Nha Trang

Following a long, slightly uncomfortable and for the most part restless night on the train - although quite fun I have to say - we were awoken at about 5am by the train attendant banging on our door and then ripping our covers off to get us up ready for the stop at Nha Trang. It has basically the same amenities as any other beachside town: the beach, the bars.. but with a foreign soundtrack. We had a very lazy day the first day and pretty much lay on deckchairs (for 20,000d each) on the beach for the first half before lunch and a brief walk around the town. In the evening, twelve of us caught up for dinner at a lovely restaurant before migrating to the Why Not Bar for drinks, pool and more drinks.. So many drinks, in fact, that my sister managed to destroy her perfect streak of holding her liquor. Lovely..
Pulling up amazingly well in the morning, Lee and I along with fellow Intrepid crew members Jason and Shirley, caught ourselves a taxi up to the Po Nagar Cham towers just outside of town. These towers were built between the 7th and 12th centuries honouring the goddess of the Dua clan, which ruled over the southern part of the Cham kingdom (the Cham people are an ethnic minority descended from a Hindu kingdom from the late 2nd century AD - the Champa). The interior and exterior of these towers are just beautiful; the former of which have black walls and no lighting except for the candles dotted around the ornamentation.
While we were there, 2 groups of Vietnamese people swarmed us for photos.. First 2 teenage girls, then 4 middle-aged adults. Having photos taken with us gave them so much joy they were laughing out loud the entire time. It was strange, as if they'd never seen a westerner before.. or maybe they'd heard a bootleg copy of the song I wrote with Micah and just couldn't contain themselves? Hmmm, I think the first is a little more likely.
From here, instead of taxiing directly back to town, we instead decided to go for a walk through this much less touristy area of the city. We picked a side street and walked down it, passing a street vendor selling purple mush in plastic bags along the way. The offer was just too good to pass up and we all bought a bag. What a find - it tasted basically like apple crumble and custard! A little further up, along a narrow path, we had children and families coming out from every house to greet us. Another awesome experience that we just wouldn't have had if we stayed at the beach. Just goes to show that if you seek, you shall find.
In the afternoon Lee took Shirley and I to see the Long Son Pagoda, which she had visited the day before. The main attraction of this pagoda is a huge white Buddha seated on a lotus blossom on top of the hill. It is visible from anywhere in the town and quite stunning really. As we ascended the stairs to this huge statue, we came across a monk ringing a gigantic bell. Upon asking for his permission to photograph him, he invited each of us to sit inside the bell while he rang it and chanted. What a magical experience! We reached the top and after being hassled by several beggars along the way, managed to get a few photos with the big guy.
The LP guide suggests going to the National Oceanographic Museum whilst in Nha Trang and we thought it sounded quite interesting. It really wasn't. The 60,000 "pickled" specimens were basically dead animals stuffed into jars too small to accommodate them, and the live sea creature section left a lot to be desired in the animal warefare department. We even saw a gigantic tortoise being hit in the head with a sandal by some of the Vietnamese customers - even after Jason and I told them not to touch the majestic creature. Not to worry, Jason sure sorted them out by yelling at the top of his voice.. Haha. Nice one.
Off again that evening on another overnight train to the next stop.. Hoi An, the tailor capital of Vietnam!

Photos:
1. On the train
2. Relaxing
3. Having an ear hair trim
4. Praying inside the Cham towers
5. The towers
6. Celebrities!
7. A little girl keen to show me her family
8. Praying at the base of the stairs to the Cham towers
9. Ahhh, the beach.... Burnt I did get..
10. That delectable purple mush
11. A common expression uttered by the locals, "Same same but different"
12. Buddha