8/03 An Imitation of Gold Coast

Frozen to death in the morning, again (how come I'm always starting with this sentence recently...)

I stared into the blank while cuddling inside the quilt. The sheet was just a thin layer which could hardly keep me warm, but I had survived the night so far.

Sliding down the hills at 6:30 to the office of Sinh Tourist, there were no one await. The office of the bus here in Da Lat was just a small one, more like a booth, and there were only a table with two chairs inside the office.

There was a beautiful lady clerk inside the office handling the tickets, I sat outside on a bench after handing her mine and trading it for a bus pass.

The wind was strong, I felt it piercing into my skin; there was also a light drizzle going on and splatting me on my bags and cheek.

I heard a small call after a while, it was the nice lady from the office, and she was asking me whether I would like to sit in by her side, away from the wind and harsh weather. I nodded shyly and agreed.

I dragged my belongings and myself into the tiny office, sat by her side and we chatted until other tourists started to pile into the room.

She shared with me about her life, and how she was from Mui Ne and ended up here doing jobs and fairs for the SInh Tourist. She hated the cold weather here, since the rest of the places in Vietnam was summer at the moment, which was just not very fair. She also said that she admired and envied us, the backpackers, who were free to roam other countries and places... well, if she had known what I had suffered and experienced XD

I told her about the places I had been, what I had saw and experienced in exchange, until my bus arrived and we waved each other goodbye.

It was a small van in comparison to the big sleeping bus that I arrived in, and only carrying a bunch of people down the mountain. And guess who were on the same bus with me? Yes! Mizzy and Mona who I had became friends on my trip to Da Lat! What a coincidence. We chatted on our way down, it was a really short trip to our next destination: Nha Trang. However, a girl threw up due to the bumpy mountain roads and all the curves. 

We arrived in Nha Trang before 12 noon, and the lodge I booked: Hien Mai Hotel was only a street away from where we were dropped off. I found it with ease, this time, surprise! 

The hostess led me upstairs to my room, introduced to me the facilities and some legend spots here in Nha Trang before wishing me a fair stare (It was more like a family Accommodation than a hotel) It felt extremely good to be finally back to the summer days and away from the rain, I turned on the air conditioner, made sure that the wifi worked and breathed a sigh of relief.

Only a few blocks away from where I was staying, there laid the beach, and all kinds of luxurious hotels. I explored the place in the afternoon, and found that this city was pretty much like Gold Coast, where I visited last summer vacation.

Maybe I could go to the beach and get a sun tan tomorrow!

I turned around and started going inward into the city. Roads were starting to cramp and all kinds of sand and dirt filled the streets. Buildings grew shorter and many public facilities were still at a constructing stage. Nha Trang was a lot like Gold Coast on the outside, but things were still pretty immature inside, and those are the things that it needed to improve in order to become the best beach resort in Vietnam.

But so far, I enjoyed my first look at this friendly city, the water, the beach, nice food and my residence.

Cheap food and pomelo juice found in the supermarket! Located far from Hien Mai Hotel, but totally worth the trek.