Sleepless nights

People with no hotels getting ready to camp on beach

In an earlier post I mentioned that I purchased a new mattress for our bed that was rock hard. Since then, I have been required to purchase more for the hotel gests because of the overwhelming demand for a couple of days. Let me tell you a bit of what people sleep on here. The vast majority sleep simply on a bamboo mat that looks very similar to the bamboo roll down curtains you see in many places. They offer little if no cushioning, but do help to isolate the body from the concrete. It also leaves a bit of an air space between the body and the floor preventing a person from ripping themselves up from the floor like a sticky piece of tape. The next and almost as hard surface I see quite often is a piece or pieces of wood on an actual bed frame with the same bamboo mat laid on top. For those that have a little more

A weather front moving in

 disposable income, there is the 3 inch foam mattress. They come in varying softness’s and are made of a simple foam we are all familiar with. They vary in thickness up to 6 inches. The average cost of these mattresses are from 25-50 dollars. Then there are a hardened foam that comes mainly from Korea. Like the one I purchased, they can be as hard as a floor or have some give, but I am finding them extremely uncomfortable. Lastly, the spring mattress

Boats anchored off the beach

as finally arrived. Three years ago I did not see any anywhere. They are different than at home and I am not sure why. Most are stiff, but that is normal here, and very comfortable. The average spring mattress will run around 100 dollars. Sort of puts ours in the sky high range doesn’t it?

A family beaching a boat

While mentioning prices, I will also talk about a thing that is a bit odd to me. If you break a tail light or some other accessory on your vehicle in the western world, a person can easily expect to pay one or two hundred dollars for that part. (probably due to our labor rates) Here I have had the need to replace some items for my vehicle and here are the prices I paid.

Lunch on the beach

Headlight assembly with bulb……3.00

Tail light and turn lights…………1.50

A flasher for signal lights………..75cents

Pair of foot pegs………………….1.00

Side body molding………………1.25

New custom made seat…………..10.00

I will defy you to find a new item in any of the categories above for less than 40.00… and some for more than 100.00

A beached boat under repair

How about clothes? Well……..

 A pair of designer jeans…. 5.00

A pair of shorts…….. 2.00

A nice shirt…………..5.00

A pair of shoes……….10.00

Prescription eyeglasses….40.00

A family beaching a boat for repair

And appliances?

An inexpensive gas stove…..15.00

An expensive gas stove……75.00

A large refrigerator……….400.00

A good washing machine…..175.00

Now here is the real contradiction…..

A cheap microwave…..125.00

A drip coffee maker with timer…..200.00

A basic electric grill……100.00

Now…… how was my day you ask? I have just learned that an overflow valve in my septic system is plugged and therefore, one of my two septic tanks overflows into the street. With the hotel booked to capacity, this problem has reared it’s might head. Thankfully it is Shower and laundry water that is flowing into the street. I hate to think of how many people would flee my building if it was the other tank.

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5 thoughts on “Sleepless nights

  1. Are there many expats in Nha Trang? I would think so, it’s my favorite city in VietNam. Hoi An a close second but Nha Trang has so much to offer and it’s close to almost everything…..except Ha Noi but by plane that’s not far.

  2. I stayed at a small hotel afew years ago in Nha Trang and I paid about $12USD for my room, the owner told me he charged $80USD during Tet because there weren’t enough rooms and people had to sleep on the beach…guess he wasn’t telling a tall one about that!

    1. No tall tales… they were camping on the beach here. I could have charged big bucks but We are new and the powers that be are keeping an eye on us for reasons I will blog about tomorrow.

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