Breakfast smells fishy
Unsurprisingly, we got up late into the morning. Today was the day we had planned to chill. After a crazy month in China, we spotted Phan Thiet as a small town where we could just chill on the beach. We left the hostel and started down the road. It was absolutely roasting already, must be close to 40 degrees celsius. This strip seems to be very tourist oriented as there were plenty of resorts and large restaurants. I’m guessing most of the tourists have breakfast at their own place, because most places were closed/empty.
We chose a place right next to the sea. The pair of us ordered oyster omelette for breakfast. It was a great spot for breakfast, in the shade, and having the sea spray cool us down. I’d not really tried oyster before, but it was actually pretty decent. I had to get some ketchup too! As we finished and carried on down the street, we decided to hire some motorbikes. I’d never rode a motorbike before today, so I was a little anxious but excited at the same time.
Biking by the beach
We chose our bikes, left a passport with the lady as a deposit, and paid our fee. For an entire day, a motorbike only cost me £5. Can’t say fairer than that! The chap at the shop gave us a brief overview of the controls, and then we were off! It was quite a strange feeling at first, to be zipping down the street with the wind brushing me. After about 2 minutes, my bike lost all power. I wondered what the hell had gone wrong, or if I’d done something wrong. It turns out the bike was out of fuel. I found some shade, and Mat went back to the shop to tell the guy.
After 10 minutes or so, they both came back, and the guy had a bottle of petrol. He put what he had into the tank, and then left us to it. We didn’t want to take a chance, so we filled up soon afterwards. The pair of us zoomed down the streets (at a whopping 40 km/h, it felt fast!) towards Mui Ne, though we didn’t have a destination in mind. I definitely enjoyed riding a lot more than I thought I would. Mentally, I was racing everyone and beating them, but they didn’t know that. We came off the main road and went down some side streets to get to the water’s edge. It was a bit of a tip, plenty of rubbish by the shore, but the view was nice. We got back on the bikes and made our way back. Except my bike didn’t start again.
Tip!
It’s important to know that when you hire a motorbike, the quality of the bike is not going to be the best shape it’s ever been. Make sure to give it a quick look over. Make sure you know how much fuel it’s got, it’s usually very low. Sometimes the fuel gauge doesn’t work, so you don’t know how much you have. You’ll also usually have to leave a deposit. This could come in the form of cash, or in our case a passport. Most don’t ask if you have a licence, and if they do ask, they don’t care about seeing it.
This damned bike!
Both of us tried to get the bike to start again, but it wasn’t having any of it. Luckily, on the street we were on was a garage/mechanic. I pushed it to him and he showed me how to start it. You have to hold the ignition button, and rev the handlebar at the same time. I must have looked like an absolute tool to him. Well now I know! (To check out some more tips for riding a motorbike in South East Asia, head here!)We headed back to Phan Thiet, and went the other way to see what was on that side of town. After keeping an eye out for access to the beach, we eventually found an alley way. Most places to get on to the beach were resorts, not many public access points.
We parked up at the beach down the alley way. I removed my shoes and socks, then ventured forth onto the sands of Phan Thiet. It had been such a long time since I’d been on a sunny beach. Especially a beach as beautiful as this. Next to where we were, was a resort. No one was there, so we attempted to use one of the sun loungers as a base for our stuff. Unfortunately, a guard came and said we couldn’t use it, so we had to move our stuff a little further away. We both got prepared for the ocean and left our clothes and shoes on the sand (we kept our shorts on!).
Beautiful beach
I made sure to watch our stuff like a hawk. The water was nice and warm. We had a hell of a lot of fun in the sea, just messing about and doing stupid stuff. It was especially nice for Mat as I don’t believe he had really had a beach holiday like this before. I’d been to the beach plenty in the UK as a kid, mostly in Skegness. Regardless, it was a great way to just enjoy ourselves! We must have looked like a pair of absolute crazy idiots because of the stuff we were doing. But at the end of the day, it really didn’t matter. We were on the other side of the world having the absolute time of our lives. Nothing anyone said could have dampened my spirits.
After a couple of hours here on the beach, we decided to mount our bikes and carry on, further out of town. As we headed quite far out of town, by bike ran out of fuel, yet again!!! I didn’t expect to have to refuel so soon. Mat and I had to go out and search for the nearest shop that was selling petrol. There are a lot of normal shops that sell petrol, not just petrol stations/garages. They usually have a little pump at the front of their shop. Some even sell bottles to you, in litres.
Dinner smells fishy
After I’d refilled, we carried on our search for food. We went so far without any success, so we made our way back and luckily found a place just off the road. I had fried string ray, though I’m sure it was 100% small fry. Mat had fried squid, it was pretty rubbery and tough. New experiences though! After a filling dinner, we made our way back to Phan Thiet as it was now dark. This time, it was Mat’s turn to run out of fuel. I swear these bikes just leak fuel when you’re not looking. Same procedure, we rode to the nearest petrol station, filled a bottle, and refuelled his bike.
We dropped our bikes off at the shop in Phan Thiet and walked to the hostel. What an exhausting but wicked day it had been. When we were back at the hostel, we had a Spanish room mate. We spoke to her for an hour or so, until it was about 1am. In China, most of the tourists were Chinese, so we didn’t speak to that many. But I think because South East Asia is easier to get a visa for, we’ll meet more Western foreigners.
