Day 55: Surprise, Surprise.

Listening: I did my best to notice when the call came down the line. Up to the platform of surrender, I was brought but I was kind. And sometimes I get nervous when I see an open door.

What's my problem? Only fifteen days left on the mainland.

They say that luck is when preparation meets opportunity. There was no preparation on my part. It was just the normal flow of traffic. There was no opportunity. I had to come here either way. My hands were tied. But, lucky, I was.

I took the night bus from Hoi An to Nha Trang with Julia three nights ago. We were both ready to leave Hoi An. We had both been there for four or five days. We had seen the sights, had our clothes made, and have had the local food. We had strolled aimlessly down the quaint Chinese/French streets and heard the touts of tailors and vendors saying, "You buy something from me?" It was time to move on.

Our night bus was a little bit late. It was supposed to pick us up at a quarter to six, but ended up picking us up at twenty past. To be honest, I was getting worried. The bus pulled up to the hotel, though and we hopped on. We chose two sleepers in the back row, thinking that if the bus wasn't filled to capacity, we would have more room. The back row consists of five sleepers across, whereas there are two sleepers on each side of the aisle all of the rest of the way up to the front. With the five across, if there is one person missing, you can just sort of spread out a little more.

That wasn't my our luck that night. Instead, there were three Norwegians, two girls and a guy, who talked extremely loudly the entire night long. Do you know what loud Norwegians sound like? They sound like a fjord is pouring water into your brain. It sounds like a viking is having a vasectomy. It's nothing nice. Or maybe that's just what it seemed like for at least seven hours of the twelve hour bus ride. This all could have been compounded by the fact that I hadn't found dinner before I hopped on the bus and the bus didn't stop anywhere that had any sort of food until around ten at night. It was bull, wait for it... shit.

After the bus ride that wasn't quite from hell, but was from at least one of the seven circles, Julia and I arrived in Nha Trang. Apparently, we got there on the right day, because the day or two before, there was a big rugby tourney that Ireland won. So, there was a big party in the room at Backpacker House that Julia and I were put in. Apparently there was a naked girl who showed up and proceeded to sit on one of the ladders of the bunk beds and urinate all over the floor. Lucky for us, it was all clean, couldn't even tell it had happened, by the time we checked in. To be honest, everything in the dorm looked great. It was near immaculate.

After dropping our bags and getting into our swimmers, Julia and I headed over to the Louisiane Brew House/Relax Club. Louisiane is kind of like a bar/restaurant on the beach that has a pool, deck chairs, a stretch of beach, cabanas, and so on and so forth. It costs 25,000 dong ($1.50) for a chair for the entire day, which is a small price to pay for the luxury that you feel.

We sat at the Louisiane all day long. All. Day. Long. It was brilliant too. I read, wrote a postcard, listened to some music. It was totally relaxing after running around in the heat of Hoi An. The sea breeze was refreshing, as was the pool water. I made some friends at the pool, took a nap. How much more could you ask for?

Prior to coming to Nha Trang, I had heard awful things about it. I heard that it could be any beach town and that it was crazy touristy. I heard that it was a lot of party and that it could be skipped. Truth be told, all of that is accurate. The thing was, it was what I needed right now. I needed some beach days. I needed some relax time. I needed to catch my breath after the Sapa->Hanoi->Hue->Hoi An stretch.

After a day at the luxury club, Julia and I met John. He's a guy who just finished University in Switzerland, and has been traveling around for about four months. He joined us for dinner and then some drinks at the Red Apple Bar next door to the Backpacker House.

It was ladies night that night, so Julia got a bunch of discounted drinks. I was just drinking beer all night. I saw a bunch of people that I knew from different places. There were the Norwegian girls who sang me happy birthday at Halong Bay, along with a couple of British blokes from that trip as well. I saw Annti from Finland, who I had met in Hoi An, as well. It was a good time. I spent a lot of time bouncing from table to table, meeting new people and hanging out with the "old" friends.

The next day Julia and I split. She went on one boat cruise and John and I went on another. After comparing notes, they were exactly the same (including in price). We all had a pretty good time, but, for me, it could have been a lot better. The food was pretty good and plentiful. I think what got me was all of the hidden charges. You had to pay to swim in the Marine Protected area. You had to pay to lay on a beach in a cabana. You had to pay to get into the aquarium. You had to pay for your beers. I miss the days of all inclusive or, at least, just pay for your own booze. I think that the fact that I was shelling out and additional 120,000 dong ($6.50) for all of these activities made me not want to drink as much on the boat. I had heard that it was a booze cruise, but not a single person was even tipsy on the boat.

There was a Vietnamese family on the boat, as well. There were two adorable little girls. I kept trying to make the younger one smile, but she was having none of it. She just sat there staring at me, looking at me like I'm crazy. I even tried to reason with her, telling her that she was a kid and that she was supposed to smile and laugh. Clearly she didn't believe me. I ended up running into the family on the way to dinner in front of a shop. I kind of got a smile out of her then, but I don't think it really counted. That kid could have been classified as a tough crowd. I don't think that even Mike Wazowski could have made that kid smile.

That evening, Julia, John and I walked around town for quite some time. We found ourselves outside of the tourist area and happened upon a restaurant that was PACKED. I mean this place was hopping. It was all locals. So, what do we do? We decide to have dinner there. Not a single thing on the menu was in English. One of the servers, who I think was the owner, spoke very little English. I tried to order grilled lobster, but ended up with grilled squid. Not what I ordered, but really fucking tasty. This stuff was fresh and perfectly grilled. John got some beef noodles, and Julia got some sort of clam and rice soup. To be honest, for two nights in a row, I have won the dinner competition. I ordered the best dishes. The night before, it was beef in boiling vinegar.

After dinner, we kind of got lost. We ended up running into a couple of guys who work at the Backpacker House. They were eating dinner at another restaurant and looked at us like they were wondering, "What the fuck are you doing in this part of town?" Luckily, they pointed us in the right direction, and we made it back okay.

The rest of the night was filled with drinking and dancing. Julia, John, two of his friends and I were all out until three in the morning. It was one of John's friends' birthday, so we whooped it up a bit. I ran into Mikey from Canada/Chiang Mai. He hung out for a while. We all just had a blast. So much so that I'm the first one out of bed this morning.

On the way back to the hotel, I was walking with John and Julia, and what happens? John and I are accosted by prostitutes. Luckily, I just get a back massage, but John gets the full on cock grab, and breaks his flip-flop as he tried to get away. Julia grabbed my camera and tried to take a picture of the action, but the hookers were having none of that. I was afraid at one point that my camera would get smashed. Luckily that didn't happen.

So that brings us back to today. Julia and I are going back to the Louisiane Club to chillax for the day. I'm going to be hopping on a night bus to Ho Chi Minh City tonight at eight o'clock. I think Julia may be getting a job at the Backpacker House for a little while. I don't blame her. If I could do that I would. Maybe next time. Maybe next year. We'll see.

But, much to my surprise Nha Trang has been awesome. I've had a lot of fun and I've relaxed quite a bit. Now I'm off to the heat and the bustle of Ho Chi Minh. Hopefully, I'll meet some more great people there. It'll break my heart to leave Julia. She's been a fantastic travel companion. Hopefully I'll see her on the trail somewhere else, or maybe she'll even visit me in the States. Until then, fuck Facebook. I'll just e-mail her.