Adventures By Design

In which the travelers get a shade or two darker

Today was about as uneventful as yesterday. We had breakfast at a cafe across the street, then wandered down to the beach to rent a pair of lounge chairs and read our books. Yup, that was it for the whole day. We did find it mildly entertaining to watch the locals react to the topless British sunbathers near us. Admittedly, they were distracting, even if you weren’t looking at them. We sat down and got ourselves all settled: bathing suit, book, sun, water bottle. After maybe three paragraphs, the idyllic literary calm was shattered when we from behind us we overheard: “You wear the same size bra as me? But your boobs look smaller.” The bra and breast discussion continued for long enough that we started looking around for hidden cameras.

As a beach, this place is great for suntanning (and eavesdropping) but not much else. There is no surf here, the waves just gently lap the shore, so there aren’t a lot of watersports. Occasionally you’ll see people zooming past on jet-skis, and several times every hour folks float above you, hanging uncomfortably from a parachute being towed by a speedboat. They remind Ric of bait used to trawl for flying dragons. (Every person we’ve talked to who has tried it says that after the first 15 seconds of flight, the harness is so uncomfortable, you just want it to end.)

Thievery is common on the beach, especially for those who don’t rent lounge chairs like us. Men in scooter helmets just hang around on the beach, waiting for unsuspecting tourists to take a dip in the water, then they saunter up, grab your bag/camera/clothes, run to their scooters, and race away. The vendors warn the tourists to keep their possessions safe, and collectively they keep the thieves at bay. Because of the thieves, tourists don’t bring much money to the beach, and so the vendors can’t sell as much.

Dinner was at a delicious Indian restaurant. We found out about this restaurant from one of its employees walking up the beach, distributing advertising. At first Ric had his standard ‘no thank you’ response all ready to go, but when the man mentioned Indian food, his interest (and appetite) was piqued. It must of shown on his face, because the man laughed at Ric, and remembered him when we arrived at the restaurant that evening.

Walking home, our bellies (over-)full of Indian goodness, we saw a Dutch couple that have been staying at the same hotel as us. We first met them on the bus from Mui Ne to Nha Trang. At that time, we didn’t talk to them much, but they seemed friendly. Later when we were walking around Nha Trang looking for a hotel, we saw them again in the lobby of the hotel we decided to stay at. The next day we crossed paths again. So when we saw them tonight, we reckoned it was time to make friends. We had a few drinks and lots of laughs. They’re leaving Nha Trang for Hoi An tomorrow evening, which is the same route as we have planned, only we are leaving a day later.