotel. Our accommodations
were at a wonderful little hotel called Hein Mai. We each got our own
queen-size bed in the 700 square foot room for under $10 each per night. We got our act together, freshened up and
made our way to the front desk to ask where the place to go would be. We were directed to a bar not 100 yards away
attached to a place called the Backpackers hotel. I’d read about the place much to rave reviews
but we had opted not to stay there as apparently the walls are paper-thin and
the bar goes until 5am. Ours was close
and much nicer.
I grabbed a couple of drinks from the bar and walked to the
outside seating area where I quickly asked a group of 10 or so rowdy looking
guys and girls if I could join. It was
quite the mix as these people were from Scandinavia, South America, and even a
couple of American guys from Texas. We chit chatted, played games, and swapped
stories till the wee hours of the morning before finally heading back to the
hotel for some much needed sleep.
I woke up early in the morning, excited to see what this
city had to offer. We had read that Nha
Trang was an up and coming beachfront community, currently at a population of a
little more than 100,000 but that it was expected to triple by the end of the
decade. After snagging a complimentary
breakfast downstairs, Caleb and I made our way to the street, greeted by clear
blue skies and 85-degree weather in search of a place that rented
motorbikes. We soon found one and after
agreeing on a price, headed to the main road where we spent the next several
hours cruising the beachfront and enjoying some back roads. At one point we headed North out of the city
and away from the tourists through some incredible mountain highways and small
fishing villages. The beautifully
constructed highways seemed to have been created just for us, as there was NO
ONE in sight, simply spectacular!
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| Caleb chasing the cow! |
We began to head back towards town around 4:30 and I decided
to pull off the main road near a river community to try and find some
food. As we drove past a slew of
restaurants, staff members would come out into the street to try and win our
business. We settled on a 3-story
restaurant in the middle of town in order to take advantage of the open-air
views from the top floor. Once in, a guy
directed us to these giant saltwater pools where to our surprise contained a
plethora of live seafood from over 13 species of shrimp, numerous types of
fish, gooey duck, shark, clams, you name it.
We settled on a pound of shrimp and a half pound of gooey duck as we
watched our guy bare hand them and shove them into an iron cage. Soon, he threw the live shrimp in the cage
right onto a hot BBQ and the gooey duck into a steamer. From the time these creatures were swimming freely
with pleasure in their posh artificial environment to the time they were in my
stomach was no more than 10 minutes!
Soooooo good!
After dinner, we headed back to our hotel to shower and get
ready for the evening. Before we headed
out for drinks, Caleb and I decided to try and find a motorcycle rental place
that rented larger, more cruiser style motorcycles as the majority of the ones
you find are simple, 100cc scooters. We
found a company called Easy Riders that we’d heard great things about in the
past and decided to stop in. After
speaking with the receptionist, we learned that while the most powerful bikes
were already spoken for, there were some smaller 250cc ones that were
available. We decided to book them for
the following morning for a day ride to the city of Da Lat, a 6,000-foot climb
in elevation and a 100-mile journey to the Vietnam Highlands. From other travelers we’d met in recent
weeks, this ride was supposed to be nothing short of incredible.
With our plans set, we moseyed our way on down to a local
hotspot and soon found a table of two girls to mingle with. Randomly, after introducing ourselves to
Jessica and Shoshana, we learned that they were also fellow Americans and from
Chicago! Both girls had also been
traveling for several months and it seemed like they’d been to the countries
that we were about to head to next. We
exchanged stories over the next few hours as we indulged in a fair amount of
locally brewed beer and spirits. Towards
the end of the night, we asked what the girls were doing the next day. They told us they’d booked a trip on a booze
cruise and were headed out in the early morning for the all day adventure. We explained to them about the motorcycle
ride we were about to embark on to Da Lat and they said that they’d heard so
many wonderful things about the city but were bummed thinking they wouldn’t
have time to get there. I looked at
Caleb and we both nodded in agreement before I said “Cancel your trip tomorrow
and head out with us for the day on the back of the bikes!” The girls were thrilled, asked if we were
sure it was ok and quickly scurried back to their hotel to cancel their
previous engagement. After a few more
celebratory cocktails in anticipation of the adventure to follow, the four of
us headed to bed for a good nights rest before the next morning began.
