7-20 Nha Trang

From Hoi An, we went back to the Danang airport and flew down to another coastal beach town called Nha Trang. The taxi from the airport ($12) was the craziest we've taken so far, which really is saying a lot. We were going 60-70mph weaving in and out of traffic on a windy two lane road. Our driver was on the horn almost constantly, no exaggeration. An old Asian woman in an SUV and on her cellphone decided that for 6 or 7 minutes, she would drive in the middle of the two lanes and not let anyone pass. I think she has a few relatives in the Bay Area, if you know what I mean. We tried to pass her a couple times but gave up since chances of us getting run off the road & off a sea cliff was pretty high.
Once on the main street running along the beach, Chris and I split up to check out hotels. Chris walked, but I made friends with a motorbike taxi and checked out three hotels by the time Chris was walking out of his first. As he walked out of the hotel to look for me, I happened to be speeding by on the back of a motorbike taxi, so I yelled at him for slacking off. You should have seen his face. We settled on the King Town Hotel, which wanted $60 but we got it for $30. Rooftop pool, A/C, computers, and 24hr room service. The room service ended up being what you'd expect for prison food; the place was a big disappointment. Yet another reason why I recommend anyone traveling to not waste their money on hotels in Asia priced $35-$70 since they're all marginally better than the $13 places next door, albeit a bit older, smaller, and without the frivolous & disappointing amenities.
We took a much needed nap and Chris later signed up to do 'Easy Rider' the next morning. I had read about it and wanted to do it, but Chris and I decided earlier today to split off for a few days since we're going to be stuck with each other in Nepal for 18 days in the near future. Easy Rider is a tour of the Vietnam countryside from Nha Trang to Saigon that takes 2-3 full days. You travel on motorcycle in groups of 10 or so people with several guides to navigate roads and hazards along the way. I decided I'd like to do some SCUBA diving and sightseeing. We'd booked flights out of Nha Trang to Saigon ($43), so I was sticking with that plan. I read three different blogs about transit from Nha Trang to Saigon and it was disturbing to read notes from expats living nearby, warning of the alarming death rate on those roads. For example, 2 months earlier a tourist bus driver tried to beat a train across the tracks and didn't make it, killing himself and most the tourists on the bus. Vietnam has the most dangerous roads in the world.
Chris and I had dinner at a local Vietnamese seafood restaurant. It was nothing fancy, as usual, but there were large fish tanks full of live seafood you could pick out for your meal. Chris was adventurous and got a cheeseburger at a seafood joint. Nothing against cheeseburgers, but I aim to take full advantage of the delicious gastronomic opportunities along my travels. This town is known for amazing seafood, so I'm diving in headfirst. When Chris reads this he will laugh because I order cheeseburgers all the time as part of important research I'm conducting on cross-cultural cheeseburger diversity trends. I had 8 huge prawns in a coconut shell cooked in a coconut-based broth, as well as a few other tasty dishes. We didn't do much today, just were lazy bums recuperating from the previous few days. That night we went out for a few games of pool, got some street food, met some fun fellow travelers, and called it a night.