The Filet Of The Pulp Writers

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A day spent hiding from the sun under a palapa and reading Elmore Leonard beachside in Nha Trang makes a guy hungry. So, for a reliably filling meal, we headed out for some Indian food (Why is it so frickin' good?). We shared chicken kormas and Saigon greens with Jan and Jessi, the German cousins we met in Hue and that we've been partying it up with off and on since. We keep bumping in to the same people every few days since most are travelling between Hanoi and Saigon along the same route.
The beach, for which Nha Trang is well known in Vietnam, is a dirty one. With its syringe and bloated rat waterline and floating plastic in the waves, we spent most of our days here just watching from the safety of the sand and cooling off with a jump into the nearby pool instead. This much trash on this beach doesn't surprise me since Vietnamese are in the habit of letting wrappers fly wherever they're done with 'em. Sometimes, this can be a part of a place's charm, but not when it extends to the beach front. There are very few trash cans on the street, so that doesn't help.
Most afternoons, we returned to Duy Hung Hotel (B+, standard budget place, cheap, AC and water work) for a washup before going back out in the cooler evening for dinner and bia hoi shared around little red plastic stools. Sunday night, Kiima, Jessi and I just about saw the sun rise after we closed down both The Sailing Club and then The Why Not Bar. This is very much how I expect spring break in Cancun would turn out and it was a lot more fun that I imagined.
On the walk between these last two late night spots, I had my first katoey gang robbery. It was around 3-ish out on the street when three fine ladyboys came on to me, grabbing in my pockets and distracting with hands on my junk and voices in my ears, their getaway bikes riding alongside. It definitely happened quickly and I can see how it could easily work most times. Thank the flying spaghetti monster for the snaps on my shirt and for my camera reflex reach though, 'cause they got nothing but my gay cherry.