Day 73 - 75: Nha Trang Summary

Nha Trang is not what I expected. Yes the beach is lined with palm trees and there are some beautiful islands easily seen from the coast, but the city itself seems as if it outgrew itself, so it's dirty and dingy and not well organized. However there are a few smart attractions around the place. There is snorkeling, diving, fun cruises, booze cruises, a water park, small temple ruins and waterfalls. Can you guess which two we partook of? I'll give you a hint, we rented motorbikes, a first time experience for Simon, and yes Simon checked with his Lonely Planet to make sure we chose wisely.

First stop is the Cham towers, the remnants of some temple. Arrive, man charging for tickets takes my money, woman charging for parking takes my money, but the man at the gate will not let me in, apparently your shoulders must be covered, my tank does not qualify. Simon stays, preferring to avoid city traffic, head back to the Golden Hotel to grab a tee, take wrong turn, on some sort of highway. Finally able to take a left towards the ocean, paved becomes rock, rock becomes dirt, uh oh ... looking bleak, make a few more turns, and we're back to paved and at the beach, ask me to do that twice. Grab my shirt, 10 minutes back down road, oh crap, forgot my camera. Grab it, on the road again, arrive just shy of an hour later. Enter, get to the top of some stairs, there's a tent with a rack full of cloaks for those who need to cover up. What the what?! Even better, the whole attraction is literally 5 towers with a single room for worship inside each, the central one being taller than the rest ... that's it.i wasted an hour of my day to spend 10 minutes here and see this ... Blurgh! Cham towers, you're no Siem Reap, you hear me?

Next stop is Ban Ho Falls. Now mind you, Simon's first day on a bike started off shaky, he is predisposed to being cautious and particular, thus his obsession with his Lonely Planet book, whether it's where we eat, what we do, renting motorbikes or going snorkeling, he has to see if it's in the book and if recommended. That being said, this was a big step for him, and he started off timid. Once out of the city, traffic lightens to barely anyone, we choose the coastal road, sweeping views and wide lanes. Simon even revs up and passes me going at least 60 to 70 kph. Impressive.

Signage in Vietnam, especially outside the city is as one would expect, poor at best. After a good 25 to 30km, we pull over at a cafe. Get directions, grab some overpriced and poorly cooked food, drink some suspect bottled water, and head back 3km to the poorly marked turn off. Drive on what amounts to a normal width sidewalk until we reach a sharp left onto a dirt path, and 10 minutes later we enter through a simple arch leading to a parking patch. Park, pay entrance fee, pay for parking, yeah, plenty of dirt in all directions and they charge for parking. Reminds me of the wet wipe scam at Pho 2000, you have no choice. Head down another dirt path on foot 300 meters and finally hear water. They have painted pink arrows on the rocks for you to follow, but they're fairly spread apart, oft times difficult to locate. Hear rushing water to my right, arrow points up and to my left, hmm, there are 3 falls so I assume it's to the top. As we make the climb, half way up the mountain, the arrows change direction 180 degrees instructing us back to where we came. What the what?! You kidding me? Make the executive decision to follow the arrows backward, we will go up the down, and will go down the up, it'll work right? After another 20 minutes of climbing, the arrow is toward the falls, woo hoo. Ban Ho 1 - not much of a fall, more like an easy flow. Oh wait, it's not rainy season, there's water but the falls are going to be rubbish, this time of season, oh well.

Dive into the pools above an below each fall, our favorite being Waterfall 1. It's there that you can do a bit of cliff jumping, a good 25 to 30 feet. Did not run into a single person the entire time, though occasionally we hear voices. Boulder down the up arrows, arrive back where it all began, it was refreshing and a good bit of fun! Now for the drive back.

As I had mentioned, Simon had gained his biking legs, so I had no problem with stepping up the speed. As I exit the gravel dirt road back onto the glorified sidewalk I hear a clamor behind me. Slow down, look back, Simon is on the ground, bike as well. Though he has mastered speed, he had yet to master the transition from rock to concrete. He attempted to turn and accelerate at the junction of the two surfaces, thus laying his bike down and chewing up his toe and hand. To say this affected his driving style is an understatement. He might have averaged 20kph (12mph) the entire ride back. We took the shortest way via highway and it took forever. Families of four, two parents with two children on one bike pass us. Men balancing logs, bird cages, and poultry all pass. And no matter the encouragement, Simon could not be bothered to go faster. Once in actual Nha Trang, rush hour was in full swing, so many more bikes on the road, this is going to be painful. You see I have this proclivity when behind the wheel to go fast and be efficient, thus you can grasp why this is insanely painful. We arrive at our left turn, no stop light of course, it's best to follow a local, cut it at an angle, and go slow enough to avoid the onslaught. I make it across no problem, Simon on the other hand, well, I spent a good 5 minutes waiting for his turn. In that time, families on bikes have gone, small school girls have walked across the intersection, grandmas on proper push bicycles have crossed, ever-cautious Simon sits and waits. When he finally comes to terms, the congestion will not be slowing, he holds his breath, accelerates slowly, and catches up.

About our accommodations, arrive with every intention of staying one night at the Backpackers Hostel. Once we arrive, realize it's $7/person for a dorm bed, opt for the Golden Hotel for 2 double beds, in room wifi, internet room, free breakfast, all for $15/nt. To be fair, I prefer dorms, you meet so many people, hear about places to go, find out local hot spots, but this time around, just really wanted a little privacy and proper rest. Plus this dorm seemed a bit dodgy and the attendants were anything but friendly.

Signed up for the night bus with Sinh Cafe again, only seats left were top back row. Simon and I chose the two on the right, fortunate the other 3 passengers were girls, one big bed of people. To be fair, everyone had their own seat, but there was no escape from touching arms, and these are the worst seats possible.. Why? Sounds like a slumber party right? No. Every bump is magnified, every brake feels abrupt, no comfortable way to position youself, angled seat backs, feet stuffed in cubby acting as a fulcrum. I literally left contact with my seat a minimum of 10 times. Ok, taking my herbal sleep myosedate, hoping it'll help, heading to Hoi Ann, be there in 12 hours ...

Nite nite my Bloggas, iPhone Blogger.