Biking through Nha Trang

We were excited to check out some of the outer city of Nha Trang by bike. We were able to rent bikes from our hostel for $3/day which was an awesome deal. Nha Trang has less motorbikes than Hanoi but is by no means a calm driving environment. We were driving through traffic just as though we were a car or motorbike (there were other locals on bikes doing the same) and the diciest parts of the journey were the roundabouts when you are merging through cars to try to make a turn. I didn't really mind the traffic, I figure people will all move out of the way one way or another but Jessica and Alyssa thought it was pretty crazy.

Our first stop was the cathedral. It was pretty plain though it did have a nice nativity set out front. We walked through it but didn't stay long. I think that the Catholic churches in Asia are less impressive to us than the temples and pagodas since we are more accustomed to seeing them. Our next stop was the Long Son Pagoda. When we arrived, they wanted to charge us to park our bikes at the pagoda so we went and locked them up around the corner for free. At the pagoda they had a giant sitting Buddha and a giant sleeping Buddha which were both impressive to see. It was a large pagoda with nice views of the city, so we hung out for a while taking it in.

We then headed out toward Chong Rock which had been recommended to us by our hostel as a beautiful viewpoint. It was a bit of a ride to get there so on the way I tried to take take in the local culture and lifestyle. I love that people in Vietnam really wear those cone shaped rice hats and still do traditional farming and fishing. It's nice to see that people can still do things the old way.

When we arrived at Chung Rock, there was absolutely nothing to see and we couldn't figure out why it had been recommended. We stopped to briefly look out over the water and then head back into town in search of lunch.

After some searching, we found some street food that looked amazing. You could basically make your own to-go box of food that they had prepared for only a $1. It was a little confusing to order at first since they spoke no English and local people kept yellng orders and cutting in front of us, but eventually one of the women who worked there took pity on us and helped us using sign language and pointing at things. The food was really delicious and we were happy to get to try so many delicious dishes for such a great price. Street food is always the way to go.

After lunch, we headed to Ponagar Tower which was conveniently right across the street from where we ate lunch. This was a temple with a few different house of worship within it. The temples do not allow you to enter wearing shorts, sleeveless shirts or shoes so we needed to wear some robes since we weren't properly dressed. Thankfully, this temple provides the robes to you free of charge although the temple itself does have an entrance fee. The temple was very nice and we enjoyed walking around it and checking out the different shrines.

After leaving the Ponagar Tower, we headed to the Hot Spring Spa and Mud Bath for a relaxing spa afternoon. We sprung for the four person private bath which would have heated mud instead of the cold communal mud bath. The mud wasn't exactly hot, more luke warm but I was still glad it wasn't cold. The texture of the mud was more watery than I'm used to but it was supposed to have therapeutic minerals that are good for your skin.

Following our soak in the mud, we got to have our own spa bath. It also wasn't hot but definitely warm, so it was nice to lounge in for a while. When we were done there, we headed down to the pool area where they had a couple of pools, cabanas and waterfalls. Had it been a sunnier day, it would have been a great place to lounge and get a tan but since it was cloudy and a bit cold, we didn't stay long.

Once back into town, we decided to try "Sakura Sushi" which had been recommended to us by our hostel. The sushi was good and I always think its funny to see different country's interpretations of standard rolls. We hung out there for a bit to kill some time since we were taking the night train to Ho Chi Minh that evening at 10:00pm.

We got a cab to take us to the train station and ironically there was another couple there from our hostel. They had taken the train before so I followed their lead as far as where to go/what to do since it was definitely a little confusing in the station. When our train arrived, we walked down to our car and found our room. We had booked a four bed sleeper which meant that we had one other person in the room with us. He was a young Vietnamese businessman who didn't speak English and kept to himself, which was actually nice since we were all tired. We piled all of our bags into the room and were just barely able to find spots for everything to go. The room was very basic but not bad and although I had been planning to watch a movie or something since it was only 10:00pm, as soon as we started moving I felt tired and went right to sleep. The rocking of the train totally knocked me out and I slept the entire ride which was not what I had been expecting.

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