Nha Trang: Beach Life

We left Hoi An aboard an overnight bus to Nha Trang that proved to be horrific! We each had a top bunk three across, Steve barely fit into his "bed", and all of our seatbelts were broken that would prevent us from crashing to the floor. As if this wasn't bad enough, the driver honked continously throughout the 12 hour ride to prevent any rest. And to top it off, the locals tied hammocks to the beds and swung in the aisles below us. At a certain point we just laughed at how ridiculous the entire thing was. Luckily we had some Zanex that allowed us to get a bit of sleep even in the worst of situations.



Nha Trang is a beach town and our first activity was renting a catamaran to sail up and down the shore. There wasn't enough wind to get it out of the water, but Lindsey learned how to sail a bit. Afterwards we ate lunch at beach-side Louisianne Restaurant and napped a bit on their lounge chairs. It was a relaxing start to a few lazy days here.



That night we had one of the best French meals ever at Le Petite Bistro which we highly highly recommend to anyone coming here. We're probably headed back there for our last meal in Nha Trang tonight.

The next day Steve and Lindsey took a wind-surfing lesson in the morning. Lindsey was a natural and Steve could have used a bit more wind to get going, but we both enjoyed it. Lindsey's instructor speaking English also may have helped! We're hoping to rent boards again at the next beach on our trip for some more practice.



Later that day we hooked back up with Lindsey's dad and rode bicycles through some crazy traffic to a great photographer's gallery, the Long Son Pagoda, and the Po Nagar Towers built by the Champa people. The pagoda was more impressive than anything we've seen in Vietnam so far, but still fell short of Thailand's wats.



Following this, we rode to the harbor where all of the boat trips to the surrounding islands depart. We met a boat captain and negotiated a private trip with him for the following morning. The captain had been in the South Vietnamese Airforce in '71 and was a big fan of us being Americans.

Our boat trip turned out to be fantastic and after seeing boats packed full with 40 tourists we were glad we spent the extra $20 to secure a private trip. We stopped at a two islands to do some snorkelling and despite Steve's mask not really keeping water out it was a great time (see pic). At the second site, Lindsey returned to the boat rather quickly after seeing what she thought were sea snakes, but it turns out they were some other strange harmless creature. Look at the album for some fun underwater shots.



After snorkelling we made our way to a floating fishing village. We saw some massive carp, squid, and lobsters inside their nets, and took a wobly ride in their circular boats. They wanted us to buy some seafood and have it cooked at the neighboring restaurant, but it was surprisingly expensive and we headed back to port.

Our last day in Nha Trang, we wanted to stay out of the sun as we're both a bit burnt and headed to Thap Ba Hot springs. Here we took a mud bath, sat in some spring-fed mineral pools, and relaxed a bit. For $6, it wasn't the fanciest place ever but a nice end to our time here.

Tonight we're headed to Mui Ne (aboard another sleeper bus!) to ride down sand-dunes and enjoy some more beach time!