Dark(-Haired) Angel
“I was thinking,” said Loan on the phone early Saturday morning, “that maybe my niece could give you a tour of Nha Trang today. She lives here and could drive you around on her motorbike. Would that be okay?”
Considering that the other day I established that I have a weakness for women in open-aired vehicles, it took about as long to think about that question as a camera takes to snap a photo. “Loan,” I replied, “that would definitely be okay…”
And so one of the best days of the trip thus far was spent with a nice Vietnamese girl named Kristy. She took me up and down the streets of scenic Nha Trang and out to the Oceanography Museum, drinks on the beach, home, dinner, etc.; won’t bore anyone with details.
It should come as no surprise, though, that most memorable thing for me was cruising down the main boulevard on Kristy’s motorbike by the beach well after sunset with Christmas-like lights sparkling in the distance. As we accelerated into the night, her long hair flowed behind her in the breeze, tickling my neck and filling my nose with a fresh, fruity fragrance punctuated by the nearby saltwater scent of the ocean. She instilled excitement into my Vietnam vacation by taking me out on her Honda Dream just as James Cameron’s Dark Angel had gotten TV watchers’ pulse racing with Jessica Alba on a Kawasaki Ninja 500.
I owe Loan for this one.
