Nha Trang
We had a close call this morning on Vietnam Airlines. Not the kind of terrifying death defying close call that you might be expecting but rather a scheduling near miss. Vietnam Airlines makes frequent departure time changes and sometimes it is difficult to keep up with the latest update. These are not simply adjustments of minutes or even quarter hours, but as much as three hours.
We planned an early start that would leave us with nearly two hours in the airport. The rooster rang out at 3:25 (what!) this morning but we rolled out of bed at 5:00 to get prep'd for our lift to the airport at 6:00. Our cab arrived 30 minutes late and that was already eating into our buffer. When we arrived at the airport we checked the departure board to only to find that we had 25 minutes before our plane left the ground. Not so good as it was the only flight that day to Nha Trang.
The Da Nang Airport is relatively small and we chose to cut every line and see if we could make it. We cleared check in, security and got on before they closed the doors without anyone yelling at us.
Then began the wondering if the backpacks were going to make it. We checked them with 15 minutes left to departure. We carried on our two rollaways which are always packed to survive back pack loss. Except for this time, the swim suits were in the top of my pack and the primary purpose of the Nha Trang stop was for the beach...yes, our bags did arrive with us. Riley was optimistically manning the baggage claim while Patti and I put our odds at 50%.
I am really thankful that Patti did not get online this morning and discover our scheduling snafu, that would have caused some heightened anxiety. If our bags did not make it, or we missed the flight altogether that would still be Gods plan and we would go with it. But it is always easier when your plan coincides with Gods plan. Here is Patti all smiles with her late bag.
We arrived early in Nha Trang and our hotel room was not ready. So we walked around a bit and added another first to our list. Tara was the first one to be hit by scooter. It was a little sideswipe that left her with some muffler burn on her left shin, jus opposite here crab bite from the other day. This lady was in the wrong lane when she made her left turn and we did not anticipate her being there at all, and her horn must not have been working (a first for Vietnam). In the end it was mostly our fault and she did stop to see if if Tara was OK.
On the topic of speedy scooters, my buddy Greg sent me this link with a story about Spider Man inspired traffic control measures, right here in Vietnam.
Our mission for the Tara vs. Scooter trip was to reload on sunblock. Which we did, and found a bargain as well. It was only after we were swimming for a bit did we start to piece together how we arrived at such a deal. Non-waterproof Vietnamese sunblock is cheap and a few of us are paying in burnt flesh for it. So I took a walk back into the city and paid as much for two containers of sunblock as we are paying for tonight's room. But it is real made in America sun-blocking goodness.
We had heard that Nha Trang was on Putins top 10 list of next geographies to annex. We found proof of this as soon as we stepped out of the airport in the form if a billboard in Russian. Russian appears to be quickly taking over as the first language in this city. This is evidenced by the translation, on everything printed, of nearly every Vietnamese word with Russian right below it. Many of the streets were already flying the hammer and sickle.
I had my first western food today. We went to Senior Martinez's (sp) Genuine Italian Pizzeria and Steakhouse. The pizza menu was great and the delivered product did not disappoint. For dinner we once again ate alternatively and headed West but made it only to India this time, Omar's to be precise. The best Indian in all of Nha Trang. My kids love naan bread. Omar exacted the highest price meal out of us yet, almost 15 whole dollars, but we ate a ton.
Tomorrow we partake in more cultural degeneration and spend the day at VinPearlLand.
Images in the 2014 Nha Trang album linked at right.
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