Nha Trang - Hot Springs and Mineral Mud

Onwards and upwards.


Yesterday morning we got on a bus at Dalat, determined to make it to Nha Trang at a relatively reasonable hour. (Perhaps it goes without saying that "Vietnam time" is extremely different to "Australian time"...)

On the bus, we met a lovely Canadian girl who had suffered from some pretty serious abrasions after a motorcycle ride with another 'Easyrider' in Dalat. Apparently, it had been some kind of freak accident (dog runs out onto the road, colliding with the bike), and no fault of the driver. While she was relatively unharmed (all things considered), we were pleased that we'd opted out of a big 5 day trek up into the Highlands with the 'Riders.

This hadn't been the only factor in our decision to trek it via the traditional bus route. It's rainy season here in Vietam (and the low tourist season) and yesterday it didn't just rain... It absolutely poured. The floods were torrential, brief but dramatic (at least through foreign eyes). We watched carefully as the bus driver slowly hearded our tour bus through, stopping briefly to rescue our packs.

This morning we headed out onto the beach, with somewhat high expectations - Nha Trang is supposed to have the "most beautiful beaches" in all of Vietnam. Again, it was okay, but nothing spectacular, unlike the beaches at Mui Ne. And getting hassled by vendors every three minutes - "cigarettes, miss? Sunglasses? I make nice massage for you" - isn't quite as cruisey as we'd imagined.

So this afternoon, Sim organized for us to visit the local Hot Springs Center (very Taiwanese, we thought). It was fantastic! Initially, we shared a private outdoor tub full of green mineral mud (Sim looked like the Grinch, especially with his new Paul Smith-esque shaved head... very amusing!) From there a brief shower to wash off the muck, and into some high-pressure hot mineral water sprays.. And a slosh in a big hot mineral water tub. We finished up with a 45-minute massage. Nice.

Must run, but more later. xo