Vietnam

Sitting on a white sand beach resort in Vietnam, I feel like I could be anywhere. That guilt is returning. Even though it is so lovely, I’ve got nothing to do but read my sappy love story, I still can’t seem to rid myself of feeling guilty for the extravegance of my life. It doesn’t help to see the fully clothed Vietnamese scattered around the beach pushing the sales of gagety keepsakes. It looks the same in Mexico, Rio, Thailand…why do I get to be on this side of the deal? Is it wronge? Should I feel guilt?

Our process of getting here was great. Peter and I were on a wild goose hunt all over Ho Chi Minh City for the train station. Pete had it in his head that he was going to get on a train and head north for the two days that we had in Vietnam before we would fly, with a ship trip, to Cambodia. I think he was looking for a solo adventure but me, being the ever controling (or worrisome) sister that I am decided it would be better if I tagged along. I worry about my boys, I tend to forget that they have grown up a lot since I last lived with them…they are both young men. After a couple hours of walking an good half hour in a taxi and ultimately by the generous help of some 20-something(age) Vietnamese boys who gave us a ride on the back of their motorcycles, we made it to the train station. I didn’t decide until about 5 minutes before Peter boarded the that I was really going with him. Neither of us had brought much of anything because there was some ambivelence as to whether this was really going to happen. But we boarded the train anyways with little more than our swimsuits in our backpacks. I had no part in the researching of where this train might be going. I think Pete had heard about a pretty coast and we thought we might be able to do a beach sleep or something of the likes. The train ride was an adventure in its self and a great way to see the country side…shortly after we hoped on the muggy, non-airconditioned car we were befriended by a sweet Vietnamese women about my age. He english was elementary to say the least, but she was persistant about conversation, bless her. So we spent the next four hours in quizi communication with her. Bought her a train dinner and sat and ate dinner with her. We attempted getting some information from her about where we were going…if there would be places to stay and what not but that didn’t amount to much information. All we knew was the name of the stop that Peter had planned to get off at. The Lonely Planet book had stayed with mom and dad. As evening rolled around and the sun had set, I began to worry a little. All the stops that the train was making were just little platforms with little more than fields of crops surrounding them. The uncertainty didn’t sit quite as well with me as it did with Pete. This was just the adventure he had planned for.
It wasn’t until about 9 that we finally hoped off the train. There was a little station that instilled some hope in me that there might be some accomodations around. But as we emerged out of the station we were struck with a few groups of people around fires in front of what looked like local grocers offering the most basic of stuff, the rest was darkness. Ummmm, where were we? We immediately devised the plan of getting back on the next train headed south if things didn’t start to pan out. But of course we were quickly taken under the wings of some of the men sitting around the fire. They recognized our lighter skin and knew that we were surely headed beyond this point. They quickly, without asking called us a taxi. We weren’t sure this was what we wanted just yet…that might solve Peters adventure a little to easily. And as nice, helpful and hospitible people may be around the world there is alway an inkling of doubt in the help that a stranger offers. We walked a little beyond what immediately met us outside the station but found only more feilds. We return to the men and agreed that a taxi was what we needed. It was there within15 minutes or so. Peter and I were offered coffee and condensed milk as we waited. We got in the taxi, now uncertain of where it would be taking us. But the comfort of an airconditioned car, even at this late hour, was enough to calm me. We spent a good 30 minutes in the car, I think we assumed we were en route to the beach. But the beach wasn’t what our taxi driver had in mind. He dumped us out of the car in the center of some city, and managed to get quite a few dong (currency) our to the exhausted us who couldn’t find it in us to do any bargaining. By this time it was well past 10. We wondered the streets for a while half heartedly looking for a place to crash, while at the same time being slightly disapointed that were weren’t on some form of a beach like we had invisioned. Eventually we came across a hotel. We asked about a room but then decided to inquire about this beach we thought we should be near. Turns out we were on the right track. The two young ladies at the hotel, through map communication assured us that we could find some bungalow-type places to stay at Mui Ni Beach some 20km away. We decided to jump in another taxi and make our way there. Coconut Grove was the name of the place that the ladies had pointed out as a budget bungalow. We were thrilled has the taxi, driven by our female driver, pulled up infront of Coconut Grove. The last few km highend resorts brought us to the conclusion that this wasn’t some vacant beach that we were going to be able to camp on. Infact, the budget bungalow that the we were banking on turned out to be $110 dollars verus the $11 dollars that I thought. Lost a zero somewhere in my currency conversion. That surely wasn’t going to work. We wander down the way for a while longer until we found something that might work for our wallets…it was a bit of a stretch but we went for it anyways. Turned out to be a nice, family run bungalow resort with beach front property, a pool and free breakfast to boot. Wasn’t quite what we envisioned but it didn’t disapoint us either. We have definitely learned that flexibility is a key to successful travel. Have no expectations and its hard to be let down.