Caleb and I went to snag the bikes at 9am sharp before
picking up the girls up. When we arrived
at the motorcycle shop, two similar looking bikes were sitting out front
waiting for us. One was nice and shiny
and the other had bits of rust, some scratches, and generally looked in subpar
condition. I was taught as young boy to
never judge a book by its cover. After
getting the key from the receptionist, I took a few minutes to introduce myself
to the rustier looking motorcycle I soon learned went by the name of
Helen. I had seen women like Helen
before. She was middle aged, late 40’s, maybe
early 50’s and from the way she first looked at me, I could tell she wasn’t a
big fan of men. Many had come into her
life only to leave, she was bitter, she had been mistreated, and I foolishly
assumed through my youthful charm I could bring her to change her mind, that I
wasn’t like all the others that had come before me. I was different and I’d allow her to have fun
once again. I started her up and headed down the road to
get her some fuel, she was thirsty.
Sitting at the gas station, the attendant began filling up the 3-gallon
fuel tank and instantly began pointing and yelling underneath the bike. I looked down to find fuel pouring out of the
carburetor just as fast as it was coming in.
Helen looked at me with that big headlight as if to say “I’m the boss,
b$*#h”.
I pushed Helen over to a mechanic who happened to be across
the street and within minutes, he fixed the problem, a lose fuel hose and
assured me I’d be all right for my trip.
I filled up the tank once more and headed out of town. 5 miles into to the drive, I lost second
gear, Helen was not pleased with me. I
pulled over, got off her and had a chat.
I said “Listen, I understand you’ve had a rough life and I’m probably
not what you want to see, if you don’t want to be nice to me, fine, I get it,
but don’t take it out on poor Jessica on the back seat, she’s a girl just like
you, I’ll prove to you I’m different over time, just help us get to where were
going, please”. After a few moments of
silence, Helen agreed!
The sun was shining, the temperature was perfect and with
nothing but a T-shirt and shorts on, the wind felt incredible blowing through
our hair. Along the 100-mile journey we
meandered on beautiful, lightly trafficked highways through endless rice
fields, mountainous regions and lush jungles.
He stopped at many places along the way in villages, incredible
waterfalls and took countless awe-inspiring photographs. It was hands down one of the greatest rides
of my entire life and the girls were spectacular passengers.
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| We found the mini golden gate bridge! |
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| Close call!! |
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| Rice Fields!! |
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| Standing on the edge of a magnificent waterfall, absolutely stunning! |
Prior to beginning the trip, I had assumed it
would take us maybe 3 hours to get to Da Lat where we’d maybe spend 3 or so
hours in the city before the ride back prior to dusk. As we got closer to the destination, we
realized that just wasn’t going to be the case.
The original 3-hour idea soon became 7-hours and we realized there was
no way we were going to be able to make it home before sunset. After a quick chat with the girls, we
unanimously agreed to find a hotel for the evening and leave the next
afternoon, allowing us time to see the city.
We arrived into Da Lat and I pulled in front of nice looking restaurant
in order to pull up Wi-Fi on my cell phone to check Trip Advisor. I found directions to the highest ranked
hotel on the website and a soon navigated my way to the front door. I walked inside the Dreams hotel and told
them I wanted the best room for 4 people available. They brought us up to our room, which was
incredible. High ceilings, beautiful
beds and a balcony overlooking the city all at the absurd price of $30.
After settling in, the four of us went out for a nice dinner
before hitting up a bar that the locals claimed was the hottest spot in
town. We rolled in and the place was
empty but the bartender/owner coerced us to stay. We enjoyed a copious amount of drinks while
playing pool and watching Caleb play Connect Four with the owner wagering $10
per game. He lost every single time,
terrible for him, wonderful for me to watch!
We moved from the bar after a few hours and had the great idea to go to
a Karaoke bar. Finding one is easy,
finding one that’s not actually a front for a brothel proves much more
difficult. The four of us finally found
a spot that looked as legitimate as we were probably going to get and told the
front desk we wanted to go sing.
