Qui Ngon

Qui Ngon is a small coastal town about 200kms north of Nha Trang. Like Nha Trang it has a long beach as part of the city, unlike it's southern sister there is no tourist trade. In truth there isn't a lot to see in the city but I think that that can be said of Nha Trang. Maybe Nha Trang is growing because of the airport, who knows. Anyway I was looking forward to being back in a wholly Vietnamese city. The bus journey was uneventful, just how I like it and I checked into a hotel I'd found the Lonely Planet guide that I'd "borrowed" from Denise. I hadn't bothered to buy one before as I'm familiar with places I'd so far been but Qui Ngon was new. I wandered around the city on foot that afternoon, dodging rain showers, it appeared that I'd brought the rainy weather with me. I went to a couple of pagodas, interesting but not riveting, had dinner and finished with an early night. I did much better the next day, I rented a bike from the hotel and now back in my comfort zone went off to properly explore the city. I saw the Cham towers, all the more beautiful because I was the only person there to appreciate them, went to a Com Binh Dan place for lunch. These are places where the staple is rice and then you just point at what you want to go on top. I usually have some kind of fish and vegetables. It's a really cheap way to eat. I spent part of the afternoon looking for a specific cafe and found it after dodging yet more showers, it was closed! I am still not used to the change in the weather from south to central Vietnam. It is hard to believe that Phan Thiet has blazing sunshine and I've seen nothing but rain for the past week. I got back to the hotel damp, not helped by the fact that my room was damp. I wondered if I would ever be totally dry again. It wasn't cold but I seemed to be surrounded by a damp,clammy blanket that stuck to me. I spent some time on the hotel computer and then sat in the lobby waiting for the rain to stop so I could go out and get some dinner. It didn't stop. Luckily there was a hostel just a couple of doors up and I went there and ate. My last day started dry and of course, with coffee. Then I was determined to get out and see the statue of Tran Hung Dao that stood at the end of the headland overlooking Qui Ngon bay. Unfortunately all anyone had been able to tell me was that I needed a boat to get there, maybe where I could get the boat from and my passport in case anyone thought I was going to China. Such is the quality of tourist information from the hotel and hostel staff combined, oh and I should catch the boat at 7am. I ignored the info about my passport and the boat time and went to the "boat terminal" when I finished my morning coffee. No one spoke English there but I managed to communicate my wants and I was soon haggling with a guy to take me across the bay and back. I probably paid too much but I was happy with the price I did pay, about $5 for the return trip. The statue is awesome, Tran Hung Dao was a 13th century Vietnamese general who defeated the Chinese three times to free Vietnam from Chinese rule. The statue shows him with an outstretched arm and pointed finger, apparently he is telling the Chinese to back off to this day. I was the only person there and I am so glad that I persevered and found a way to get there. Sometimes I allow myself to be stopped from doing things because I am afraid, afraid of what I can't tell you. Logically I know that the worst that can happen is that someone says no to me but that doesn't make it easier. So just doing this small thing and being successful was a confidence boast for me. The rest of the day was pretty unremarkable. I had coffee again, went to another pagoda and spent a lot of time cycling around the city. They don't get a lot of tourists here and I think, even fewer who choose to cycle, I was getting a lot of attention. I had dinner at No.7 restaurant, down a back street in the older part of the city. It is interesting to see that some cities in Vietnam now have two distinct parts. There is the area that was originally settled. This consists of small, narrow streets and the older businesses. The other part is newer, the roads are wider, often with a median, there is planting, more open space and everything is just generally newer. I said hello to a few of the other customers at the restaurant and when it came time to pay one of these guys grabbed my bill and settled it. Nice! I went back to the hotel and prepared to sleep, I had another early bus in the morning.