The second of my mini-vacations in January came the week after my escape north to the mountains; this time, I headed south to the ocean. Lenna and I had been talking about doing a trip together for months, and when our schedules and the planets seemed to align for just long enough to give us a solid 3-day window, we decided to make the best of it. While looking around we had sort of a Venn Diagram of places either she or I had already gone and didn't want to revisit, or planned to visit extensively later on and didn't want to go to yet. Nha Trang was one of the few places that hit the sweet spot in-between, and had the right airfare, so to Nha Trang we went!
Nha Trang is a small beach city, a bit bigger and touristy-er than Vung Tau but still quite navigable by foot. Also, it is FILLED with Russians. This is something I found fascinating. There's actually a direct flight from Moscow to Nha Trang. Which came first, I wonder, the direct flight or the eastward migration? File this under: things that could be Googled but are more fun as speculation fodder. Also interesting: while in Nha Trang we were informed that despite this not yet being the high season the number of Russian tourists milling about was actually below the norm because of the tensions at the time of our visit between Russia and Turkey, and the resulting lack of Turkish carriers/tours which Russians usually use to get themselves to this little piece of Viet-Slavic heaven. For my part, Nha Trang was fine. It suited all my purposes, most of which were to get warm and sunny. Check and check. And if it reminded me of every beach town on every other continent I've ever visited (albeit with a little more cultural mixing and matching), well, that was just fine.
Our first meal after checking in to our hostel, Mojzo Inn! It was an early morning.... I biked over to Lenna's around dawn and then we woke up our scheduled taxi's driver, who was sleeping in his car out front of her house. The plane ride itself is mercifully short, as are most domestic flights in Vietnam, and I'm pretty sure I slept from takeoff to landing. As I am wont to do. These spring rolls were delicious, by the way, and although the coffee was woefully small it still brought me some badly-needed vigor to carry on with my day.
The stunning view from our laughably tiny balcony! Lenna and I sprang for the private room with two queen size beds. It was not much more than the dorm and so, so worth it for the ability to have a place to relax for a while between daytime stuff and nighttime stuff. All in all, Mojzo Inn was a pretty decent hostel and the free breakfast, although I was not really feeling it, was generous.
Another kind of view. If you catch my drift. Legs!
I really liked this idea they had for decorating, they had these water bottles arranged in the front and also along the walls up on the roof. It's a nice recycling maneuver and gave the place a jungle-y, lived-in feel.
For our first day we decided to catch a taxi to the trail for Ba Ho, a local series of waterfalls we'd read about. It was a good day for it, a little cloudy and humid but hot and still plenty of sun. We headed out and although we had some constructed-related issues getting to the spot, and our driver insisted on driving us past where the road ended and a rutted, boulder-strewn dirt path began, we finally found our way to the trail we wanted. Along the way.... water buffalo.
WARNINGS
PLEASE KEEP YOUR BELONGINGS, NOT TO SEPARATE FROM THEM.
IF LOST HAPPENS, RESPONSIBILITY IS NOT BELONG TO US.
THANKS.
.... Understood.
Plaque at the start of the trail.
When we'd read about this place online there had been some comments from tourists who'd been that the trail could get a little difficult at times. As we were making our way in Lenna and I laughed at this; there were some rocks and hills but it was basically easy. Could this possibly be considered a difficult trail by people? How naive we were...
Natural beauty and shit.
This part was funny though; as we were following the dirt trail it crossed a small stream and on the other time it turned into this concrete beam with not much room to walk alonside. Clearly we were meant to walk on this thing, balance beam gymnastics style. And yet in the very middle of this beam was that thing that was spewing water. WTF?
Cool, Vietnam. Very safe, 10/10 accessibility points to you.
Helpful red arrows leading us on!
Flutter by, butterfly.
These arrows...not so helpful.
After about 20 minutes or so we made it to the first set of waterfalls! This made for some very excellent, if a bit chilly, swimming.
The second set, which we climbed up to! At this point we noticed that the trail was definitely getting difficult, and like I said, at some points we were actually climbing using iron handholds that had been hammered into the rock faces.
