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I woke up feeling pretty awful, compounded with the notion we would need to find a new hotel this morning. We both knew heading out earlier would be key to find our new digs. We avoided the beach as we only wanted to see it when we were heading there to relax. The area was really quiet with hardly any traffic, a stark contrast to the rest of Vietnam. We strolled south through the deserted town looking for a hotel Laura had researched last night after a local chap had mentioned it. I was in charge of the map and we were soon enough lost with no hotel in sight, my god this place is frustrating. We eventually had to ask at this little restaurant where the owners were initially trying to rip us off for a coke but we were wise to their game. They did however help us out and we were sent the right direction. It was quite funny as the 'Sunsea hotel', the one we were looking for, is a large blue building with the name on the top, pretty hard to miss but somehow we managed to.
All sweaty and feeling rank we wandered into the hotel to find they had room available. Unfortunately they were trying to charge us 25 dollars a night which is a lot more than the guide we met told us. We explained we were recommended this place but it did not make a lot of difference. Keeping our cool we entered a negotiation after seeing the room and managed to get the room for 14 dollars, which we felt was quite impressive. So finally we had found somewhere we could stay more than a day and now the beach was waiting for us just two hundred foot away.
We walked back to Lee Park and grabbed our bags returning to Sunsea again sweating and too hot. we dumped our bags in the room, chucked our swimwear on and headed out. It was only a short walk to the beach and by now it was very hot. The beach was an impressive site, a long strip of white sand that goes on for 15km. The whole beach is commonly known as 'China Beach', made famous by an American TV show of the same name. It is famous for being the landing point for a lot of US soldiers during the Indochina War. The beach was amazing and so quiet, unbelievably quiet, there was literally no sunbathers and only a few locals milling around that you could count on one hand. Considering how full the hotels are where were all the holiday makers? it was all quite bizarre.
We did not complain about this and enjoyed our practically private deserted beach. Who needs to find a remote island in the South Pacific hey?! As expected, the lady offering the deck chairs and umbrella was trying the whole 'rip off the tourists' game so we decided to camp under the Californian 'Baywatch' style lifeguard lookout tower. The roof of the tower produced a square shadow which I took advantage of. As we laid down you could see the heat wave creating ripples off the sand like you were in the desert. The waters were very clear and really warm although shallow. Soon enough, all our stress of the past few days were forgotten and all we were left with was some stomach problems. The heat was strong though and soon enough we decided to have a well deserved beer, the lady on the beach was charging twenty thousand dong (should be no more than ten thousand), we eventually got one at a shop close by for a still inflated fifteen thousand dong. The place was still very quiet and we presumed everyone was out on day trips or something?
We enjoyed our pricey beers then decided it was time to freshen up, we headed back and showered before we watched part of a movie on the cable channels and enjoyed the blasts of air conditioning. By this point, the next challenge would be to buy food which would likely be easier said than done. On leaving the hotel there were people everywhere, including a lot of Viet in swimming gear, children in life jackets and arm floats. Everyone was heading to the beach and it was 5:30pm. On reaching the beachfront who could hardly imagine you were in the same place. There were people everywhere!! Must of been thousands of people all sitting on the beach or in the sea, some playing football or volleyball. It was absolutely crazy, considering 2 hours ago the place was deserted. We then learnt that no locals or holiday makers come to the beach until 5pm after the heat has gone and they stay until practically dark. This is why the beach is empty during the day as most people are sleeping. It was a weird thing to witness but I guess it is how things work around here. Suddenly there were food stalls, drinks, the roads were full of mope heads and cars all tooting and the restaurants were setting up... Literally a different place. Plus all the beach bars now had signs up stating the real prices... Twenty thousand dong for a sun lounger and twelve thousand dong for a beer, will remember that for tomorrow.
There were numerous restaurants along the front with the fresh food in the buckets outside. The range of fish and seafood was impressive but with our stomachs at present, it could prove to be a little adventurous. As we walked past the owners they would try enthusiastically to get us in. It always makes you wary as they are normally over enthusiastic when there are plenty of Viet people in there. To me its a sign they feel they can up the prices and earn some money out of us, a sad thing I know, but you need to be on your guard.
We eventually stumbled across a small local looking place that had an English menu that was the same price as the Vietnamese... Very rare here and as they had beers for ten thousand dong we were sold. We headed in and ordered some simple plain food as our tummys weren't one hundred percent better yet. I ordered chips/fries as that's all I fancied and Laura ordered river spinach and garlic with plain rice. It was just what we needed and so much cheaper than anywhere we had seen plus the portions were great.
We finished our meal and headed back to the guesthouse where Laura attempted again in her broken Vietnamese (mostly hand gestures) to ask for a bucket so we could do laundry... Three people had said yes we will bring you one and yet still it hadn't materialised. We headed up to our room frustrated and fell asleep in a cool serene environment.
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