Road Trip II

This weekend, we went on a road trip with Dad and his workmates to Phan Rang, a beach town 8 hour's drive from Ho Chi Minh City. This being the case, we had to get up at 4:30 to be picked up by the bus that would take everyone there. At least we got picked up from the apartment rather than having to catch a taxi. Most of the others had to meet at Dad's workplace.

We were early, but after about half an hour everyone arrived and we headed off.

For the first hour or so, our tour guide entertained everyone and spoke about where we were going. The catch? He did so in Vietnamese. Luckily, our friends translated the important stuff for us.

At 7:00 we stopped for breakfast. Most people chose hủ tiếu, but all the Middlemisses had chicken and rice instead. Between the breakfast and lunch stops, the guide talked some more and various shows that seemed to be comedy played on the tv, again in Vietnamese, so the English speakers mostly listened to music or played on our various devices (those of us that had them anyway, Amberly just talked to anyone she could; mostly Jesse, the other Kiwi on the bus).

Lunch was several dishes: rice, seafood soup, salad and squid suckers, an interesting delicacy that we hadn't tried yet.  Finally, around 5:00, tired and ready for a rest, we arrived at Bàu Trúc Resort.  The rooms were very nice, large with air conditioning and ceiling fans. They had proper bathrooms, something not always found in Vietnam, with a bath and a shower. My room mate was a guy called Cường. He was probably one of the best English speakers of our group.

 Before dinner, most people went for a swim, either in the pool or the ocean, just 50 meters away. Again, ate soup, rice, salad and meat. A pattern was emerging... The place we went to was large and sprawling, and like many Vietnamese cafes trying to impress, the decoration was very over-the-top. They went for a Disney theme, and this is what they came up with:

There were several other statues apart from Vampire Mouse, but this one was the strangest. Dinner was, again, fish soup, rice, salad and meat. A pattern was emerging...

After dinner, we split into two groups. One went to sing Karaoke, while Cường, Dũng (pronounced Yoom), myself and a couple of others played pool in a nearby room.

Dũng and I won 3-2 against Cường and another guy and girl whose names I forgot to ask. It was close though; Cường is a very good player, we only won because his teammate accidentally sunk the 8 ball.

Most people went home from there but one or two guys stayed out even later (it was past 10:00) to get drinks.

When I woke up the next morning, I was surprised to see that Cường was back; I had had the keycard and I was pretty sure I had fallen asleep almost immediately, so how had he gotten back in? I asked him, and he said that I had let him in. For about 10 seconds, I was gobsmacked because I had no recollection of getting out of bed to open the door. Then a fuzzy memory came back of seeing his face through the window; I must have fallen asleep again as soon as I lay back down. That was weird though.

Breakfast was a Vietnamese buffet: fried rice, bread, congee, meat, salad ingredients etc. Very tasty, but I couldn't help wishing for some bacon and/or pancakes. It was Cường's birthday.

The highlight of the trip was coming up next: Vinh Hy bay, again travelling by bus. Luckily, this trip was only half and hour or so. On the way, I got some pics of the countryside.

We caught a glass-bottomed boat and went around the coast to an area with coral before heading to a beach for a swim and some seafood. Sadly, less than a third of the reefs that used to be here remain because of pollution; rubbish is heaped at the sides of the harbour and floating on the water. Still, there was enough to impress Lena.

We arrived at the beach and, like out last beach trip, it was like something from a travel magazine:

I didn't have any goggles, so I couldn't see anything underwater, but Lena and Amberly saw plenty of fish, including Lena's highlight, a lionfish.

 While she was checking out the fish, I was teaching Cường to dive properly. He still needs some practice.

Once we'd had a swim, we stayed for a while on a floating building that caught and sold seafood of all sorts, from crabs to sea urchins.

On the way back to the resort, lunch was again rice, soup, veges and meat (this time, chicken).

Dinner was at the same place as the last night, but the food was a bit better. In the evening, everyone went down to the beach for a bonfire and some games. It wasn't quite what we were expecting; Vietnamese bonfire activities differ somewhat from western ones, and of course most of the talking was done in Vietnamese, so sadly we didn't fully understand everything.

Next day, after another buffet breakfast, we packed up and left for home. We stopped at two places along the way that sold local delicacies such as wine, grape juice and fish-related products; sauce, dried fish etc. Lunch was at a massive place that was almost just two giant rooms filled with tables and chairs. I thought it was one of the best meals we'd had, but Cường and some of the other Vietnamese guys said that they didn't think the food was very nice. At our last stop, a big market, the bus broke down and we had to wait over an hour for another one, so we didn't get dinner. By the time we got home exhausted, it was about 10:00. We were all happy to be back.