Get out of the frame, dudes!
First impressions can be deceptive.
Thanks, red spray-painter.
The final pool we climbed to. It was very Land Before Time-y and I'm glad we pushed on up to see it.
Exploring a bit, stumbled upon a pair of mated wild hipsters. We tread lightly so as not to disturb them in their congress.
No, See YOU Ba Ho!
We convinced our driver to meet us at the start of the actual road so we would not have to drive over the insane dirt "road" again and instead enjoyed the last of the late afternoon heat as we walked to meet him. And we took in a bit more nature, never a bad thing.
NAAAAATURE!!!! No but seriously, after working like in dog in Hanoi for a few months I could not have needed this kind of stuff more. All joking aside, this was basically a perfect first afternoon for my second mini-vacay.
That evening we headed into the city center (although we were basically already there, Mojzo Inn being located in an alley off of the main tourist drag and only a 15 minute walk or so from a mass of beach-front restaurants and the central night market).
I CAN BELIEVE I ATE THE WHOLE THING 'CAUSE THAT SHIT WAS DELICIOUS.
Afterwards we roamed. I picked up some sandals at the night market. We took in the sights and sounds of Nha Trang at night. Then we headed back to the hostel to pass out.
(Welcome, dear customer!)
The next door we took in the free breakfast and then had a second breakfast/coffee at a cute nearby bakery, after which we decided to take another taxi to a nearby beach we'd heard good-ish things about, Bãi Dài (up north pronounced Bye Zai, down south pronounced Bye Yai). It's about a half an hour by car outside of Nha Trang and although online sources said it was quieter (true), cleaner (not true), and less developed (only technically true, since about a half mile of it was dominated by beach-front seafood shacks/bars where seating was not free) than Nha Trang, I'm not sure it was worth the trip out there. Still, the surrounding mountains and being on the beach, in the sun, was fine. It was a bit cloudier of a day but Lenna and I still managed to enjoy ourselves.
Catering to the two most prevalent languages of tourists. Can you spot the typo in the English part? Can't attest to the Russian.
Careful crab, you could end up as our lunch!
After relaxing out at the end of the shacktown we headed back in to find a good place for lunch where we did, in fact, eat crabs. Maybe even my little friend from earlier. We settled on the Russian/English sign place because the guy who came out to talk to us spoke English and had been to Florida. Sold!
Obviously enamored of these two nuggets.
Feastin'.
It wasn't getting any warmer or sunnier as the afternoon moved on so not too long after lunch Lenna and piled back into our taxi to return to town and clean up. Afterwards we went out in search of cocktails and more food.
Nailed it! We had kind of a mojito thing going and these were maybe some of my favorite. Sweet but delightful. I also had an espresso cocktail thing here that was delightful.
Later, there were burgers. They had onion rings and cheese and bacon and fries and it was... exceptional.
More traces of Russian around town!
The next day we had some VERY overpriced but wonderfully strong iced coffees and a nearby cafe and then went out renting some bicycles for the day. We were flying out that evening so we wanted to make the most of our last day in Nha Trang.
Vinpearl Resort, a tourist wonderland across the bay. We did not visit.
I like this method of advertisement. Eco-friendly and creative!
Our first stop was the Hon Chong promontory and accompanying temple, whose entrance was about $1 I believe. The afternoon turned out to be insanely beautiful, cloudless and hot, so it was a perfect day for climbing all over the boulders of the promontory, which was located directly behind this small temple.
The tourists buses were pouring in here.
From afar.
Awkward sunny vacation selfie!
We got a badass here.
Up close.
Down in the rockpool.... (This is an inside joke for anyone who has been forced to teach using English World 2, particularly the second half, which has an egregiously catchy song about rockpools and sealife.)
Out on the bay.
Lenna is really strong, you guys. (Just kidding! Or am I? No I am. I think...)
Back inside the temple, a musical performance was happening that people could drift in and listen to for a few minutes while enjoying the relatively cool and dark haven on the building. And a benevolent, elderly poster of Uncle Ho watched over the proceedings.
Infographic!
