I tried one of those self-service massage chairs at the bus station. I didn’t know what the settings meant, so I just inserted my Dong and hit play. It was awesome! The chair grabbed your legs tight, pressed your shoulders back, and let its balls go to work! I told a friend about this, who asked if it had a happy ending function. Haha! Imagine that.
Sleeper buses are amazing. I nested in a fully reclined bed-seat, could surround myself with curtains, had a little blanky, and a little TV screen with no power switch. I hauled out my laptop and watched a movie while snacking on Delatian nuts and dried fruit during a 3-hour bus ride from Da Lat to Nha Trang. I loved that whole experience.
Nha Trang, in the middle eastern part of Vietnam, is on the coast and currently full of Russians. I found most of the locals to be in their more senior years. I stumbled across the local market on the first day. It felt dirty and smelt like expired seafood, but I stocked up on a huge bag of fruit (oranges, mangos and granadillas) for next to nothing! Knives are hard to come by in Asia, so my little pair of medical scissors have come in very handy for peeling.
The prosperity divide in Nha Trang felt very evident. Fancy high-rise buildings are juxtaposed with rusty-roofed shacks. There are river mouths populated by old fishing boats and what I imagine are part of the older generation of people. But if there is one thing that I have learned about Vietnam, it’s that no one is starving or homeless. They produce SO much food and look after one another.
With that in mind, I enjoyed staying in a 4-star hotel guilt-free. With my super Genius level on Booking dot com, I had a 70% discount with a free upgrade to the 11th floor, with (wait for it) a BATHTUB! I was in it every day. First tub I have ever seen in Asia and one of my guilty pleasures I had missed so much back home. My poor feet deserved a soak the most. They had been through a lot. It was also wonderfully quiet up there.
On the hottest day in human history, I went to the Po Nagar Cham Towers. These remains were built between the 7th and 12th centuries by the original natives known as the Cham. It was very tourist-heavy, with lots of photobombing involved. A highlight was watching a traditional dance. Five beautifully dressed women moved about with colourful, silk fans and small pots on their heads, while the grumpiest man alive banged on a drum. They did seem a bit bored with having to perform every day. (Little video clip on Instagram).
Do NOT go to coastal Vietnam expecting pristine beaches with majestic vistas. Whomever is employed as the top advertising photographers are dab hands at Photoshop. The waters are brown and extremely polluted. While walking down a busy bridge, one chap pulled over and tossed a big white plastic bag filled with who-knows-what, straight into the river! Within my same periphery, was “Oasis Island” – a small piece of earth surrounded by mucky water, sporting the fanciest accommodation in Nha Trang. I never dipped a single toe in the water. That might have dissolved it right off.
One of the many things that are great about SE Asia, is that most of the holy places are free to enter. In Nha Trang, there are two HUGE Buddha statues. One is of him laying on his side – looking slim as ever with a very happy look on his carved face. At the top of the stairs, is the version of him when he had consumed an over-abundance of fried rice and sugary offerings. His backside leads into a temple. What was interesting up there was that even the men could not enter without wearing long pants.
I got quite a surprise when I saw a giant yellow swastika. My immediate thought was that I didn’t know that the Nazis were fans of Buddhism?! But I have since learnt that the symbol originates from the older dynasties of Hinduism and Buddhism, before the Nazis nabbed it, turned it black, and reversed it to make the symbol their own. How interesting.
There are some attractions outside of Nha Trang town that I missed, as the work week didn’t allow time for this. These include the salt fields, a big nature reserve, and Vinpearl island, but the latter attraction sounded like a theme park. You could see the massive Ferris wheel from the mainland. What was also a good hour away by bike, were the mud baths, where you could get a dirty soak in “mineral-rich” dirt.
I’m not sure I buy into the whole rejuvenation effect. Elephants love mud baths and look how wrinkly they are.
Next Stop: Indonesia!
Previously: Vietnam #18 – A Maze Balls Bar
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