Confused as to why we wanted to do this and not actually purchase
prostitutes, the girls and us were lead reluctantly to a private room. They had a giant flat screen with a computer
hooked up to it as well as two wireless microphones. The next few hours were spent sharing a
bottle of vodka we’d ordered and singing our hearts out to such classics as “I
Will Always Love You” by the late Whitney Houston and “All The Leaves Are
Brown” by the Mammas and the Pappas. We
finished off the evening with some Ban Mi’s (Vietnamese sandwiches with meat)
and a hand full of boiled quail eggs before heading back to our hotel for a well-deserved
nights sleep.
The next morning we woke up to the sound of rain hitting the
rooftop. While Caleb and I took showers,
the girls headed out to buy ponchos for all of us in anticipation for the wet
ride back. After having breakfast at the
hotel with some amazing South American girls and listening to their travel
stories, Jessica, Shoshana, Caleb and I loaded up on the bikes and headed out of
town. On the way out, we hit up a place
called Crazy House which was said to be a must visit location while in Da
Lat. The house had been designed by a
Russian architect and continuously constructed since 1990 with work still in
progress. You can't really get picture of the entire place, check it some pictures online.
After wandering around for more than an hour and literally
watching Caleb take over 200 photographs, the four of us hit the road once
again. We stopped briefly at a flower
garden before finally making the journey back to Nha Trang.
Once back in Nha Trang after the three-hour ride, we said
our goodbyes to the girls and headed to our hotel for some much needed
relaxation. The rest of the day was
spent lounging around watching TV before meeting up with the girls for a late
night dinner at a nice restaurant where we indulged in a variety of Ostrich and
Crocodile dishes. Delicious!! We decided to call it early that night as
Caleb and I were exhausted from the two-day trek, falling asleep before 10:00
PM.
We slept in the next morning and went out and had a small
breakfast before visiting another motorcycle shop to rent some bikes for the
day. Caleb had heard of a beach roughly
an hour North that was supposed to be spectacular. Barefoot and nothing but some board shorts
on, we headed down the highway soaking up the sun along the coast on the
motorbikes. We arrived in a little over
an hour to a small village where we somehow managed to find our way to the secluded
beach with only one seemingly deserted resort.
Upon stepping our feet in the sand, we couldn’t believe the sight before
us. The beach was at least 5-7 miles in
length, 30 yards wide, and sand so soft, white and fine it looked as if it were
made from flour. The water was as blue
as one could possibly imagine and in both our opinions, light years ahead of
the beaches and waters of the famed Phi Phi islands of Thailand. The temperature was warmer than bath water as
Caleb and I spent more than an hour just drifting on our backs with the
current.
On the entire beach, there were only two other people,
literally. After playing in the water,
we made our way to some lounge chairs where we spent time researching the
countries of Lao and Cambodia in our guidebooks, as they were the next
countries we were going to enter. At one
point, one of the other two people on the beach whom we’d assumed were on their
honeymoon came over to say hello. Oddly
enough, they turned out to be fellow Americans and we soon brought our chairs
together to get a chance to know one another.
Aman and Angela were from New York, recently engaged and four months
into their yearlong journey to every continent on Earth. Their story was absolutely incredible. Aman, had recently quit a long and successful
career in banking with the firm JP Morgan before proposing to his now fiancée,
Angela and asking her to travel the world with him. Angela said yes and quit her career as a
white-collar criminal defense attorney at a top Manhattan law firm to join. We chatted for more than an hour before
parting ways and agreeing to meet up at a nice spot back in Nha Trang for
drinks at 8:00 PM.
Caleb and I made it back in time to take a quit nap and get
ready for our engagement with our newly made friends. We’d already purchased tickets for a night
train to the city of Danang, 13 hours North along coast that left at 10:00 PM. We got checked out of the hotel before
meeting Aman and Angela at a lovely upscale beachside restaurant. We spent the next hour and half conversing
with them and hearing more about their backgrounds while sipping some freshly
made mojitos. We discovered that they
were also heading to the next city we were staying and exchanged emails to
ensure another meeting in the coming days.
They were an extreme pleasure to get to know and the story of their
journey is absolutely incredible. They
actually have their own website where their blog is posted at www.wanderlustasap.com, it’s amazing.
Our time in Nha Trang was phenomenal due in part to our low
expectations that were completely blow out of the water and the both remarkable
places we saw and people we met. 100% a
MUST, MUST see if visiting Vietnam! Now
off to the train!
