Off to the Beach

A moped with a speaker attached keeps driving past the hostel we are staying in. A dry voice echoes out saying something like Jai Alai over and over again. Googling “man on moped with big speaker broadcasting message in Vietnam” yields as much as can be expected so for now we have no idea what message he is trying to get across.

Today we rented push bikes for a dollar each (!) and rode to the beach. On the way we picked up Pippa’s new tailor-made coat, which she loves, and our laundry which came back ironed and packaged up like new. Its so good we are both loathed to open the pack and ruin it.

The beach was beautiful and some of the resorts were fun to look at. I still cannot believe the sheer number of these huge resorts here. I don’t believe there’s enough tourists to fill the ones that exist at the moment yet still more are being built. I was reading the Vietnam News and there was an article saying that tourism in Vietnam has dropped in recent years because of price increases. According to them, the average price for tourists has risen by 40%. Even with this it’s still possible to find good prices and haggling is pretty easy.

We also looked into doing a little diving tomorrow but the guys at Cham Island Diving Center were pretty honest and said that the visibility would be terrible as the seas been rough lately. Even without using then we would recommend them as they were so honest about everything. Even gave us advice about local transport.

Tomorrow is our empty day as we have to stay here till Thursday to do rock climbing. We don’t mind much as we both really like it here and the old part is nice just to walk around. It’s also the cheapest place to eat but still have great food that we have been so far. Cao Lao is amazing and you can get a bowl of it for a dollar.