Nha Trang

Friday, 8 April 2005

My train rolls into Nha Trang station just after 6am, and just before 9am I’m underwater. I’ve found a hotel, dumped my gear, had breakfast, found a scuba diving centre, signed up for the morning’s dive trip, joined the boat, got out to the dive site and there I am with the fish. It does feel a bit rushed, but there are lots of clown anemone fish – always a sign of a good dive in my books.

 

In the afternoon I climb up to the Po Ngar Cham Towers where, quite apart from the Hindu-era towers, there’s a great view over the Cai River. There’s also a great view of Nha Trang town from the huge seated Buddha atop the hill behind the Long Son Pagoda. There’s a big reclining Buddha bas relief as well.

.

.

Looking at my schedule again I’ll still be pushing it to get to Macau by 17 April, so again I decide to opt for the overnight train. I slept remarkably well on last night’s train from Saigon, despite the weighty young Chinese guy who never got around to snoring but, everytime I woke up, was snuffling, snorting, gurgling or gabbling in his sleep. So for the second day in a row I’ve got a hotel room I never slept in – although I did wash clothes, have a shower, store my gear and write up this blog in the room, so I got pretty good use from it.

.

.

.
|
Beer o’clock time finds me sitting at the beachside Nha Trang Sailing Club, a good place to say goodbye to a town I’ve really enjoyed, if only briefly.