Quy Nhon-Hoi An

Yesterday was a fairly uneventful day in Quy Nhon. We spent a fair amount of time trying to figure out some plane tickets for later in our trip. Like China, Vietnam seems to have many odd quirks that make it unnecessarily difficult to arrange travel. I tend to think that if the middle school kids can afford to go to Internet cafes to play Dance Dance Revolution or FIFA, then Vietnam Airlines ought to be able to use it to book flights, but we were told otherwise. Other than that, Dave and I read on the beach for a while. Quy Nhon was a delightfully peaceful beach town compared to the outrageous hustle of Ho Chi Minh City and the permeating tourism of Nha Trang. One of the restaurants had snake on the menu, so Dave ordered snakehead soup, and we all tried a piece. It tastes a lot like fish.

Today we headed on the bus to Hoi An. The bus ride was dominated by three things: rice paddies, propaganda signs, and bad music via cell phone. Once again it was a minibus, which held about 15 passengers. Ours wasn’t quite full, so we had comfortable space the whole journey. Rice is everywhere in Vietnam. It is the world’s biggest exporter of rice, and it’s easy to see why. Dave read that over 50% of the working population here is involved in rice production. The scenery was nice, and the trip was not as hilly as our previous one, but the rice only scenery can get a bit dull. One interesting thing along the highway is all the government propaganda signs. There are few commercial billboards; but the roadside is dotted with government signs, large and small. I know not what they say, but the government seal and the pictures of cheery citizens make their content clear. Many also incorporate a picture of Ho Chi Minh in the scene or in the background looking over the happy citizens. The third and least enjoyable aspect of the ride was the Vietnamese guy blasting music from his cell phone. There was the occasional traditional Vietnamese song, which was okay, but mainly he played hard rock, and bad hard rock at that. For some reason this is totally okay here (the same in China). Hopefully, headphones will catch on in future generations, but for now, it’s just one more sound (along with incessant honking) to tune out during transport. After the bus ride, we grabbed motorcycle taxis into town and found a hotel.

We enjoyed the sunny afternoon by renting bicycles and exploring the town. Hoi An is very touristy, but also very pretty. It is full of little alley-ways and old houses. On the bike ride we had a nice chat with a Californian named Randy, who relocated to Vietnam and has a bookshop. Upon his recommendation, we booked a bike tour for the next day and had dinner at a scrumptious Indian restaurant. My dish was really good and much like the Indian food I’ve had in Tulsa, so apparently the foreign Indian places are doing a good job with consistency. We also ran into some of the Australians we had met in Nha Trang. Unfortunately, they were in a hurry to return some rented motorbikes and we didn’t see them that night at the bar where they said they might be.