267 Sleeping Positions
Nha Trang, 25th May 2002 (Part 2)
Nha Trang is quite a busy & dirty town, not as nice as the other
towns we'd visited so far. It's interesting how what is possibly the
most touristy town in Vietnam is also the dirtiest town with the
least character. Still, it's much better than a lot of the Thai
cities I'd seen. I had a quick look at the famous beach, the most
popular in Vietnam, and the reason for the tourism. The beach was
quite nice, even with today's grey sky. It was definitely photo
worthy, but in my opinion, the beach in Hoi An is much nicer. Many
travellers I've spoke to agree with me, so lets hope it avoids the
tourism bug that Nha Trang has attracted.
I walked along the beach looking for the 'Sailing Club', a bar/club
where a very famous Vietnamese photographer displays his photos. His
name is Long Thanh, (interestingly, I've noticed that a delicious
Vietnamese fruit, the dragon fruit is called 'Thanh Long' in their
tongue. Any relation between the two names?). Anyhow, I've seen a
number of his photos and I was interested in buying some.
However, when I get there, he wasn't around, so I had to content
myself with looking at his work that was on display, then maybe
contacting him later by e-mail.
The next place I wanted to see was the Pagoda with the huge Buddha
image. However, it's quite a long way away, and I'm feeling a bit
lethargic, so I wave down a motorcycle taxi. He asks for 10,000 Dong
to go there, I countered with 5,000 Dong. He looked at me shocked,
then I started to walk away so he quickly agreed.
After a short drive, he drooped me off right inside the temple gate.
He parked up and indicated that he'd wait for me. However, I'd
already made it clear (I thought) that I only wanted to go one way
and that I'd walk back. So I reminded of this and handed him 5000
Dong, he looked at me in disgust and said '10,000 Dong'. Oh dear. I
told him again that we agreed on 5,000 Dong and hold the money out
again, he just pushed it away. As we're standing there at a bit of a
face off, two Vietnamese girls walk up to see what's going on and
act as translators. After the driver & I both talk to them, they
seem to believe me and tell me just to walk away without paying
anything if he won't accept it. So I offered him the money one last
time before leaving, and he took it disgruntledly.
I walked off towards the temple stairs and made my way up to the
main hall. On the way I passed dozens of maimed and disabled
beggars, meekly holding out hats & pots saying "You give me money".
This seems to be a common occurrence in Vietnam, beggars always
gather at temples or pagodas. I picked my way between them and
walked up to the main hall, as I stood looking through a window, a
Vietnamese man walked up to me and introduced himself as a monk
(even though he was in normal dress). He took me by the arm and
started to show me around. He led me around the main halls, pointing
to the various paintings, statues and buildings and explaining a bit
about them. He seemed to know quite a bit, and I learnt some
interesting things. He even offered to photo me, with my camera,
standing in front of the huge Buddha. He acted very friendly, and it
was obvious that he was going to ask for money. I should have agreed
on a price before hand, but sometimes its difficult, and a bit
awkward, to say "How much money will you want for this?" When they
might be doing it just to be nice. (A very rare, but possible,
situation).
We stopped by a small box with 'Donation' written on it and he said
I should make a donation of 50,000Dong (2.50!), way too much for
this part of the world. Luckily I didn’t have any 50,000 Dong notes
(playing safe because of pickpockets in Nha Trang). But he saw my
20,000 Dong notes and eventually I ended up giving 2 of them for the
temple donation. Oh well, it's only 2 pounds and he'd been very
helpful, so I don't want to insult him. The only problem is, is that
I wasn't sure if he pocketed the money or put it in the donation
box.
Afterwards he took me back down the stairs to a quiet corner with a
nice view of the surrounding area. He then turned to me and asked
for money for him, the previous donation being for the temple. Darn.
I knew this would happen. Well he did tell me lots of information
and take a few photos for me. He asked for $1 (15,000Dong), I give
him 10,000Dong (50p) and he seemed very happy. I decided it was time
to make a quick exit before I hurt my budget too much more.
As I started to walk back to the hotel, the motorbike taxi driver
from earlier on drove up, with a huge grin, and asked if I want lift
back. Why you cheeky...monkey. I just ignored him and walked on.
I got back to the hotel in early evening, but I was so tired, that I
just collapsed on the bed and fell fast asleep for the rest of the
day.
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