The Global Guy

I caught a quick fight back to Bangkok from Da Nang yesterday. This city is starting to feel pretty familiar by now. I was able to find a great dentist who fixed my tooth for the price of 2000 baht. Originally he quoted a price of 1800, but after he was done he explained that I had "big American" teeth, and the cost would be slightly more. Honestly, I didn’t care one way or the other. It was first quality work, and was still only about $45.00. My insurance doesn’t even kick in till $200.00 so I was quite pleased with the results.

Once I got the tooth fixed it was time to do other errands. I found the American Airline office and changed my ticket around so that I could fit in Mongolia. After that it was quite the adventure trying to find the Mongolian embassy so that I could pick up my visa. They’d moved around a lot apparently, and it took three different motorcycle taxi guys and myself to finally track them down. It was a huge pain, but at least they were expecting me which made things a lot easier.

I had another day to kill before Steph got back into town so I signed up for a Thai cooking class. It turned out that Sunday wasn’t a popular day for the class, and I was the only student. That was kinda fun because I had three different instructors all doing their very best to be as attentive as possible. We made some great food, and I’ve still got the cookbook they gave us at home.

Meg happened to be in town, so she and I went out clubbing that night. We had way too much to drink, but it was a blast!

After leaving Nha Trang, I took the bus with Steph and Julie up to Hoi An. This is a great town for shopping for any kind of tourist stuff, but I really took advantage of the local tailors. I needed some clothes to work in once I got to Mongolia, and here was the place to do it. I got a suit, two pairs of trousers, six shirts, and two ties for less than $120.00 US! It all looks great, and while it may not be the exact same quality you can pay big $$$ for, I’m very satisfied with it.

Steph and I took advantage of the waiting time for the clothes to tour the local river. We hired a lady about half my size who specialized in rowing tourists up and down the river. For a couple of hours she only charged us about five bucks, which was well worth it. Seeing a bit more river life was a lot of fun. By the time we got back, it was raining, so we grabbed a few beers and watched a local festival which happened to be going on.

Unfortunately, I broke a front tooth while trying some of the local candy. Rather than trying to have it fixed in Vietnam, I’m going to fly back to Bangkok a few days early and find a good dentist there.

I’ve found my favorite beach so far! Na Trang is another beautiful seaside town that is just now starting to attract the tourist trade. Its not hard to imagine why. This place has absolutely everything…beach vendors selling fresh fruits and seafood, warm water, comfy chairs, and friendly locals. It’s got a great nightlife, mostly concentrated at a local bar called the Australian Sailing Club. There’s a great party here ever night, and I’ve been really enjoying it with the company of Steph and her friend. We went diving the other day and found some great areas. Not nearly as good as Thailand diving, but still a lot of fun, and extremely inexpensive.

One of the most fun things we’ve found here is a day long boat cruise/booze fest. There are a bunch of companies in town that for about 15 bucks will take you out into the bay for a day of fun in the sun. There is unlimited cheap wine, fresh fruit, flotation devices, and snorkeling gear. The three of us went out and just got hammered! It was one of the best days on an ocean I’ve ever spent. Of course we paid for it the next day. Steph and I rented a motorcycle which didn’t really help the pounding in my head and explored the town. There are some old Chan temples outside of town that we went to see, and then we just explored the area. We found a cool little restaurant in a small fishing village nearby, and while walking on the beach we found the neatest little house perched on a huge boulder. No one was home, but it was one of my favorite sights in Vietnam so far.

It’s been a very strange day. I started by listening to Bush’s very weak speech to Hussein giving him 48 hours to leave the country. I think Bush is a poor leader for our country, and don’t have any respect for him at all. I support the troops who are doing their job in fulfilling his mission however. My brother is one of those who could end up in the middle of the action, and I hope things will work out great for him.

Before I knew about Bush’s speech, I’d already booked a tour to some old Vietnam-war era tunnels and the Vietnam war museum. It was interesting to see a different version of the war from the "enemy"s side. It really shows the true human cost of any conflict…I can’t believe that whatever Bush hopes to gain will be worth it.

Anyway, tomorrow I’m off to the beach resort of Na Trang. Some people have suggested I should head home due to the upcoming war, but I can’t see how that would do any good. I’m not going to let a single person’s misguided decisions, however far reaching, affect my life and/or my leisure time.

Getting to Saigon was an interesting adventure. I took a local mini-bus from Chau Doc, and found myself crowded with six people in a row of seats built for three. It wouldn’t have been so bad except that there was an older Vietnamese guy who kept stroking the hairs on my leg. I kept giving him dirty looks, and physically moved his hand a couple of times, but eventually gave up and tried to sleep.

When I got to the bus station, I hailed a motorcycle taxi for the ride across town to where I was staying. I’d never seen such insane traffic! The ride was a blast, with the feeling that either we’d be killed in a collision, or that I’d be pulled off the back of the bike by the weight of my pack every time he accelerated. Eventually we got to the backpacker section of town and I found a decent guest house to stay at. I wandered around for a while and found a stall selling pirated lonely planet guidebooks. I was surprised to see that they had one for Mongolia, so I picked it up and settled down at an Italian restaurant for some food and reading. The next table over had a couple of British girls, and eventually I ended up chatting with them. We ended up going out for drinks at a bar later that evening, and it turns out that Steph and I really got along well. They were leaving the following day, but we made plans to meet up in Nha Trang in a few days.

The next day I went out to see the Chu Chi tunnels nearby where the Viet-Cong would hide from American soldiers during the war. It was amazing to see how they’d built a complete city underground. Even more amazing was the small size of the access points to the tunnels. No wonder the Americans couldn’t follow them very well! They did have a special set of "enlarged" tunnels that westerners could fit into (barely!), but anyone with the slightest bit of claustrophobia would never be able to try them. After we experienced the tunnels themselves, we were able to head over to a firing range and play with some machine guns. For a dollar a bullet I got to fire an AK-47 on both regular and full auto. I’d never shot a gun with that kind of power before, and I really liked it. I bet my brother is having a blast with his M-16 in Iraq!

Later on I went to see the War Remnants museum (formerly the Museum of American war crimes). This presented the Vietnam war from the other side, and the image of the west was one of complete brutality. I’d never think that either side was innocent, but it was interesting to see how the current government presented their version.