Diving in Nha Trang (and other relaxing things)

Our summer holidays for 2020 were something we had been looking forward to for ages.  For the last 2 years we have been planning a trip that had been on our 'to do' list for a very long time:  A safari trip through Namibia and Botswana.  And the best part was that we were going to share the experience with very good friends Everett and Frances.  Justin has known Ev since they were 6 years old.  But 2020 had other plans and so we ended up having to make other plans as well.

The Covid19 pandemic has had a major impact all around the world, but some countries have been fortunate and have been hardly impacted.  Vietnam is one such country.  At the same time that America is dealing with over 1.5 million cases of the virus, Vietnam has had less than 400 cases. And there has been no community transmission for at least the last 3 months.  Domestic travel has opened up again, and essentially it is life as normal for most people living in Vietnam.  This was therefore the perfect opportunity to explore more of this beautiful country.  

Over the last few months I have also been working on my Open Water Diver course through PADI.  The online theory was complete.  The confined pool dives had been completed in Saigon. The only part remaining was the open water dives to complete the course.  I found a great dive company, Rainbow Divers, that run dives out of Nha Trang and signed up.  

As the first 6 months of the year had been quite hectic, we decided that we would take the opportunity to have a proper break; at least 2 weeks.  Week 1 would be spent in Nha Trang and week 2 in what must be considered one of Vietnam's most beautiful areas:  Tam Coc. This blog covers Nha Trang.  Next time, Tam Coc.  

There were 4 open water dives spread over 2 days.  The dives focus on practicing skills learnt, and diving to depths of up to 18m.

Vietnam is not renowned for diving, and I wasn't expecting much.  But, to be honest, I was pleasantly surprised.  The coral was in a good state, we saw a large range of different types of fish, and the visibility was great.  

Ben, my instructor, demonstrating how to create a ring of air.

Vietnam has seen a significant increase in the number of international tourists over the last few years; 10 million in 2016, 13 million in 2017, 15.5 million in 2018 and 18 million in 2019.  But with borders closed and unlikely to open any time soon, the tourism sector has had to find other ways to keep the tourism industry alive.  And so, to encourage domestic tourism, there are specials being offered on flights, accommodation and tours.  With so many great specials on offer, we decided to snatch up a few in Nha Trang.  We therefore booked stay at two of the fancier resorts in Nha Trang; places we would not normally even consider.  First up was the Amiana Resort on the mainland for 4 nights, and then we moved on to the MerPerle Resort on Hon Tam Island for 3 nights. 

Amiana resort was fairly busy when we were there.  Partially due to our stay being over a weekend.  MerPerle however was very quiet; probably less than 20% occupancy.  Whilst it was nice to have the beach and swimming pool largely to ourselves, there was a distinct lack of atmosphere and we were left wondering how these resorts manage to stay open.  

Enjoying a sunset walk on the beach at MerPerle Resort

Most of the time it felt like we were the only ones on the island

We also enjoyed some sightseeing whilst in Nha Trang.  We explored Ponagar Tower, Long Son Pagoda, and also visited the Museum of Oceanography.  

Some photos from our visit to Ponagar Tower...

A Lotus flower about to open, above, and after losing all its petals, below.
The Lotus seeds are then extracted and used to make tea, and in cooking and baking.

And from our visit to Long Son Pagoda...

Before arriving in Nha Trang we had already identified Ponagar Tower and Long Son Pagoda as two places we wanted to visit.  But we were not sure what to expect from our visit to the Museum of Oceanography.  Is it a museum?  Or is it an aquarium?  How big is it?  And would it be worth visiting?

The answer is that it is mostly an aquarium, but also has sections that are distinctly museum like - like the large room that is filled with thousands of specimens stored in bottles.   It is surprisingly big and sort of unravels as you explore.  More than once we thought we had reached the end only to find the next section to be explored around the corner.  And on the question of is it worth visiting: yes.  We paid 20,000 Vietnamese Dong each to enter (less than U$ 1), and for that price did not expect much.  But considering the wide variety of displays and that you can easily spend an hour exploring here, it is worth visiting. 

And our final tip for if you are considering visiting Nha Trang:  Find the Rainforest Cafes (there are two of them).  A great selection of food and drinks, a relaxing atmosphere, and the staff were extremely welcoming.  

Next time:  Beautiful Tam Coc

Luang Prabang: Temples, Monks and Waterfalls

Our last trip for 2019 was to Luang Prabang, Laos PDR.  We had been looking forward to this trip for quite some time.  Firstly because it had been nine months since our last holiday, but also because we had heard so many great things about Luang Prabang; mountains, nature, waterfalls, Buddhist temples, and a generally relaxed pace were just some of the highlights we were looking forward to.  And we were not disappointed.   

Luang Prabang has over 30 Buddhist temples.  While some are quite popular and have a number of tourists visiting, we also managed to find quite a few to visit where there were no other visitors.  

Luang Prabang is located on the Mekong River and there are a number of boat trips available and which can be booked easily enough in town.  Anything from a short sunset cruise, to a multi-day cruise to the Thai border.  

And some street scenes. 

The street outside our hotel converted into a daily market every morning.  The sellers start setting up at 5am, and by 6am are already tending to the first customers of the day.  We were really impressed by how clean the market is compared to some of the markets we have seen in Vietnam.  The fresh produce all looks great, but not so sure about the buckets of frogs and eels, and crabs strung together like a wreath.

A daily ritual in Luang Prabang, and throughout Laos, is the giving and receiving of alms.  Every morning the monks come out of the temples to receive sticky rice and other food offerings from loyal followers.  In Luang Prabang the procession takes place between 5:30 and 6:00, so well before sunrise in the winter time.  We had read a lot of articles and blogs about the morning alms procession.  Some people complained about how some tourists get right in the monks faces with exploding camera flashes.  And indeed there were plenty of those types of tourists.  But there are also those tourists that show respect by keeping out of the way and don't use flash photography.  So here are a few street lamp lit photos taken from the other side of the road.   

No trip to Luang Prabang can be considered as complete if it doesn't include a trip to Kuang Si waterfalls.  Or at least that is what I had read.  To be honest, I was sceptical.  I hadn't seen any photos of the waterfalls, and I was expecting muddy brown waters.  But it was nothing like I expected.  It was amazing.  Crystal clear water and one of the most scenic waterfalls I have seen (and to be honest we have seen some good ones).  These are not especially large waterfalls, but they just have something special about them.  But, before we get to the waterfalls, we have some bears to visit. 

This was another great surprise.  On the walk up to the Kuang Si falls you will pass a moon bear sanctuary.  Free the Bears is a non-profit organisation that has built bear sanctuaries in Camodia, Laos and Vietnam as rescue centers for bears that had been caged, and in most cases 'farmed' for their bile.  According to their website, Free the Bears has rescued around 950 bears to date.  From what we could see, this sanctuary was doing a great job and all of the bears that we saw looked happy.  

And then it was time for the waterfalls. 

After leaving the falls we had two more stops that we wanted to make.  A butterfly farm and a buffalo dairy for some buffalo ice-cream.  Unfortunately the buffalo ice-cream had all sold out, but the butterfly farm was a good stop.  

And before we knew it our short break was over.  2019 had been a busy year and this was a great way to end it.  We are already both back at work, but already looking forward to our next trip.  This year we have an African safari to look forward to, and also a trip to see family in South Africa.  So expect some family and wildlife blogs later in the year.