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We headed to the town of Nah Trang which was a good example of extremely s*** urban planning. It looked like the Vietnamese version of the centre of Benidorm on the Costa del Sol. A good stretch of sand, ruined by sun loungers, backed by tacky bars that led onto a concrete jungle of hotels, restaurants and tour agencies with a dollop of bright pink poms mooching around. We spent a day at the beach which was a decent swimming beach with light blue warm water, a great change from the Pacific Ocean in California and the icy Atlantic of Cape Town and were bored already. We had heard about a company called Easy riders who did motorcycle tours around the highlands and we found an offer right away, so he sat us down at the one of the tea stands on little tiny plastic stools, got us some green tea and after a damn good sales pitch we were handing over $300 for a 3 day tour in no time. Was very expensive but was the highlight of Vietnam for both of us. After coming through Loas and Thailand we weren't that impressed by Vietnam which was very crowded and dirty with a population that seemed adamant to rip you off for every penny your worth, but our local guides with easy rider really turned out perceptions around. They offered us a free city tour and whisked us off to see the Cham Pagoda, a strange cult temple which worships mother earth with hundreds of woman inside a smoky temple chanting prayers to a huge statue of a mother earth. We also went to our first Wat in Vietnam and climbed up to the 50ft white Buddha which sits on a hill over looking the town. Fortunately and unfortunately I got sick on the last day in Nah Trang and spent a day in bed, eating the only food I could stomach; cheese on Russian black bread from an ex-pat German café. I was still feeling like death warmed up when Phong picked us up on his motorcycle, but after a big lunch of noodles and rice I gained some energy and started really enjoying the tour.
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