In the gift shop. Initially I thought this was just a regular, cheesy painting of some flowers. Something you might find in a department store or a musty office somewhere.
The flowers were all made using rocks, though, which I thought was pretty sweet.
Tools of the trade, little bowls of rocks.
Our next destination was the Cham Tower, Po Nagar. The Cham are an ethnic (and linguistic) minority in Vietnam, the remnants of the Cham empire, which existed all over southeast Asia. I'll admit I don't know a lot of about this group but this structure has been really beautiful restored/maintained and is definitely worth a visit. While we were there, there was a display of traditional Cham-style performances feature women dancing with bowls and men playing music. It was cool.
No to all these things.
Looking inside.
Some shots from the dance.
And the men playing, afterwards. Plus this dude wearing the most garish shirt known to man.
Thanks Google for making this panorama of the main temple! I didn't ask you to do that but I'm sure glad you did.
Nearby garden with fountains.
Every possible form of souvenir could be found at these tables around the temples or in the stalls, located in the background. Seriously. Cham, Vietnamese, or otherwise. Anything.
Museum.
Women's ceremonial dress...
...and men's.
Now and then.
Different people, different gods.
But hey! We've still got apsaras. So that's cool.
Animals play an important part in the Cham religion.
After poking around the little one-room museum, Lenna and I decided it was time to go inside the temples. This necessitated us donning these irresistible smocks. A very kind fellow tourist documented our undeniable allure.
Inside, the altars were black, the walls were black, everything was black save for the very bright doll/flowers/lanterns on the altar. It made for a surreal and striking experience.
After getting all in those temples we were ready to strike out again on our bikes, so we headed back towards Nha Trang (the promontory is located North of town and the Cham is separated by central Nha Trang by a small harbor, so you have to cross a bridge to get to them).
The old shack and the sea.
Bridge stuff. Documenting Lenna documenting me, although you can't see it very well here the helmets the bike rental place gave us were A) laughably cheap and B) mine had an ersatz Nike swoosh while her's boldly claimed "FBI".
Stopping for lunch at a chi-chi Japanese place. The food was not great and we had some ordering issues plus I ordered an iced coffee and they gave me the old school style grounds in the metal filter, which is cool except that the ratio of grounds to water was about 5 to 1 and afterwards I was so caffeinated I felt woozy. Also their bathroom walls were basically cardboard, despite the fanciness of the restaurant, it was just a weird place, you know? But the view was great.
Alexander Yersin, hometown hero of Nha Trang.
When ze moon hits yur eye....
Seussical topiary on display.
Looking back at the colorfully be-flagged bridge, and an elderly couple. Dude, let her catch up! Come on.
More Seussian topiary. This felt VERY much like part of some fantastical other world.
We could not for the life of us determine what the purpose of this building is beyond "government" (at least that's what the red and yellow signage led us to believe). Its reason for existing is as mysterious as its reason for looking the way it does. But I like it all the same.
Relaxing and soaking up the last of the Nha Trang afternoon, looking out over the beach and all the various Russian tourists in their various stages of fitness.
Later we snuck into the OTHER Mojzo Inn, not the one we were staying at but its sister hostel, in order to take advantage of their free beer happy hour. We chatted with some friendly/amusing fellow travelers and soaked up some free watery lager before making our way towards some dinner. Here was the view from the hostel's crowded rooftop, where said free beer was consumed.
One last pizza and mojito before we go, the the Hanoi below (just kidding, its north of Nha Trang). In this shot you can see the random (Russian?) child who was sitting at the other outdoor table of this restaurant, unaccompanied. Parents? Possibly the employees/patrons of this establishment? Hard to say. In any case, he was probably the most miserable soul in all of Nha Trang that evening, poor tot.
This was a nice trip and although I wouldn't necessarily say Nha Trang has a ton of attractions to recommend it (you can find better beaches elsewhere, the same or cheaper prices, nicer fancy resorts, whatever you're looking for from your beach experience in Vietnam is not going to be found exclusively in Nha Trang, it's generic in that way) it's got enough going that if you just want to get away for a few days and have some real fun galpal time, this is a pretty decent place.
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