nha trang

nha trang is a beautiful beach town on the coast north of ho chi minh (about 10 hours by train).  it was really refreshing going there since it was much quieter and less busy.  we stayed in a hostel just three blocks from the beach.  it was a pretty decent place with a lot of travelers going through.  i met some people from jersey and the uk.  it's interesting because majority of the people that i've met so far have been from the uk.

[my bed on the train]

[hostel]

[sleeping buddha at the long son pagoda]

[this buddha was 90 feet tall!]

i definitely took advantage of the beach in nha trang and burned myself!  i put on spf 30 several times but it's no match for the sun here.  the water is so clear and the temperature is just cold enough for you to jump in and refresh yourself after laying out for a while.  the only thing is you have to watch out for your stuff.  we were all on the beach buying some fake sunglasses from a lady and we turned and saw a guy trying to steal my friend phong's brand new digital slr camera by kicking the camera along the beach with the strap around his ankle!! apparently he thought picking it up would be too obvious so this was his alternative.  luckily phong saw and ran over to him and asked him wtf he was doing and he said nothing then walked off.  yeah...sketch!

[our new faux bans...]

to kill some time one afternoon we also hit up the thap bo hotsprings which was a lot of fun!  there were a lot of different pools that you could soak in.  first we started off in the mineral mud which was a little strange.  i don't like not being able to see what i'm sitting in.  we were there for a bit before rinsing off and heading to a thermal mineral pool which was nice but then got unbearably hot after a while.  finally we ended in some leisure pools before heading home.  for only $9 it was a great deal :) 

the last day we were in nha trang we did a tour through the hostel for a day.  they made it sound like we would see a lot of islands but really they should've called it a booze cruise!  we saw an aquarium with HUGE grouper fish on the first island then went snorkeling at the second island.  i haven't been in so long that it took some getting used to breathing through a tube again.  the water was so clear and i saw a few fish including an awesome neon colored one.  the third 'island' was really us jumping off the roof of our boat and then swimming over to a floating bar they created and drinking this disgusting fruit/vodka juice mixture.  the last island was my favorite!  of course we had to pay an extra 70,000 dong to get in but it was so worth it.  it was this resort with the softest sand ever on a secluded beach.  i don't even know how else to describe it aside from perfection.  i could've stayed there for another week easily!

[aquarium on first island]

[snorkeling on second island]

[fourth island pics]

the food in nha trang has been amazing and cheap!  one thing i will miss a lot about nha trang is the smoothie lady!  she had a little cart on a corner several blocks away and made the best mango smoothie ever.  all it was, was mango, a little sugar, a little condensed milk, and ice.  everything a smoothie should be.  i only had two while i was there because we didn't discover it until later.  boo.  i'm going to need to attempt this when i get back home!

lastly, we made a new friend in nha trang who has been traveling with us to hoi an and hue.  her name is delphine and she's from france.  we met on our boat tour.  she's been traveling around se asia as well and has been tagging along with us these past few days.  i really enjoy her company and like speaking a little french with her here and there.  it really makes me miss living in europe and knowing another language well.  my french has turned to crap since i graduated college.  perhaps it's a sign?