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The hard life of a tourist
Aug. 15th, 2002 05:31 pmBecause of the incessant rain, we decided to curtail our stay in Dalat and head straight for Nha Trang. We got on the bus early this morning, following a rather funny incident, that M-P thought a little less amusing than I did.
When we arrived in Dalat the day before yesterday, we gave our dirty laundry to the owner of the hotel to be washed. She said it would be ready the next evening, but owing to the rain, it wasn't dry yet, so yesterday they told us they'd bring it to our room early in the morning.
At six this morning, there was a knock on the door: our laundry! But wait, something was amiss. M-P's underwear was nowhere to be found! I hadn't given my unmentionables because it's easy for small pieces to go missing, and I hadn't run out yet, so I thought I'd wait until our next stop and wash them myself. So here we were, trying to pack our really grossly overstuffed backpacks, and M-P had no clean underwear.
When we got downstairs, it was 7:45, and our bus was leaving at 8. I tried to explain the problem of the missing underwear to the owner, but she spoke no English at all, and she had to go next door to find a guy who spoke some English. By this time M-P was there too, and she had lots of fun trying to ask where her underwear was. Finally, another lady came along with it in a bag; it wasn't dry yet, so that's why they hadn't given it back with the rest of our clothes.
Moral of the story: wash your own knickers.
The bus ride was pretty uneventful, and we slept through a good deal of it. I'm trying to figure out why I'm so exhausted all the time; it's not because I'm particularly active, and right now I'm leaning toward the dairy product withdrawal theory. Anyway, I slept through much of the ride, but woke up for the sightseeing stops.
The first one was up in the mountains, and there's a gorgeous view down into the cloud-filled valley below. I bought a bag of fresh pineapple from a vendor, there, which cost me about 30 cents.
The next stop was of a more historical nature, a group of 3 Cham towers. They're on top of a hill, and you can go inside and climb around on them. The landscape there reminded me an awful lot of New Mexico, with the same burnt-orange soil and pale green vegetation. I even saw a few cactus flowers!
When we reached Nha Trang, the bus looped around for a while, I still don't know why, and finally stopped at a hotel, where we took a 7$/night room with a fan. Because air con does bad things to our throats. As a bonus, the tv has several channels, one of which is in Mandarin and seems to be some sort of Much Music type of thing. We can watch Chinese music videos! *cheers*
Our hotel is also right across from the beach, which would be even better if it weren't raining. We're hoping the weather clears up soon, because we can't spend more than 3 days here, and it would really suck to see no sun at all. And I want to spend my birthday lying on the beach, doing nothing.
The sand is soft, the water is a beautiful turquoise, and at the moment the outlying islands are shrouded in mist. Also, there are plenty of good restaurants here. We just finished eating our only meal of the day, having skipped breakfast and not having had time for lunch. I had squid stuffed with shrimp, crab and pork, and M-P had a huge seafood platter. She now claims she won't eat for a week, she's so stuffed. I know I won't be hungry for a while yet, either.
Now is time for relaxation, and hopefully some snorkelling!
When we arrived in Dalat the day before yesterday, we gave our dirty laundry to the owner of the hotel to be washed. She said it would be ready the next evening, but owing to the rain, it wasn't dry yet, so yesterday they told us they'd bring it to our room early in the morning.
At six this morning, there was a knock on the door: our laundry! But wait, something was amiss. M-P's underwear was nowhere to be found! I hadn't given my unmentionables because it's easy for small pieces to go missing, and I hadn't run out yet, so I thought I'd wait until our next stop and wash them myself. So here we were, trying to pack our really grossly overstuffed backpacks, and M-P had no clean underwear.
When we got downstairs, it was 7:45, and our bus was leaving at 8. I tried to explain the problem of the missing underwear to the owner, but she spoke no English at all, and she had to go next door to find a guy who spoke some English. By this time M-P was there too, and she had lots of fun trying to ask where her underwear was. Finally, another lady came along with it in a bag; it wasn't dry yet, so that's why they hadn't given it back with the rest of our clothes.
Moral of the story: wash your own knickers.
The bus ride was pretty uneventful, and we slept through a good deal of it. I'm trying to figure out why I'm so exhausted all the time; it's not because I'm particularly active, and right now I'm leaning toward the dairy product withdrawal theory. Anyway, I slept through much of the ride, but woke up for the sightseeing stops.
The first one was up in the mountains, and there's a gorgeous view down into the cloud-filled valley below. I bought a bag of fresh pineapple from a vendor, there, which cost me about 30 cents.
The next stop was of a more historical nature, a group of 3 Cham towers. They're on top of a hill, and you can go inside and climb around on them. The landscape there reminded me an awful lot of New Mexico, with the same burnt-orange soil and pale green vegetation. I even saw a few cactus flowers!
When we reached Nha Trang, the bus looped around for a while, I still don't know why, and finally stopped at a hotel, where we took a 7$/night room with a fan. Because air con does bad things to our throats. As a bonus, the tv has several channels, one of which is in Mandarin and seems to be some sort of Much Music type of thing. We can watch Chinese music videos! *cheers*
Our hotel is also right across from the beach, which would be even better if it weren't raining. We're hoping the weather clears up soon, because we can't spend more than 3 days here, and it would really suck to see no sun at all. And I want to spend my birthday lying on the beach, doing nothing.
The sand is soft, the water is a beautiful turquoise, and at the moment the outlying islands are shrouded in mist. Also, there are plenty of good restaurants here. We just finished eating our only meal of the day, having skipped breakfast and not having had time for lunch. I had squid stuffed with shrimp, crab and pork, and M-P had a huge seafood platter. She now claims she won't eat for a week, she's so stuffed. I know I won't be hungry for a while yet, either.
Now is time for relaxation, and hopefully some snorkelling!
