Living the Good Life: Nha Trang

We arrived in Nha Trang by bus around supper time. Didn't really see too much of the city that night, just walked around a bit looking for supper. It's actually hard to find cheap eats here because the place is FULL of Russians that come here on holiday and drive the price up. The signs are even in Vietnamese and Russian (English if you're lucky).

The next morning we did all the boring travel things that don't get mentioned in blogs like walking across the city in sweltering heat with our big packs on (we were switching to a cheaper hostel) and madly searching for a bus that wasn't full (Tet screwing us over repeatedly). In the end we would stay one night longer in Nha Trang than originally planned because busses are jam packed around the Tet holiday.

That afternoon we rented some bikes and headed out to Po Nagar Cham towers. These were built between the 7th and 12th centuries and 4 of the original 9 towers still stand.

The towers are set on a hillside and give some great views of the Nha Trang harbour full of fishing boats.

Worth mentioning: Jared and I stumbled upon a great spot for lunch- we had bun thit nuong (vermicelli noodles, bbq pork, fresh herbs, fish sauce) and nem phan (roll your own fresh spring rolls with pork). Also ran into an Englishman that told us about a nice beach to check out called Bai Xai.

Delicious food comes out of these metal boxes

After lunch we headed to Thap Ba Mineral and Mud Spa. It was great fun, and a bargain at $15 for the both of us. Had a sit in the mud pool (that smelt like evergreen) and then a long soak in the hot pools. Sorry we don't have pictures, took them with the camera because it's waterproof and those will be in limbo until we get home to the camera cord :s

The next day we took the advice of our English friend and headed to the beach. For $25 we got a cabbie to take us out 30km to the beach, wait 4 hours while we beached and dined on seafood and then drove us back! This place has totally screwed me up for what price to expect out of pretty much everything. Food, transport, hotels, it's all so cheap compared to back home. We lounged on the beach, and had some yummy fresh crab on a little mini BBQ.

Garbage is a real thing here in SE Asia

Day 3 in Nha Trang was spent on a cycling/kayaking tour. In the morning we cycled through some countryside- think rice fields, small villages, and the largest standing Buddha statue in Vietnam. We stopped and had some lovely Vietnamese coffee (epic sugar fest!!) and then after a wee bit more cycling we stopped for lunch. They kept bringing us different courses of food, it was excellent.

Too legit to quit

Rice field on our cycle

The afternoon was spent kayaking down the river to where it meets with the sea. Saw the Cham towers again but from a different angle.

The Austrian on our tour that kept insulting the Chinese (also on our tour) to their faces. Made for some hilarious moments, Jared and I just kept smirking at each other. I don't think he was even trying to be mean, just one of those people that lack a filter.