Tripping

Woahh there. Time flies and its nearly 2 months since I last wrote.  Much has happened and much has changed in our lives. Lets begin.

Back in mid June we took our first weekend trip away. Saddling up our steed, we set off in an easterly direction towards the coast and Nha Trang.  It is, apparently, 'the new road' and it did have less potholes than normal but as it was my first long distance trip on a motorbike I took it easy, keeping the speed below 70kph.  We cruised up and down hills past coffee plantations and fields of strawberries.  Eventually crossing a high pass, the road headed down the side of a huge valley and we could see what looked like flat land and the ocean in the distance.

As we slowly wound our way downhill, the heat increased.  We'd worn trainers and jeans in-place of leathers but I wanted nothing more than jandals and speedos and to jump in the sea.  I'm joking of course- I'd NEVER wear speedos.  Pine trees turned to rice paddies and banana trees until we hit the bustling metropolis of Nha Trang and had to weave our way around at least a million motorbikes to find the beach.  Checking into the Perfume Grass we had a sea view room, a/c, TV, fridge and free (if tiny) breakfast.  We were also 100 metres from the beach so headed straight there for an afternoon paddle.

I'd visited this very beach 10 years earlier when doing my backpacking round the world thing.  I still have photos.  Tourism, I once heard, tends to destroy the beauty of a place and the very thing that initially attracts a person to an area.  What was once a quiet beach stretching into the distance, famous for snorkelling trips and seafood has now become a party town, populated by Vietnamese and Russian tourists, a beach (and sea) littered with plastic and a beach front lined with 5-star hotel chains.  But that's all very subjective and says more about me than Nha Trang.  But if you can ignore the speedo-clad Russians with big bellies, and if you can find an available sun-lounger after 8am, then you can relax on the beach, have a swim in the cool water and then nip back to the hotel for a shower and bit of a/c.  And thats really all we wanted for two days.

The only time the beach was quiet - 6am.

There is a hidden bonus in Nha Trang though.  It has not one but two microbreweries.  We of course went to both and I wrote a bit about it and sent it to a Swedish guy in Hanoi who writes his own blog about Vietnam's beer scene.  I was surprised when he stuck it up on his site: http://beervn.com/2014/07/02/louisiana-brewhouse-nha-trang/

Monday morning came too soon and we nipped into the supermarket - bigger range than our one in Dalat - to buy Earl Gray tea and then headed home.  The uphill ride was tough for our old bike but we made it and our only problem was rain which fell for the last hour and quickly turned our soaked hands and feet into ice blocks.  Funny to be so cold in the tropics but the same thing happened when I was cycling in the Andes so I should know better.  Luckily we have a hot shower at home and some new teabags so we soon warmed up again.

 On the way home, just before the rain

The following two weeks saw us packing up and cleaning our house.  We'd decided to move into an American man's empty house on the other side of town.  He only lives here 2 months of the year and so we would have the place to ourselves.  It was cheaper than where we lived but more importantly had an awesome view out the back sun-room over pine forests.  We'd timed our move with our little holiday to Europe to visit Vik's family and attend her sisters 40th birthday party.

In our last week, a new gym and spa place opened up and offered us to use the gym for a week for $5 as some of equipment hadn't arrived yet.  Our plan of going everyday didn't quite happen but we did make it four times.  The walls were adorned with muscle men and women from America.  I should have asked the grandma, who started telling me her life story while on the spinning bike, what she thought of them.  We must head back there and see it finished actually.

For our last night in Dalat, we headed out on the town (a rare occurrence) and ended up drinking quite a bit (ie 4 beers) and eating local food (frogs legs).  The next morning, with all our (worryingly growing amount of) stuff transported by bike to the new place, we got on a bus down to the beach resort of Mui Ne.

That is a frog's leg

Mui Ne is similar to Nha Trang in that its also full of Russians and has a beach but other than that its very different.  One street runs along 10km of beach and is home to small resorts, nice locals and not a high rise in sight.  Our hotel was sat back from the road on top of a sand dune which gave a lovely view but meant we had trouble getting to the beach as the resorts employ security guards to stop people just walking through their place.  Mui Ne is known for its kitesurfing but windy season is near Christmas so it was rather quiet when we were there.  And wet; it rained most of the time which was a bit of a shame.  But we are heading back there for 4 days in September when my entire family comes over to visit.

After two nights in our cosy hotel we bused to Saigon, went to a gym near the airport to work out (but mostly to use their shower) and then flew to Northern Sweden (via Abu Dhabi, Paris, Copenhagen and Stockholm).  More on that in another post.