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Published: March 7th 2006
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Hello everyone!
Sorry it took awhile to post again but the beach was just too nice. We got back into HCM City Monday morning the 6th of March. But let me take you back to Nha Trang.
As I mentioned earlier we arrived last Thursday in Nha Trang. The drive from the Cam Ranh Bay Airport took about 30 minutes. The drive reminded me of the northern California or Oregon coast. Lots of curves winding above the South China Sea. You can see well out into the bay with plenty of fishing boats.
The Resort shuttle took us from the airport to the ferry dock. The Vin Pearl is on an island 7 minutes and a world away from downtown Nha Trang. It is Nha Trang's newest resort and something to see. It boasts Vietnam's largest swimming pool which is a softball throw from their private beach. And I do mean private! I think the most we ever saw on the beach was maybe 20 or thirty people at a time. More often than not, we were the only ones on the beach. As has been our experience virtually everywhere we have gone, there were no Americans but
lots of Europeans. And here, it was almost all Russians. It seems the fellow that built it was Vietnamese but from Russia. We were told there are over 800 service people working at the resort. I can believe it, the beach was spotless and I swear, there were people assigned to specific windows to wash.
The city of Nha Trang reminded me of almost any coastal tourist town like Key West for example or maybe Cannon Beach with all the trappings, dive shops, snorkeling, tours to everywhere and every kind of floatation device imagionable. Given that our resort left all that kind of noise behind we spent a fair amount of time out there. We had our dinners in town and did make a couple of "field trips".
Michelle convinced me to do a day spa at a mineral spring resort. Given the price we couldn't pass it up. For $138.00 for the both we did the V.I.P. special. It included a private sauna followed by a private mineral shower, then a mud bath in our private suite. After we cleaned up from the mud bath we had a 90 minute massage each, then a sponge bath. Next came lunch by the pool (also included) followed by each of us getting our hair washed and I for the first time had a shave with a straight razor. Now I'm not much of a spa person, but I could get used to that.
Nha Trang also has a few other sites worth mentioning. We visited a Cham Temple and ruins. Not as large as what we saw in My Son but just as spectacular none the less. We also went to a very large Buddah statue and temple. Actually there are two statues. The first statue is 14 meters high ( sorry you're going to have to do the math again). The second is close to the same size except Buddah is horizontal. It seems it is also a memorial to several of the Buddahist Monks that set themselves on fire in 1963 to protest the Vietnam War. It really is a spectacular thing to see.
We also had an interesting encounter at the resort. It seems Americans are rare enough that we stand out. One of the workers asked if I would be willing to help her with a Thesis she is working on about America. I said sure and with Michelle available to translate we agreed to meet for coffee. Turns out she is comparing American table manners with Vietnamese table manners. Pretty interesting. We agreed to help her with the correct translation and proper nomenclature. Be prepared, she is going to email us the survey and anyone of you interested will be able to participate.
Late the last night at our resort we sat at the bar which was steps from the ocean and watched the waves and the lights of the fishing boats on the bay. What a beautiful moment so quite and calm.
As I mentioned earlier we arrived yesterday morning in HCM City. Michelle's cousins met us for a scooter tour and then lunch.
After lunch we visted Michelle's former school and sat in her old classroom. For those that don't know, Michelle left Saigon April 29th 1975, the day before Saigon fell. I have never in my life faced a situation where one day I was sitting in a classroom and the next day on an airplane out of the country. She seemed to do pretty well, but inside I know it was a tough day for her. We saw some school kids who asked me why an American was taking pictures of their school. I told them the story, we chatted awhile and they let me take their picture.
Last night we had dinner with a number of Michelle's family members and finished off with iced coffee at the Cafe.
The plan for today our last full day in Vietnam was for Michelle to shop(of course!) and me to take a trip to the Mekong Delta.
The trip down the delta was incredible. I saw floating boat cities, floating markets where everyone was buying and selling their products from their boat. It is clear that the Mekong people rely on the River for every fiber of their life. They also seemed very friendly and many waved as our boat went by.
Another interesting encounter for me happened when I was approached by three Vietnamese students attending Mekong University. They asked if I was American and when I said I was they asked if they could practice their English on me. We chatted for about half an hour before I had to leave.
It is hard to believe that this is our last entry from Vietnam. This has been an incredible journey and much more than I expected. I will write one more entry where I will try to give you my thoughts about the country and its people when we return to Seattle probably Wed. or Thurs. Hopefully since I will have true broadband I will be able to post a number of photos.
Take care everyone and see you soon,
Tom and Michelle
P.S. The second photo is actually a floating market on the Mekong, obviously not Buddah. Darn computers!
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Tran V.C.
non-member comment
I don't like Russians
Let them go back their home.