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The seaside town of Quy Nhon is a lot less touristy than Nha Trang, so much so that only one or two restaurants have menus in English. Whilst this did narrow the opportunities, we found enough variety to keep us covered for the three weeks we spent there. It was refreshing not to be approached by so many people wanting to sell you sun glasses, cigarettes or usher you into their restaurant.

Our hotel, The Seagull (in 3 weeks we didn’t see a single seagull!!!), was right on the seafront and you can see from the pics that we had a stunning view from our superb balcony. We managed to negotiate a rate of $25 a night, including a splendid buffet breakfast, it was a little over our budget but it was very, very nice.

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We didn’t see many westerners in Quy Nhon, only the occasional tour group in/out of the hotel staying 1 night before moving on the next day. This is a tourist town but not set up for or frequented by westerners. We spoke to a few guests in the hotel who looked Vietnamese but were proud to say they were from California, and had been living there since the end of the war. We learned that San Francisco has the largest population of Vietnamese outside the country.

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We were here to do not very much and, to be fair, we were very successful so not much to blog about. However, here are a few snippets:

1. Mobile Music Man. How’s this for ingenuity. Get yourself a moto, fit on the back a very large car battery and amplifier, invest in a quality radio mic. and, hey presto, you have a mobile music business. Now you travel around town, singing all those favourite tunes outside all the restaurants in town. Just wander around the restaurant taking requests from the tables and pocket the cash!! Brilliant…… if not a tad annoying when you’re trying to enjoy a quiet meal!
2. Another great business idea is the mobile ice cream man aboard his push bike with a large box at the front. Sure, nothing new here, it happens all over the world. But, playing the theme from The Good, The Bad and The Ugly as your signature tune seemed to us to be inspirational!
3. Around the coast, about 5kms south, there’s a Leper Hospital and Rehabilitation Site. They have their own private beach with gardens and you can visit for 5000VND (about 15p). It was surreal. Very quiet and clean, totally unlike Vietnam, and it had a small village attached to it where the “cured” can live and work in the gardens, rice paddies and fishing. Altogether a very pleasant place to visit and see disabled people just getting on with their lives rather than begging in the streets.
4. While we were here the town celebrated 35 years of Liberation from “the US aggressors”! A big party in town with lots going on and, in true Vietnamese style, very noisy. We even had a famous Vietnamese Boy Superstar staying at our hotel who gigged just one night at the town’s stadium as part of the celebrations. He was very pretty but we don’t know how good his singing was! Lot’s of filming and interviews in the hotel foyer seemed to be boring him to death!
5. Quy Nhon has a large University and we were often approached by students wanting to polish up their English. One girl, in particular, was studying to be an English teacher. We were out for our evening stroll and she politely asked if she could walk with us. She was the first person in her village to attend Uni and her English and vocabulary were excellent. She walked with us for almost an hour and it was great to have been able to help her.

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That’s it, we said it was short so it’s now back to Nha Trang to extend the visa once more.