Blogs from South Central Coast, Vietnam, Asia - page 9

My next stop ended up being the coastal city of Nha Trang. I had heard differing opinions of Nha Trang, but in my mind it was still worth giving it the benefit of the doubt. The positive reviews generally spoke to the natural beauty of the bay (consistently voted as one of the most beautiful in the world) as well as activities such as snorkelling and boat tours which are a draw. On the other hand, the drawbacks that I knew of included the Russian/British party scene and the Miami-like vibe I had heard about. I arrived via bus which unfortunately only had one departure from Mui Ne at 1:30pm and arrived at roughly 7pm. I walked about 25 minutes to my hotel (I decided to book a hotel as it was only $12 a night ... read more

The sixth day was all about the nighttime adventures. We got up and had breakfast in the hotel - I was given sweet and sour spicy spaghetti with green beans, interesting but definitely spicy enough to wake me up! We then took our bags downstairs and checked out. Despite not being the easiest of guests the staff were helpful and kind and allowed us to leave our bags there until we could check in to the next place. We hopped in a taxi to go and see Po Nagar Cham temples, the humidity was through the roof and I found myself glad I had a hat with me to use as a fan. The temples were very beautiful, the stonework was lovely and I loved the statues dotted everywhere amongst the foliage. We didn't spend long ... read more

The fourth day was a travelling day, up early (again!) and headed to Cat Bi airport. The roads became markedly more orderly as we neared the airport and we were amazed by the scale of some of the huge houses we saw, the decadence in comparison to the other places I'd seen was unbelievable. I'd had my doubts about our ability to navigate a solely Vietnamese speaking airport but it all went very smoothly and I once more found myself being woken up by the plane as it landed. Unsure as to whether the hotel had received our emails asking for a shuttle bus we waited at a small cafe then eventually organised our own transport - it turns out our emails had gone into their spam folder! The drive to the hotel was about as ... read more

Geo: 10.9604, 108.311Chaotic, crowded, dusty, and polluted ... all those descriptors of Vietnam's largest city were verified as being true, but we still managed to find some positives about HCMC, which was far more enjoyable than its negative reputation would've suggested. Exploring HCMC was both maddening and exhilarating at the same time - love it or hate it, you can't deny that there is an indescribable buzz in the air, one that leaves you feeling wonderfully discombobulated.HCMC's notoriety led to us planning for only three nights here, which wound up being the perfect amount of time. Between the awesome activities and incredible food, HCMC left a very positive impression on us - but it's definitely a city where, had we spent even one more night, our perceptions would have changed dramatically. HCMC was new and exciting, ... read more

They call it stormy Monday....and Tuesday's just as bad.....It was a very stormy Monday, windy and persisting down rain all day...unusually so....crossing Tran Thi Ly bridge where last week the repercussion of thunder claps over my shoulder bowled me across 3 lanes, last night I was blown across 3 lanes, water gushing, plastic poncho billowing out like Michellin man....the rubber-to-road ratio of a bald-tyred 125 Honda is scary......and then smacked in the head by a huge moth.....Sister, did you see the size of the balls on that moth?....it was Mothra....it was Behemothra...how was it surviving in this weather? A special specie of bad weather moth? Of course the forecast....I believe here we only have postcasts....was for a really big storm on Tuesday....didn't they notice it was here...now...Monday?....So they ordered all the schools closed on Tuesday....Although it ... read more