Epic Vietnam Journey (Day 5-Quy Nhon)

I wake up about 8am, check out, and get on my way.  I find the way to the 1 Highway, which is the main highway going up the east coast of Vietnam.  I decide not to mapquest it, because people say that you would have to be completely retarded to get lost on it.  I only got lost once at the end near Quy Nhon, so I think I passed that test with flying colors.  I decide not to buy a helmet, and take my chances.  I’ve been driving around with a bottle of Bailey’s, so I figured that I can just bribe the police if I am pulled over.  I’m not exactly risk-adverse at this point anyway, and like the freedom of not having a helmet strapped to your head, especially when these helmets are not going to protect you in a crash anyway.  Also, non-vietnamese are not supposed to drive anything because Vietnam does not acknowledge foreign driver’s licenses, so that adds an additional element of concern.  I guess they can technically throw you jail if they wanted to, but I heard that they pretty much ignore that rule.  They must ignore the helmet law also, because I passed several groups of police and toll booths along the way, and no one chased me down. I guess they couldn’t be bothered.  It’s not like they didn’t see me either, because I stick out like a sore thumb.

Unlike the previous roads that I’ve been driving on, the 1 Highway is wide open, and you can actually drive pretty fast on it.  I was doing about 60km/hour, which doesn’t seem fast, but when you are on a small rickety motorcycle, it is plenty fast enough.  Certainly faster than the 25km/hour that I’ve been averaging before.  I have to say that the 1 Highway in Vietnam is no less beautiful than the 1 Highway in California.  I have some pictures to prove it.  In fact, the water is more beautiful as it is a turquoise color. 

It is pretty hot out and the sun is blazing.  I notice that my thighs are getting burnt, so I pull over at the next gas station, fill up the gas tank, and apply sunscreen.  I’ve been having a lot of problems opening up my seat where the gas cap is.  I usually go through the motions of banging and jiggling the seat as I fruitlessly attempt to turn the key to open the seat, knowing damn well that I will never be able to open it.  Then I just hand the key to the gas station attendant (there are no self-serve gas stations here) and he opens it in a matter of a couple seconds.  I don’t understand how they do it, but I guess they are used to unlocking flaky motorcycle seats and have acquired the magic touch.

Somewhere along the way, I almost get into a wreck.  I was driving behind a motorcycle on the shoulder (you can either drive on the shoulder or actually on the road).  This idiot driver pulled his car to the shoulder in front of us and slammed on his brakes.  The motorcycle ahead of me slammed on this breaks.  At first, I was going to veer off to the left into the road, but I notice in my peripheral vision that there was a trunk that just appeared in the lane, so I veer back onto the shoulder and slam on my brakes.  I came about a foot from rear ending the motorcycle.  

I notice along the way that my watch, which I have had for almost 20 years, was not on my wrist anymore.  I’ve been having problems with it for years, as the pins on the bank keep falling out.  So, all the shaking and rattling must have loosened one of the pins, and it just dropped off.  I will miss that watch, but at least I won’t have a watch tan anymore.  

I finally get to Quy Nhon, which is about 250km from Nha Trang.  At this point, I’m not sure if I want to stop there for the day and drive further to get closer to Hoi An, which everybody raves about.  I figured I will check out the place, and if it inviting enough, I will stay and chillax for the day.  

I guess I missed the main resort area, because I get into the city center and there is nothing much to see.  I decide to get back on the 1 Highway again, but I’m having trouble finding it, so I get kind of lost in the city and apparently other cities as well.  I come across this brand new bridge that apparently leads to nowhere, because I go across it, and there is nothing there but sand dunes.  I guess they plan on developing the area on the other side of the bridge.  I have to say that it is the longest bridge that I’ve been on.  3km long, which is almost 2 miles.  It would cost billions of dollars to build that in the US.  In Vietnam, maybe a couple water buffalo and some chickens.  

I was probably riding around for a couple hours, and figured I wouldn’t get to far down the 1 Highway when I found it, so I decided to go back to Quy Nhon and see if there was an actual resort area.  Plus, my ass was killing me and my balls felt like they have been put through a garlic press, so I was in no mood to ride any longer.  Also, I had not eaten anything in over 24 hours, so I figured I really should eat.  So, I go back to Quy Nhon, which at this point was 20km away, and eventually find the resort area.

I scope out the sitch, and decide on a fairly nice hotel.  It was actually less than 20 bucks.  Not bad.  I check in and then hit the beach.  There were many more people on this beach, but still not as much as you would see on a typical California Beach.  Unlike Nha Trang, where there was a spattering of Westerners on the beach, I was the only white dude there.  It was me and literally thousands of Vietnamese people, most of them playing soccer.  I got a lot of looks, but it was mostly out of curiosity, and many greeted me with hellos.  The stretch of beach was about 5 miles long, and I probably walked almost half of it and back.  After being on a motorcycle all day, it was nice just to get out and walk.  

I go back to the hotel and have my first meal of the day.  I try to order Pho and the guy gives me a quizzical look.  What Vietnamese person doesn’t know what Pho is?  Maybe it was how a pronounced it, but I said it different ways.  Some people pronounce it Fo and some Fa.  I finally write it out for him, and he then understands.  I don’t think I could ever speak Vietnamese with any fluency.  The phonetics are just so different than English phonetics.  Anyway, I end up ordering a bowl of soup and some fried rice, and that actually filled me up.  I’m betting my stomach has shrunk, so it doesn’t take much to fill it up.  I’m a bit hungry now, but when I get up, any hunger that I may have will be supplanted by my mission to head north.    

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