Nha Trang

When it rains in Asia the clouds come together from out of the blue, the heavens open and the rain comes down in sheets. Half an hour later the clouds are gone and it's business as usual.

Or so we thought before arriving in Nha Trang.

Tagged as Vietnam's number one beach city we arrived with the notion of spending a few days lazing on the beach and seeing the sights. This idea lasted for all of 30 minutes until the first rain drops fell.

It has now rained/showered and generally been miserable for four days straight. Whilst this has literally put a dampener on our plans we've been busy.

The five day forecast is more of the same so we decided to "man up" and hire moto's and see the sites.

Driving in Asia is an interesting experience. Throw in some wind and plenty of rain and you've got your hands full. Luckily we had been loaned some designer rain coats that are all the rage in these parts. First up was a tour of the coastline that we had planned to bask on.


The most well known historic site around Nha Trang is Po Nagar - a Cham temple tower founded sometime before 781 A.D. (the Cham are an ethnic group here in SE Asia). The temple had a few nooks and crannies that we could poke our noses into and most importantly there was an enclave where we could get some shelter from the rain.


Clint's waterproof camera was paying for itself as we watched other tourists hurriedly take a photo before stashing camera's in a safe place.


After the temples we visited the Long Son Pagoda a Buddhist temple founded in 1889. After climbing exactly 150 steps (we both counted) we were faced with a giant white Buddha.


Back on the moto's we "found" a Vietnamese wonderland called Vinpearl - a resort, spa and amusement park. Visitors get to Vinpearl via a gondala and the word Vinpearl is even etched onto the hill in Hollywood fashion. It's safe to say that the average Joe from Vietnam could never afford to visit Vinpearl. We were tempted but decided that we could see bigger and better amusement parks in the west.


The photo below is a view of the Nha Trang cityscape. There are two bridges crossing the inlet which made a nice run one evening, which incidentally was our first hit out since the Siem Reap International Half Marathon.

Lately we've been tee totaling and we've engaged in some fitness. One afternoon we set out to find a gym. Our options were an air-con hotel gym or somewhere rough and ready where the locals train. We opted for the latter.

This gym was amazing. It was definitely no thrills and it was definitely hardcore. It leaked, the equipment was "custom" made and either incredibly greasy or rusty. The cables were often motorbike chains and the bathroom was outside in the bush. For the record the locals were working out topless so we did our best to break down the cultural barriers by trying to fit in.

Random Fact: Urinal soaps are like hens teeth. The locals prefer large blocks of ice and sliced lime. The jury is out whether the limes are fresh or discarded from our drinks.

Highlights:
- Vietnam PowerHouse. A better gym would be hard to find
- Gaming lounge. 50-60 locals playing online games with possibly the fastest internet connection we've experienced. As a note two locals challenged us to a game of Age of Empires 2. They won in 30 minutes, it was embarrassing
- Deep fried bananas. A bargain at $0.20 NZ
- Vietnam beating Thailand in football. Thanks to a dramatic stoppage-time equaliser the locals won on aggregate. They then proceeded to go nuts as Vietnam were crowned Asean champions for the first time... within minutes moto's were speeding with flags waving and horns honking. As a result four people died and 400 were injured.

Lessons Learned:
- Regardless of what people tell you buses going north only leave at night time.
- If it's raining there is very little to do in Nha Trang except updating your blog and making it look pretty. If it rains much longer, we'll practically be graphic designers.
- Sidewalk covers are useful to shelter from the rain until locals park their precious moto's under them
- Don't take a shirt to the gym