I woke up at 12 today.
Even when it was 4 o'clock I still couldn't sleep properly. So I needed to sleep a lot. Sleep is really important; I think it's as important as meals. If you don't get enough, your immunity drops quickly and you become more susceptible to viruses and bacteria.
From the moment I woke up my pulse was very fast and my heart was pounding. Apparently the cause was low blood sugar. They say if you haven't eaten anything for over 15 hours you can end up like this. Of course, I'm taking hormonal medication now, so that also has a big effect.
For now, I drank the Aquarius that was in front of me. After replenishing a bit of sugar, I took a shower and got ready. Today I plan to return to the mainland and spend the day there.
I tried to call a taxi, but motorcycle taxis didn't work on any app. There weren't any around at all.
I had no choice but to call a regular taxi, and there were about five nearby so it was found immediately. Just being able to go back to the mainland made me feel a lot better.
About 30 minutes by car. I arrived.
I wanted lunch and went to a pho restaurant but it wasn't open. I walked to another pho restaurant but that was closed too. Feeling a little disappointed and walking down the street, I saw a woman selling coconuts.
I said 'One, please' and had it cracked open on the spot.
Because I was filming while drinking, she kept watching me, but she cut it with a machete and I drank the coconut water inside. It was really delicious. I was able to hydrate safely.
Coconuts are full of nutrients and great, but they're really heavy. It's hard to carry until you finish drinking it, so I had her take it away right away.
After that, I looked for another pho restaurant.
There was an employee, so I asked 'Is here available now?' but my English didn't get through and they replied in Vietnamese. Using a translation app, I found out I could order pho.
When I looked up 'Ga' I thought it was beef and ordered Pho Ga, but later found out it was chicken. The price was 30,000 dong. 150 yen. Too cheap.
I ate pho there while resting and took my medicine safely. A relief.
Next, searching for an ATM.
Maybe because it was around 1 p.m., there was no one walking on the street. Some people were wearing jumpers as if they knew how strong the sun was. I was the only one in a tank top.
I tried several ATMs but couldn't withdraw.
Finally succeeded at another state-owned ATM. But the fee was about 1,000 yen. Honestly, that's way too high.
I had planned to rent a bike today, so I walked around looking for a rental shop. There were two places, both five-star. I decided to go to the one with a lot of reviews. Then there was a woman there; when I told her I wanted to rent a bike we talked using a translation app. I said, 'I don't have a license, so I'd like a bike under 50cc,' but she was like 'this one, this one!' It was a scooter, so it was probably not under 50cc. Oh well, I decided to rent it. It was 130,000 dong per day, so very reasonable. She acted like I had driven a bike before and was used to it, and taught me various operations. But since it had really been a long time since I had driven a bike I was nervous. Still, I remembered the basic operations, so once I actually rode it I quickly got used to it.
They said I had to leave my passport as collateral, but I'd seen an Instagram post in the past where someone was charged a large amount in Thailand when they did that, so I was of course afraid even though that wouldn't necessarily happen. I said leaving my passport was difficult because I needed to check into another hotel and asked, 'Is there another way?'
They said a deposit would do, so I decided to leave 2,000,000 dong. About 10,000 yen. For me, that option was really a relief.
So I said bye to the woman and headed to a gas station. There was almost no gas left and I was about to run out. I headed there while looking at the map on my iPhone. There was nowhere to put an iPhone stand, so it was really tough. I kept stopping to check the map.
With no iPhone stand, I kept stopping to look at the map. When I finally arrived and had it filled up, it was 96,000 dong (about 500 yen). Too cheap. They carefully counted and returned the change.
From there, to Starbucks.
I was a little worried about parking the bike, but the manager gave me a numbered ticket. When I asked about the fee they said, 'You don't need to pay.' They could have tried to scam me because I'm a foreigner, but they didn't. I thought Vietnamese people are a bit shy or humble, similar to Japanese.
I worked at Starbucks and before I knew it, it was 6:30 p.m.
After that I headed to a Japanese restaurant. Inside it was truly built in a traditional Japanese style, even having a koi pond. Seeing koi again after a long time was somewhat soothing.
At first I was going to order the fried horse mackerel set, but it was sold out. In the end I ordered the pork miso soup set.
What came out was a soup that looked like kimchi hot pot, but I got a lot of nutrition. There was salad and white rice, and it was about 700 yen. Really reasonable.
I bought bananas and water at the supermarket, and purchased six bottles of Pocari at the pharmacy.
All set, I returned to the rural inn. The distance was about 20 km.
The city of Quy Nhon got livelier as night fell, and there was an event happening along the seaside.
Local people were watching a traditional performance that I couldn't understand at all, completely seriously.
I joined the circle and watched too. Precisely because I didn't understand it at all, it was all the more interesting.
There were lots of children roller-skating.
Seeing this scene, I thought that Vietnam certainly has a future.
A 20 km journey back from there.
I'd completely gotten used to the bike and enjoyed riding. I had the impression that Vietnamese people are slower than Indonesians and generally more relaxed.
I crossed a long bridge that was 2.5 km.
There were hardly any cars in front or behind. I rode while filming with an Osmo Pocket in one hand. It was a bit risky and scary, but a good experience.
I arrived in about 20 minutes.
The surroundings were pitch dark, a city under development. To be honest, it was pretty scary. But I arrived at the hotel safely.
It was a long day, but it made me think again how great vehicles are.
I still don't have a license, but if riding a motorcycle gets me this excited, I wonder how much fun flying a plane would be.
Back at the hotel, back to work.
Today was another big adventure.
