Nha Trang has been a quiet stop for me. I fell ill on my second day here and I've spent a lot of time sleeping in my room. Thank goodness, it is a very nice room with a west-facing balcony, private bathroom with hot water, fridge and tv (for the amazing price of $8 US). Once I was feeling better, I made it as far as the beach to lounge on a chair under the shade of a palm-frond hut.
The drive from Dalat to Nha Trang was most beautiful: winding down from the mountains and then along the white-sand coast. At a rest stop back down on the flat land, I stepped off the bus and remembered: humidity! Dalat was an unusual cool breeze in this hot and humid trek across South East Asia.
Nha Trang is a crossroads in that it connects Dalat to the main highway, mountain to plain, sky to sea. A little cutie called Hui was waiting for me at the bus station, holding a sign with my name on it. She whisked me to the Viet Hai guesthouse on her little white moto and she's been taking care of me ever since, asking if I feel better and checking in on me.
I met up with Tim and Helen, from PEI, again in Nha Trang and we had a great beach day together. They are so easy-going and positive - I could spend a lot of time in their company. But they had to hop a flight to Ho Chi Minh City and continue on to Macau for their flight home to our wintery Island. They spoiled me before they left, taking me out for lunch and giving me their Vietnamese phrasebook and leftover bottle of peanut butter (which is QUITE a luxury in these parts).
Nha Trang town is surprisingly quiet, especially in the tourist quarter. Things get busier down towards the market and being a pedestrian is a little treacherous. I started to tire a little of being gouged just because I'm a foreigner. I mean, how could 20 Gravols cost 12000 dong at the local pharmacy (less than $1 Canadian) but a bunch of bananas was 20000 dong at the market (closer to $2 Canadian). Strange, but I guess people have to make a living somehow.
I must admit that I'm not at my best these days, what with being ill and also having a bit of travel fatigue. I realize that this is a rich person's "problem" - oh poor me, I'm so tired of traveling exotic countries! I think I'm just missing my family and close friends. On the one hand, I want companionship; but, on the other hand, I need time to reflect and learn to be satisfied with what I have.
When I am alone, I seem to have some lovely encounters. I was walking home from the beach on Thursday when an old Vietnamese man fell into step with me, pushing his bicycle. "Vous parlez francais?" he asked. And we walked along the boardwalk having a conversation in French. Mostly, he asked me questions: How old are you, what is your profession, are you traveling alone, do you have a partner or husband, how can you afford to travel, do you read books in French, etc. Once satisfied with my answers, he bid me farewell and was gone as quickly as he came. An angel, I reckon.
Another day, I ran into some Aussie girls who were on the same bus from Phnom Pehn to Saigon and they introduced me to Elliot, a 24-but-going-grey English bloke with a sharp wit and winning smile. Tired of the usual backpacker conversations (where are you from, where are you going, etc), Elliot suggested we try to come up with new topics. So I asked him when was the last time he cried, who was his first love. He asked me about my three favourite books and where I exactly I wanted to be on that exact day in ten years. We had great and unusual conversations indeed! It was nice to make a more meaningful connection with someone.
I myself have a lot of unanswered questions: where am I coming from and where I am going, but on a figurative level. The other night, unable to sleep at 3am (probably because I slept my fever away during the day), I was reading my travel health book to find out what the symptoms are for malaria (I don't think I have it, phew!) and came across this quote by Francis Bacon: "Travel in the younger sort is a part of education; in the older, a part of experience." I'm not sure which category I fit into. I'm not your traditional backpacker in that I'm over 25 and will gladly pay extra to stay in nice rooms, get a comfy lounge chair at the beach and see the sights around town. Most backpackers just want to go as cheap as possible so they can continue traveling indefinitely. For me, my law career (and all its adventures and challenges) begins very soon.
I'm halfway through my trip across South East Asia and I'm a bit confused about what I want out of this travel experience: companionship or alone time, adventure or relaxation, debauchery or meditation. These conflicting feelings are sometimes exhausting: my travel days are both long and challenging, but also beautifully blessed and passing so quickly. I want to come out of this experience having grown and learned lessons but I feel like I'm still swimming in my questions without being able to see the answers. On that same sleepless night, I put down my travel health book and picked up my novel (On the Road by Jack Kerouac) and immediately came across another quote that sums it up perfectly: "I was halfway across America, at the dividing line between the East of my youth and the West of my future."
From this crossroad in Nha Trang, I start the long journey north to Hanoi, stopping first in lovely Hoi An. My last hours in Nha Trang have been perfect: Elliot wandered down to the beach where I'd been lounging away the afternoon. Another great chat ensued and he gave me a lift back to the hotel on the back of his moto - and you know I LOVE a moto ride! After a hot shower and the perfect pho, I'm ready for the night bus to Hoi An. These simple things, like comforting soup broth, connections with a new friend and the beautiful landscape sailing by, these are the little things that make it all worthwhile.
More stories, questions, and hopefully answers from the road to follow...Lots of love to everybody back home.
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