Nha Trang City Tour
After the fuss two days previously that a two person city tour could not be done for US$10 we were a little surprised to be picked up by a people mover and on our very own personal Nha Trang City Tour. First stop was the Oceanography Centre where the water was a little murky, but it was good to learn the names of some of the sealife we'd seen whilst diving and see some lephard and black tip sharks (like those Katie and I swam with) and a huge skeleton of a hump-back whale.
Next stop Long Son Pagoda with a distinct Chinese influence, more so than any we'd previously seen and complete with some cheesy flashing lights around Buddha's head! 152 steps led up to the top of the hill and to a huge 30m white Buddha. This again was ancient - "crafted in 1963 to symbolise the Buddhist struggle against the repressive Diem regime". There were great city views from the top.
Po Nagar Cham Towers (Nha Trangs main tourist attraction) were overgrown by the surrounding tree but well preserved and impressive. I guess most people inside the towers were praying to leave alive as you could hardly breath inside due to the vast quantity of jossticks being burnt in an enclosed space with nearly no ventilation! Down the hillock there were also the ruined pillars of the meditation and offerings hall (madapa) which used to be used by the Hindu Chams before reaching the towers.
Off to Nha Trang's circular Cho Dam Market for a quick shop for belts and T-Shirts. Every stall within that market had a sign up saying "Fixed Prices". A little hard to believe when there were no price tags on the item though they did like to point to the sign when we tried to bargain. Being stubborn though we got their prices down and beat another little money-making scheme devised to ensnare us!!
At lunch we had a quick look at Nha Trang's beach which did look very nice, though it was actually surprisingly devois of sun and locals trying to sell you stuff...rather pleasant in fact!
Thap Ba Hot Springs were the final stop of the day. We bathed in warm mineral mud which if I'd seen flowing anywhere else I'd have assumed it was an open sewer and certainly wouldn't have jumped in! You soon got used to the smell though and we had a very relaxing 2 hours in a warm mud bath, drying in the sun, in a mineral shower, in supposedly high pressure mineral jet sprays, in a warm mineral water bath and finally in a hot mineral water swimming pool. All for GBP2 and like the adverts said - "bathing in mud is very interesting"!
We grabbed the now-finished police report and a quick bite to eat and then hopped on our first ever nightbus to Hoi An. Very selfishly we made sure we got on early and reclined our seats before anyone even thought of sitting behind us! Well it was the only way to get a snooze. Unlike the last bus this one was very much on time - trying to leave 3 minutes early whilst Martin was still in the tour shop using the loo!
Next stop Long Son Pagoda with a distinct Chinese influence, more so than any we'd previously seen and complete with some cheesy flashing lights around Buddha's head! 152 steps led up to the top of the hill and to a huge 30m white Buddha. This again was ancient - "crafted in 1963 to symbolise the Buddhist struggle against the repressive Diem regime". There were great city views from the top.
Po Nagar Cham Towers (Nha Trangs main tourist attraction) were overgrown by the surrounding tree but well preserved and impressive. I guess most people inside the towers were praying to leave alive as you could hardly breath inside due to the vast quantity of jossticks being burnt in an enclosed space with nearly no ventilation! Down the hillock there were also the ruined pillars of the meditation and offerings hall (madapa) which used to be used by the Hindu Chams before reaching the towers.
Off to Nha Trang's circular Cho Dam Market for a quick shop for belts and T-Shirts. Every stall within that market had a sign up saying "Fixed Prices". A little hard to believe when there were no price tags on the item though they did like to point to the sign when we tried to bargain. Being stubborn though we got their prices down and beat another little money-making scheme devised to ensnare us!!
At lunch we had a quick look at Nha Trang's beach which did look very nice, though it was actually surprisingly devois of sun and locals trying to sell you stuff...rather pleasant in fact!
Thap Ba Hot Springs were the final stop of the day. We bathed in warm mineral mud which if I'd seen flowing anywhere else I'd have assumed it was an open sewer and certainly wouldn't have jumped in! You soon got used to the smell though and we had a very relaxing 2 hours in a warm mud bath, drying in the sun, in a mineral shower, in supposedly high pressure mineral jet sprays, in a warm mineral water bath and finally in a hot mineral water swimming pool. All for GBP2 and like the adverts said - "bathing in mud is very interesting"!
We grabbed the now-finished police report and a quick bite to eat and then hopped on our first ever nightbus to Hoi An. Very selfishly we made sure we got on early and reclined our seats before anyone even thought of sitting behind us! Well it was the only way to get a snooze. Unlike the last bus this one was very much on time - trying to leave 3 minutes early whilst Martin was still in the tour shop using the loo!
Labels: Vietnam
posted by Ian Matthias at
10/15/2006 09:19:00 am
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