This city was not in the original plan.
Let’s just say that this is not the first place I’ve added to my trip to Vietnam heading south.
Yesterday I decided to stop here before Nha Trang.
Prologue
I swear I don’t want to write everything.
But I don’t shape the story. Life writes it. As I’ve already noted, I just write it down.
Today I received another story.
I have to write it down.
On the train
I gave myself time to sleep and recover after yesterday’s sunny hike.
I’ve been sleeping well lately, so I got up early. I’m already very comfortable working in bed, and I did the same today.
I got through yesterday without any problems. This morning I kicked a suitcase in the face. It hurt so much that I had to concentrate very hard all day. I didn’t want to limp through the streets. Instead, I gritted my teeth and took my steps hard.
Then I packed my things for lunch. I ate a Vietnamese dish that didn’t have a single name and went to the now well-known Highlands Café.
Here I booked a hotel in the next town.
Later, I wanted to book the bus I had chosen yesterday. It was no longer available… I had to buy a train ticket. This was the only option available.
The train left on time. However, it arrived in Tuy Hoa an hour late.
I also took the figure very hard at the station. And I didn’t accept any taxi offers.
They don’t know that I like to explore cities. On my own two feet. Even if it hurts.
One of the taxi drivers was even able to check where I was going on my phone. When he saw the 2 km distance on the display, his eyes showed the same thing he did to the biker yesterday.
I feel like these people don’t understand why someone would want to walk 2+ kilometers when they are there. I don’t think I will enlighten them.
The accommodation
The accommodation said check-in was until 10pm. I arrived before 8pm. I felt fine, I think.
I took my bed. Which meant I dropped my backpack and had a few words with my roommate.
Then I went to have dinner and work until 10pm. At another Highlands Café. I feel like this franchise is everywhere. It’s a stable point in my work. I have to say that I like it better than Starbucks.
The free wifi at Starbucks drops me off every two hours. It’s a subtle signal that it’s time to go or buy something new. Highlands doesn’t have that game.
When it closed, I decided to take a long walk. I’m going to shit on my little toe!
I’m a sight to behold in this city again. I haven’t seen a Westerner all night. Accordingly, I’ve been stopped several times. There was one place where about 10 young people rushed to me, shaking hands and asking questions.
Later I sat down on a bench. I was typing on my phone. Then a guy came up and asked me if he had seen me in a pub before. I said I definitely hadn’t, because I hadn’t been in one today. He left, but a minute later he came back and showed me the photo of the two of us. The only thing was that I didn’t know from the roadside stop that it was a pub. This guy with big eyes took a private photo of me in addition to the shared photo.
On the street
I got back to the hostel at 0:30.
I had never experienced anything like this before.
The shutters on the main entrance were down. The lower part of the building was in complete darkness.
I wanted to sleep. And so, habits worked, so I had to go in. I tried the whole program that can be done at such times. Still, a frustrating situation arose.
I knocked. I turned on the light in the hallway. I messaged the accommodation through the application. I called them on WhatsApp. I wrote to Agoda customer service through an AI. (I will only mention quietly that I did not receive an answer or a call back from anyone 12 hours later.)
To get to the building, you had to climb a staircase about two meters high. Here was the shutter. At the bottom of the staircase was a frog. A few meters to the left of it, a couple of rats were dancing in the moonlight on a pile of garbage. But the stairs were clean. And they were made of marble. The air was warm.
After the failure of formal solutions, I thought of sleeping at the top of the marble stairs. By the way, I still consider this a good solution now – hours after the night.
There was another hotel 20 meters away from me. I thought I would take a room there and ask my own hotel for a refund tomorrow for tonight’s price. I didn’t go to that other hotel for two reasons. The receptionist was sleeping so peacefully on the sofa that I didn’t have the heart to wake him up. The other was that I felt sorry for the money. I don’t like paying twice for the same thing.
Pub
And then I thought of another solution.
If life has put me on the street, what if I play it safe? I’ll find a pub and drink beer until morning. Then I’ll go to bed.
The nearest pub was 950 meters away according to Google. Open 24/7. I set off.
The road led through alleys so dark that I had to take out my flashlight. Not to mention the sound of knives being sharpened on every corner.
I got to the place where the pub was supposed to be. There was a building under renovation. With a concrete mixer in the door. Come on, that’s my luck. 24/7. And a concrete mixer.
The next pub was 200 meters away. Also promising to be open all day. Of course, it was closed too.
My phone was at around 10% battery, so I didn’t want to waste any more time searching for a map, because I wanted to get back to the hostel somehow.
So I set off, trusting in my luck.
After a few hundred meters, I noticed a small group of people sitting around a small table on the street. They had taken a seat in front of a restaurant.
I asked them if they were open. Because I wanted to have a few beers.
They weren’t open, but I didn’t seem to care about that question. They asked me what kind of beer I wanted. I smiled and spread my arms and said, “Any kind.”
That was my invitation. They sat me down. They offered me food and we drank beer for hours.
We took quite a few selfies, it was our common language. Only one of the five men knew a few words of English. So we talked using Google Translate until my phone reached 1%. From then on, I became deaf and mute. But you can drink without words.
We listen to music. Sometimes they sing. It was really nice to listen to.
I noticed that Vietnamese songs sound very sad. Yes, that was the answer. Vietnamese people like to listen to sad songs.
I also learned that my nose is extremely sexy. One of the men said this, without any ulterior motive. He likes it too. I learned that Vietnamese women look at a man’s nose first. He said that I’m a winner here with this nose.
I had pork knuckle stew. The head chef was sitting next to me. I couldn’t help but praise his cooking. The dish was prepared with very good flavors. It’s not like Hungarian stew. But it’s full of flavor and experience. At the end of dinner we ate dried squid. I already wrote that around here it’s like chips at the end of dinner.
I left there at four in the morning. By then, there was only one person left standing besides me.
It was a great experience to enjoy Vietnamese hospitality again.
I went back to the hotel with a full stomach. I could either sleep for a few more hours or I would actually fall asleep on the stairs. We’ll see.
A friend of mine found me on the phone, so we talked until 5:15.
Then a woman came, I think she was an employee at the hotel. She gestured and asked if I wanted to go in. I wasn’t sure anymore. The whole evening was so funny that I was seriously interested in the idea of sleeping on the stairs.
She gestured for me to knock. I laughed to myself. I had already done that 5 hours ago. But I tried it for fun. And then it turned out that there was a concierge here too, because he opened the shutters and let me in.
He was probably too deep in sleep when I first knocked.
Honestly, I don’t regret not waking up earlier.
Postscript. My toe is fine. I like the purple color.
Buy me a coffee?
If you enjoyed this story, you can buy me a coffee. You don’t have to – but it means a lot and I always turn it into a new adventure.
Buy a coffee for Steve
Linktree
Short introduction