Got sunburned at the beach again

29.08.2014

I finally mastered the weekender back packing. All my things are assigned to a designated pocket and I can close my eyes, reach into my bag and find whatever I want. I know, you're jealous, you don't need to tell me.

This weekend, I thought it was going to rain. For some reason I didn't bring my hat and I suffered for it. It was extremely hot and I think my scalp got burnt. Along with everything else, because I dunno the sunscreen I bought didn't work very well or something.

I caught a bus at about 6 a.m. and made my way extremely slowly to Mong Cai. They threw me off the bus at about 9 a.m. and I attempted to walk the 7 km to the beach, thinking it would feel that much more refreshing when I got there.

At about the halfway point, a woman quite sternly demanded to drive me the rest of the way. I was getting a headache from the sun beating directly on my skull, so I let her. She brought me to the beach and I walked along the shallow waves, trying not to cut my feet on the shells, until I got hungry.

Everything there was extremely far away from everything else, so finding a place to buy something to eat was no simple feat. When I did, all I found was a crappy little shop with some ramen and chips for sale. The same woman was there. Strange. I bought my staple snack food, ice cream and beer, and went back to the beach.

Besides two fisherwomen looking for clams, it was deserted. I went crazy and jumped butt naked into the warm water. I found a place where there was not so many crabs and took a nap in the sun. It was like a sauna you couldn't escape from. This was a Saturday on a long festival weekend and the place was completely empty. It was awesome. Hot, but awesome.

When I was tired of the beach, I walked to what I thought was a small bus station, but it was actually a place to chill out and look at China. Possibly with animosity? I don't know.

I tried to get a ride on the tourist buses there, but they wouldn't let me, so I walked down the road until I found a public bus back to the city. Then, I took another bus to the bus station where I could catch another bus in the morning at 6:30 a.m. to Long San. Perfect.

I chose a hotel at random across the street to sleep in. The woman had to have my passport. Oh no. I forgot. I hastily traipsed around looking for a copy shop. Finally I found one and the man printed a copy of my passport that I had in my email. (For about 5 cents) and I went back to the hotels, hoping one of them would accept it.

The original lady was happy with this document, thank god, and I got me a banh mi sandwich for dinner and passed out at 7 p.m.

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