The day I hit the coast!

I left Dalat the next morning at 7.30am on a bus to Nha Trang. This city is the premier party/resort/beach destination. Although I wouldn't be staying. I had to come here to get another bus connection and continued north. The road was in mostly good shape except for a dusty 10km stretch. I must say our driver was the best I've seen. He drove slowly and cautiously and I never feared for my life. I did see 3 accidents along the way though. There was dried pools of blood on the road at the scene of a grisly crash involving 2 motorbikes. Next was a van that had turned over on its side and the other accident was a motorbike that hit a truck. I've more vehicle accidents here in Vietnam than any other country (I saw a few more days later).
From Nha Trang I got on another bus right away. I got off 2 hours later in Tuy Hoa. My guidebook described it as a friendly little place with a good beach and no tourists. This is what I wanted. The beach isn't really my thing but I thought I would take a few days exploring it and hanging out in a quiet place.
I stayed at Dong Coan hotel which was right across the street from the beach. I got a very nice room on the fourth floor with 2 balconies and a sea view. The hotel boasted 2 stars. I think its the first hotel I've ever stayed in that had stars! For $8, it was one of the nicest rooms I've ever had. I met some locals and they took me around that night. We went to the flower market. Chinese/Vietnamese New Year (known as Tet) is on Feb. 14 and everyone was out looking for flowers. Most of the flowers were tall chrysanthemums but there were a few lilies. For me the most impressive area was a small art gallery with a large bonsai display in the front. This collection of bonsai was the most impressive I've ever seen. Unlike most of the other bonsais I've seen which were very large, these bonsais were a more manageable size and could easily be brought into a house for display.