Flashpacking

I met up a few days ago with a pretty hardcore traveler named Lindsey. She's been in Asia a while and is super broke. We hung out for a while, and during this time she referred in a negative light to "flashpacking." I'd never heard of flashpacking, but she defined it as being those people who pretend to be backpackers, but are carrying lots of expensive stuff, staying in nice hotels, etc. Not the life she's living. I've been in the middle. I've been staying at relatively cheap hostels, but not like hers, and allowing myself a lot of luxuries. For my last couple days in Da Lat I decided to step it up a notch.

It may be a strange reaction the day after having someone question my backpacker credentials, but I decided to check into a nice hotel with a private room (which sounds like an "of course," but feels like the most luxurious part), a king-size bed, and a hot tub on the roof. This set me back $22 per night.

The next indulgence was an excellent dinner at a place called Trong Dong. I had fresh spring rolls centered around shrimp paste grilled on sugar cane, and a claypot dish of eel steamed in coconut milk. One of the best meals I've had here for sure. With a beer, this cost around $10.

The other day I was going out to meet some new folks, but I had waited too long to do my laundry. All my clothes were dirty and because of the rain it was going to take a full twenty four hours to dry them. So, on my way, I stopped in the market and bought a pair of jeans and a sweater for about $20. The jeans could fit better--I'm right on the edge of what it is possible to fit into Vietnamese men's clothing, but I didn't smell bad.

It's not a bad life here. You can live like a king for very little money. And I'm not upset about my backpacking credentials being called into question because I can have mornings like today. I woke up around six thirty, went for a five-mile run around the lake, and came back to the hotel for breakfast. The breakfast at this hotel is a communal table groaning under the weight of the plates of food. I sat for an entire hour drinking coffee and eating eggs, bacon, ham, fresh baguettes, cheese, mango, papaya, pineapple, passion fruit, and strawberries. Then went upstairs and crawled back into bed for a while. Essentially my ideal morning.