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Obama Wins Vietnam by a 100% Margin of Victory
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So...after a couple of days in the charming town of Hoi An, we took another 12 hour bus ride south to Nha Trang. We got a great bus this time. Private sleeper bunks. Nice AC. woke up to a beautiful view of the sun rising over the coast. The road in some places was...well... gone.
Nha Trang is a good sized city right on the beach. Lots of tourist/travelers here. Our hotel is about 2 minute walk to the beach. There are maybe 15 miles of unbroken sand. This is the water sports capital of Vietnam. Lots of jet ski, kayaking, scuba, snorkeling, sailing, etc. We've got that lazy feeling and spent all day on the sand doing very little. Lot of Euros around getting deep fried. I guess they don't have melanoma in Sweden. We require the shade of a coconut palm. Vietnamese families and couples come down to the beach in the middle of the day to have lunch and relax. They also find that tourists make for fun watching. I watch the Vietnamese watch the foreigners. They think our size, the amount we eat, the clothes we wear...are all comment worthy, and sometimes elicit a snicker. I get the usual stares because of my height. Sometimes when I walk by families picnicking, someone will stick out their hand to shake mine and ask where I'm from. Sometimes when I say America they respond, "I love America."
So Nha Trang also looks like the fitness capital of Vietnam. As our bus pulled in to town at 5:30 am...the beach was lined with thousands of people of all ages walking, swimming, doing tai chi, playing badminton, doing some sort of jazzersize, and generally enjoying the beach before the sun and the tourists invade. And yes...only mad dogs and Englishmen (and Frenchmen, Americans, Kiwi's etc) go out in the midday sun.
Josh and I have run into the local pot dealers a couple of times. The ubiquitous scooter drivers who in Hanoi and Hoi An offer you rides, here also double as pushers and pimps. All very low key of course. It's hard to figure out what they are saying...they call u close and then whisper questioningly.."veid? u want veid.?" After a while we are like ...."Oooh WEED? no thanks?" They seem surprised by this. I guess they must not hear no that often..or in pusher school they teach you to act surprised when you get a no. Last night after a walk on the beach promenade, I had a scooter driver as me if I wanted a massage..No not from him you Jokers! He said a pretty girl would give me a massage and then "boom boom." I've traveled halfway down the country and this is the most open offer I have gotten. Vietnam is doing pretty good at keeping it on the down-low...or maybe we just don't look the type. Oh...and I said no thanks in Vietnamese which seems to do the trick around here.
The food in Nha Trang is great! We are very near the epicenter of aquaculture of Vietnam. They also do a lot of fishing around here. Last night we had a mixed seafood platter that was grilled over a wood fire. Hard to beat for freshness and flavor. Had some fresh uni also. That uni was not as good as Channel Island uni from California which is the world's second best after Hokkaido's white uni. But what it lacked in creamy richness, it nearly made up for in freshness.
I think today we are going to visit some mud baths and mineral water springs. It's $8 per person. Time to remove some toxins!
So what's this about Obama? Well...the Vietnamese are incredibly well informed about the US election. The first political question they ask is who will win the prez election. We say we think Obama will. They then ask who we are voting for. When we say Obama, they say "good...I like Obama." I ask why and it's usually some variation on the young, with good ideas, and will bring change, theme. No one has said much negative about McCain other than that he is maybe too old. In one tailor shop we visited we found some of the shop girls were Hilary partisans and were quite interested in why we were not for Hilary. Some were for Obama. A very interesting and lively debate ensued.
Of course to a person, every non-Vietnamese we have talked US politics with is for Obama. When you travel this way you make friends fast. Deep conversations ensue. Josh and I ran into some former bus trip mates from Australia in Hoi An. We had some beers and talked US and Australian politics and sports for a couple of hours. One of them was quite well versed in the US and we held our own on Aussie things.
More on the people you meet when you travel in another post. There's a mud bath with my name on it.
Update: Bud bath was great! I know why the ladies pay so much for these things. We spent the whole day going from mudbath to mineral soak to pool to mineral waterfall. My skin feels....ahhhh....kissably soft. so about 6 hours at this place for about $8. Lots of other Westerners there...but also lots of Vietnamese. It's a school holiday or something. You can tell the Russians because..well...they've got that Slavic vibe working, and also because of their sexy crackriding speedos.....ouch! Sometimes I'm so proud to be American and from a country where the men wear board shorts. :) Ok...looks like our bus is here to take us to a boat tour of some of the local islands.
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| 11. | Obama Wins Vietnam by a 100% Margin of Victory - Nha Trang, Vietnam Jul 22, 2008 (  1 ) |
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