So our first getaway from HCMC was to the “beach capital” of mainland Vietnam, the city of Nha Trang. You can get anywhere in Vietnam with a 2 hour flight (Saigon to Nha Trang is just under an hour) so we figure weekend domestic trips will be the way to sample some of these cities – fly out Friday night, fly back home Sunday night.
Apart from flights and accommodation, we didn’t have any ideas on what to do once we got there (personally I wanted some solid beachtime and cocktails to occur at some point). It was only until a few days beforehand that Jo found a day trip that sounded like fun, so we agreed to lock that in for Saturday. Sunday would be a relaxing day, checking out the town a bit more.
After an hour delay, we flew out on Friday night. Due to the delay we got to the hotel a little later than expected, and booked our day trip for the next day fairly late. We barely got a decent sleep before the 7AM alarm the next day, but we were excited for what we had planned (and paid for).
Basically, the plan was:
- Jump in a van
- Get driven up “Heaven’s Pass”, a mountain pass between the highland city of Da Lat and Nha Trang
- Jump on mountain bikes and slowly make our way down from a 1600m altitude
- Drive to a nearby resort near the Cai River to have lunch
- Kayak our way down the Cai River to the centre of Nha Trang
- Don’t die or get injured
On our way to going up Heaven’s Pass, we stopped for a toilet/coffee break. Jo found a puppy:
As with most things in Vietnam, she pulled out the hand sanitiser pretty quickly after saying bye. Anyway, we soon found out that the puppy was probably the worst view we would get for the entire day. Here are some pics of us going up the mountain:
Once we were at the top it was actually quite cool – the first time we’ve felt cool, non-air-conditioned air since we’ve been in the country. We put on our biking gear and posed for a group shot (two girls from London were also doing the trip):
Of course I was an idiot and fell over after about 50 metres because I was adjusting my gloves and testing the bike’s handling:
There were a few other grazes down my right side, since that’s the side that landed on the bitumen. It was worse than it looked, and I basically couldn’t lift anything with my right arm for the entire weekend.
Anyway, the views on the way down were ridiculous:
Lunch was fairly standard Vietnamese fare (our standards at food time is starting to get pretty high now), but after replenishing our energy we set off down the river:
After the kayaking we were pretty exhausted. Decent upper arm exercise for about an hour and a half got us fairly sweaty and gross, even though a typical Vietnam downpour of rain cooled us down when we were halfway down the river.
The day trip was over though, and after we shuffled up the steps to our hotel and I whinged about the injury I inflicted upon myself, we started to look towards dinner. I was told by a friend at work to head north, away from the tourist strip, over the bridge to where the fishing boats are (we had gotten a small peek at this area as this is where our kayaking finished and we were picked up by the tour van). The boats are owned by a lot of the same people as the nearby restaurants, so you can literally see what they caught that day (it’s still squirming around in big plastic tubs) and have them cook it up and prepare it for you.
We opted for some large clams, and some bugs (well, a type of shrimp):
Bugs!
Clams! These were super tasty.
These were ordered with some rice, and several rounds of beers.
We ate across the road from the restaurant where your typical street food table and chairs were set up. In these kinds of environments, it’s acceptable to throw all your rubbish on the ground. So we did:
Those are my legs. And that is my rubbish from dinner. Tasty bugs.
All in all, a good day.
Our Sunday was relatively simple in comparison. We dipped into the famous Nha Trang beach for an hour or so, checked out of our apartment, and relaxed along the main boardwalk:
Each of those umbrellas have two chairs – you can spend 80,000 Dong ($4AUD) and book them (for the whole day if you want to hang around that long), and have people bring you drinks. Given the power of the sun at this latitude, the shade is worth it.
In the distance is Vinpearl Island, home of an amusement park, golf course, and other stuff for the rich and elite.
Enjoying the seat at a bar, situated on Nha Trang beach itself
After a relaxing afternoon, we took a taxi back to the airport and for the first time, flew “back home” to Ho Chi Minh City.
Saigon Salmons 