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Published: September 15th 2007
Hello All! Well I have finally found enough energy to write a blog of my own - we have decided to write our blogs earlier in the day as at night we (especially moi) don't seem to have much energy!
Patrick and I are now in Nha Trang, which is a beach town on the south-central coast. We arrived here yesterday by bus from Mui Ne, where we stayed for a few days to relax after the tiring but very interesting Saigon.
Mui Ne was quite beautiful, a quiet little bit of beachfront resorts before a fishing village, located near some amazing sand-dunes. The dunes were spectacular, a soft orange colour which felt so much like icing sugar - just a delight to run through the fingers and over the toes! Patrick and I took our first motorbike ride on the way to the dunes, and it wasn't the harrowing experience i quite expected it to be. Our drivers were very competent, safe (by Vietnamese standards) and friendly to chat with. At the dunes we met some local kids who wanted to take us "sand-sliding", a novel experience indeed! They found the perfect hill, set the crazy carpet for
us, positioned us just right, and then a final push and we were off!! Was quite fun, although I think we will stick to snow sledding from now on --- a trifle cleaner! After our experience with the local boys, who of course wanted to be compensated for their help, we found a beautiful dune of our own with a nice cliff face and took turns jumping off it to the backdrop of a brewing storm, So thrilling!
Earlier we had gone to the "Red Canyon" which was a dune canyon formed by water erosion, and the sight was so gorgeous. The sand was a billiant red-orange (perhaps coral?) colour and looked like the mud castles I remember making as a kid (Mark, I distinctly remember you making them - you would have liked this spot very much!).
We spent our first full day in Nha Trang and it was a scorching day - very hot and quite uncomfortable, however the sights we saw definitely made up for the heat. We hired some motorbike drivers again and headed to a nearby promontory, then to an old Cham temple sight. I think the first temples were built in the 1st
Century AD and they were an awesome sight. Very beautiful and ornate on the outside (made of red stone), however the inside was stark and simple. You could tell its sole purpose was for devotion and meditation. (It was a Hindu site).
After we went to a Pagoda which was a historical sight, as there a nun had lit her self on fire in protest of the American War. We have heard a similar story of a monk doing the same thing... definitely makes you think of the different impacts the war had on the Vietnamese people. We have run into many Vietnamese veterans here as well as people with birth defects as a result of Agent Orange (a chemical defoliant). These very personal sights have made the war very real and brutal in our eyes.
The people here have been nothing but friendly and hospitable. They also seem to be very intrigued by Patrick's blonde arm hair (coconut forest)- they keep tugging and rubbing it! Quite amusing. As well they get a kick out of the fact that we aren't married - always laugh at us and give us a wry smile 😉 One of our guides
told us that one of the reasons that the rural folk get married young is because, in Phat's words, "It's dark here early and so there is not much to do in the evenings." A classic line indeed!
Well tomorrow we are off snorkeling for the morning and then off on a 12 hr train ride up the coast to Hoi An. Until then, take care!
p.s. I had to add that I am simply delighted at the amount of bananas I am able to consume here - and the fact that they serve baguettes with p-butter in the morning makes it even a more welcome treat!
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