Quy Nhon, second to none

I've gotten a bit comfortable in this quiet little coastside town. Quy Nhon (wee nyon) rocks, but in its own subdued way. I'm finally having to deal with some steady rain now that St. Iqbal, the Bringer of Fair Skies (I've dubbed him thusly, just for the day) is no longer accompanying me. The rain began about 10 AM and hasn't let up. It's now 1:30 in the afternoon here. This is standard weather. If you want to spend any significant time here, get used to it. The common way of coping with rainy weather in Vietnam is to drape oneself in a hooded plastic poncho. They are ubiquitous and in Sai Gon are even a barometer of sorts. The locals seem to be very good at sensing impending rain and the ponchos will appear on noticable numbers of scooter riders well before the first drops fall. Of course a quick glance at the skies will serve almost as well as a predictor. But it's good to have redundancy and confirmation.

Funny story. I had a beer last night at a seaside bar with almost no patrons and was able to chat with the servers a bit as one of them spoke good English and they were otherwise unoccupied. I enquired about the breakfast menu and told them I would return this morning for that. I was surprised when my server at breakfast was one of the same servers as last night. I smiled and said hello, but not a flicker of recognition flashed across her face. Midway through my egg noodles and beef, I saw her again, this time in her regular clothes instead of the server uniform they wear when on duty. This time I got the broad smile of familiarity I had been expecting and felt better about things. Then maybe 5 minutes later she appeared again, again in her server's uniform. Must have gone out for something I thought. Then I was reminded of a snippet of the previous night's conversation. They're twins! The twin I had met first works the night shift and the other the morning. Had the other server not spoken English and informed me that her friend is a twin and had the half I met last night not shown up, I might have puzzled over this for, well, maybe an hour or so. Or the rest of my life, it's hard to say!


This situation of bars and cafes and restaurants being sparsely patronized is common in Vietnam, especially in the smaller towns. I can only imagine it's due to low overhead for such businesses and therefore just a little business is enough to remain a going concern. I think it offers a very interesting contrast with so-called developed economies and the high velocity of money (to coin (pun intended!) an economists' expression) and overhead required for business survival in developed economies. I also imagine that, unfortunately, this environment will diminish or disappear if Vietnam opens itself up more to capitalism.


I'm planning to stay here in Quy Nhon for 3 more days and cancel my plans to go to Nha Trang. I've heard Nha Trang is good for the beach and party scene, but I quite like it here. Also it would be a bit hectic for me to fit it all in. Moving from place to place wears you down after a while and requires a lot of time for travel, finding a hotel, exploring, etc. I did move to a new hotel here, Barbara's Backpackers. It's run by Barbara Dawson, a kiwi expat, and she and her lodge are well-known to backpackers and readers of travel guides. Not only is my new room much nicer for the same price, but Barbara has all the basic information a traveler needs (bus and train schedules, etc) and can arrange taxis and dispenses endless useful information. She even sold me my lovely rain poncho (see photo below)! And having English speakers around is a real luxury that you appreciate when you've been without. From here I'll go straight back to Sai Gon on a sleeper train, my first experience on a Vietnam train.






Fishing boats sit idle along Quy Nhon's beach. They catch a lot of squid here. I imagine some of the squid I've purchased at Trader Joe's in California may have been caught here.










This is a fishing boat! They're about 4-5 feet in diameter and, of course, don't go out too far. A common sight is to see one of these seemingly rolling on its own on its side into or out of the water. But on the other side will be a Vietnamese fisher(wo)man doing the rolling.

















This is an ancient Cham tower temple. I don't know too much about the Cham other than they were here a long time ago and their empire is long gone. Some of the ruins in the area date back to the 11th century. My guide book says nothing about the age of these, located on the outskirts of Quy Nhon and known as the Duong Long Cham Towers. There are 2 of them here. This is the nicest.