This is the motley crew from the days bike tour which continued with a few drinks, into dinner, after dinner drinks
and late night drinks which made for a fun and interesting
night!!!! (Steve (me), Sarah (little one), Michelle (my belle),
and Son (our tour guide and a good man))
The last real stop I made in Vietnam was in Nha Trang which is a city on the coast. It is a big holiday spot for Vietnamese as well as foreigners and since we chose to arrive on the busiest days of the year due to their national holiday of when the North army took Saigon in the war there were no rooms available in the city. (that was a very long sentence, I'm sure corrections could be made, but I'm not going to.) The few rooms that were available were way out of our price range considering we had been paying between $3-$5 each for a night. After checking all around the city I went to a hotel and when he said they were full I asked if we could just throw some mattresses somewhere for the night. He then lead us up 6 floors to the roof where the laundry was hanging to dry and said we could sleep there on floor mats, $1 each. DONE.
Me on my floor mat on the roof of the hotel, notice the plants in the background; and they said there were
no toilets up there.
We wandered around the city our first night, got some delicious food and found a local baguette sandwich stand for a good price where over the next 3 days we ate over 25 between the 3 of us.
The following morning I called Son, who I had met a few weeks earlier while he was giving someone a trip around the same parts that I was traveling around. The girls and I decided to do a day trip around the Nha Trang area with Son and his compadres. We saw the local aquarium, different temples and went to a home where they make mats. We all got to try our hand at making the mats; not too hard, just time consuming. We had a lot of laughs with our tour guides who were nicknamed Lady boy, koo koo, and Ugly. After our half a day tour we decided to spend some quality time on the beach swimming and resting before meeting up with Son later on.
At about 6 we met up with Son at a locals place where we got a big, cold pitcher of beer for $.75. After a few of those we headed to a restaurant on the street where we ordered some fresh caught squid while continuing to drink our cheap beer. After dinner we went back to our local bar and got others to join us for a card drinking game. We got most of the bar to join in for our group cheers, which consisted of "Mot, Hai, Ba....YO!!!!!" This translates to 1,2,3...YO!!!!
We were told at the restaurant and the bars we were at to quiet down.
After closing this place down we headed to a bar on the beach were I tried to sneak in to avoid the entrance fee and got chased out by a group of security, I would have been fine if Son wasn't soo drunk at this point. We finally paid to get in and began dancing and drinking until they closed the doors and we were finally on our way home. I was ready to go back and sleep on my roof which I'm sure was the biggest space in the hotel, with the best view and for the cheapest. Little Lane came to join me up there utnil we went down to their room to use the bathroom and sleep in a bed for a while. I woke up after a few hours to go up and grab my shorts which had been moved along with most of the money that was in my wallet. I haven't had any money stolen on this trip until Vietnam and there twice, so my cheap roof turned out to be not so cheap, still a good story though.
The next day we didn't do much, laid around, ate a lot and walked around until we met up with the girls friend and a big group of her friends. We were right back where we left off the night before.
The next morning bright and early I said goodbye to My belle and My Little One, Sarah.
I have spent time in 4 countries with these two and have gotten pretty close with Sarah and we have a lot of great stories and times together.
This is Sarah and I on our big night out. She may be small,but has a strong personality and a big attitude. Oh little one,
where in the world will we meet again? I hope you enjoyed
your time with me as much as I did with you.
George Eliot
"Oh, the comfort, the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person; having neither to weigh thoughts nor measure words, but to pour them all out, just as they are, chaff and grain together, knowing that a faithful hand will take and sift them, keep what is worth keeping, and then, with a breath of kindness, blow the rest away."
I then left bright and early on an 11 hour bus trip down to Saigon where I got a big salad buffet and went to sleep only to wake up early and get an 8 hour bus to Phnom Penh where I went out to eat, wrote my last blog and went to bed, once again, only to wake up early to get a 15 hour bus to Bangkok. I am now sick of buses!!!! I read a lot and listened to a lot of music in that time. One day I only listened to all the mixes Mags made me before I left on the trip (thanks again Mags!!!)
When I arrived in Bangkok I got a room, got a big milk, some Chow Mein and then a massage before falling quickly to sleep.
The next morning (this morning) I had a big choice to make. I had enough money to pay for the room, eat cheap food and get out of here tomorrow evening without getting any more money out. Or, I could take out a little bit of money, eat like a king, get massages, and buy a few things before leaving. I have now eaten 3 meals today and had a two hour thai massage, AND am going back for a oil massage in a couple of hours. I will get at least another 2 before getting on my plane tomorrow night. Like booger says in the movie "risky business"- "sometimes, you gotta just say fuck it!!!"
I can't write anymore for tonight so I will save some thoughts for more blogs to come. I'm a bit confused with how I feel about heading back to the US. I'm looking forward to seeing my friends and family though.
John Schaar
The future is not a result of choices among alternative paths offered by the present, but a place that is created--created first in the mind and will, created next in activity. The future is not some place we are going to, but one we are creating. The paths are not to be found, but made, and the activity of making them, changes both the maker and the destination.
“In the name of the best within you, do not sacrifice this world to those who are its worst. In the name of the values that keep you alive, do not let your vision of man be distorted by the ugly, the cowardly, the mindless in those who have never achieved his title. Do not lose your knowledge that man's proper estate is an upright posture, an intransigent mind and a step that travels unlimited roads. Do not let your fire go out, spark by irreplaceable spark, in the hopeless swamps of the approximate, the not-quite, the not-yet, the not-at-all. Do not let the hero in your soul perish, in lonely frustration for the life you deserved, but have never been able to reach. Check your road and the nature of your battle. The world you desired can be won, it exists, it is real, it is possible, it's yours.”
Ayn Rand quotes (Russian born American Writer and Novelist, 1905-1982)
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