Quy Nhon, Vietnam

Easily my favorite place in Vietnam.

Racehael and I got semi-scammed on the our transportation here in that the bus let us off about 10km (6.8 miles) from the city center. We sort of hitch-hiked our way to where we wanted to be. I went partially insane during the bus ride to Quy Nhon; I could not focus on anything. I considered, simultaneously, extending my trip to decades instead of years and returning home as soon as possible. I was losing my mind and was in a terrible mood by the time we got off the bus (three hours after we expected to be). I immediately liked the place just out of spite. I do not know how to explain this but it is what happened. I forced myself to like it right away, based on nothing, and besides the fact that I was pissed at everything. It took Rachael it bit longer to come around to liking Quy Nhon but not much longer.

Quy Nhon is one of the less touristy beach towns in Vietnam. In fact, I probably saw about ten foreigners during the two days I spent there. The main beach is stunning but not great for swimming so we went to another beach that, as it turns out, is part of a leper colony. This beach was gorgeous. Getting there on bicycle was one of the physically harder things I have done; 2.7km (about 1.67 miles) on a crap bicycle up a hill that was tilted at about 15 degrees. (Going down was also one of the more dangerous things I have done in my life; calling my bikes brakes shaky would be generous.)

Here I think I got a better feel of what the real Vietnam is. At the very least, a better feel of what the real coastal Vietnam is. There was little to no price inflation for foreigners, meaning everything was cheaper because I was paying the same price as the locals, which, sadly, is not the norm in Vietnam.

Renting a bike and just riding was great. Going through side-streets and little-if-ever-travelled-by-tourists-allies was an experience.

To top it off, there is a statue of some guy flicking off China. This alone is enough to make Quy Nhon awesome. Seriously. There is a statue of somebody flicking off a country. I could not figure out how to get close enough to it to take a picture myself. I know you have to take a boat to get there but I could not find any such boat. I took pictures from a distance but you can only see the statue as a whole and not the intersting portion of it (the outstretched hand, of course).

Not much of Quy Nhon could be changed for it to be more perfect.