Thap Ba Mineral Mud Spa

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Today I got to see an amazing and very old temple in Nha Trang, it wasn’t quite Buddhist and it wasn’t quite East Indian either, it was a combination of both. The name of the temple is Thap Ba Ponargar, very old and very beautiful. Need to do some research on this place because there was no English translation with the signs. Anyone wearing shorts or skirts above the knee was not allowed to enter one of four worship buildings. Fortunately they provided a covering that you could use in order to go in and see the religious idols.

After the temple we had lunch at a seafood road side restaurant that was really good. The seafood was fresh from the ocean and cooked to order. I tried a type of sea snail that was pretty good…not to say that I would have it again, just wanted to try it. I forgot to mention that last night’s dinner offered live snake…didn’t want to reach that far out but did take a picture of the snake though.

As mentioned previously today was the mud spa and I really didn’t know what to expect. The Vietnamese believe that the sulfuric soil holds medicinal qualities and there is a mineral hot spring at this location as well. It is believed to help rheumatoid arthritis, skin conditions and soften the skin. I imagined a big pile of thick, dark and stinky mud, I am happy to say that my imagination was not the actual.

For $11 dollars I was given a rental pair of shorts and a t-shirt and a locker. Once you’ve changed into the mud clothes you take a short walk towards the mud bath. Upon entering you see many teakwood tubs laid out in tiers. First you rinse off, while rinsing off the attendant fills your chosen tub with a mixture of warm water and sulfuric soil in order to create the mud that is about the consistency of thick chocolate milk but the color of butterscotch. There is a slight smell but nothing horrible and after several minutes you become use to it. I had my own tub and my parents had theirs next to mine. You soak in the mud for about twenty minutes, and being that it’s warm it very relaxing. You are provided a coconut ladle to continuously bath yourself in the mud. The view from the tub was absolutely gorgeous. After the 20 minute soak then you sit in the sun for 10 minute to dry out before rinsing off. Then you go through a pressure rinse before sitting in a heart shaped tub that has been filled with warm hot spring water. I enjoyed it and it was a new experience for me. I think it’s something everyone should try at least once in their life. Mom loves it so much that she wants to do again before returning to HCMC. We spent a total of 3 hours in the mud spa. There were a lot of people there, it’s a very popular place.

Tomorrow is the open market in Nha Tran.

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