Unsure of why I even bothered going to bed at 1:30 AM, I got up again at 3 and was in the Union at 3:45 to meet my group that would be going with me on the SAS trip to Vietnam. My group leader was actually my Oceanography professor, Professor Abel, who was taking attendence and looking way too stressed out for that early in the morning. There were about 30 of us in total, a nice small group, and we all climbed on the bus in silence to make our way to the airport for our 6AM flight. I passed out for the entire 45 minute ride.
Getting off the plane and looking around, I was glad to see that we were in a very different place than the one we just left. Nha Trang, which is in southern Vietnam, is much more rural than Ho Chi Minh City, with plenty of beautiful beaches and other natural sights to see. We met our tour guide, Liam, who would be taking us around for the 3 days we'd be there. We got on the bus to first go to our hotel, and on the way there, Liam had the driver pull over right there on the highway so we could get out and take pictures of the amazing beach that we were passing on our right. We all got out and walked over to the edge of the cliff to look down at the clear, blue water crashing against the rocks. In the distance we could see land jutting out into the water, and a small island just beyond that. The scene was incredible, and after that moment, I was completely awake and excited to get the day started!
We dropped by our hotel for a short time just to check in, and realized that our very nice hotel was right across the road from a long stretch of beach. After seeing this, it was hard to get back on the bus and leave again, but we did, and Liam took us to some pretty cool places that morning. Our first stop was Long Son Pagoda, which consisted of a large, beautiful Buddhist temple, behind which was a 79 foot white Buddha statue. This pagoda was built to honor the monks and nuns who died demonstrating against the Diem government. Next to the Buddha, there were walls constructed as monuments for these people, with each of their names carved into them. It was a truely amazing place, made even more amazing by the fact that there were thousands of little yellow butterflies flying around everywhere!
Next we took a short bus ride, then parked it so we could walk across a bridge to get to our next destination. We had to walk single file down the right side of the bridge, and we saw all of these cool fishing boats floating in the bay. We reached the other side and crossed the street to go up and see the Po Nagar Cham Towers.These ancient towers looked like ruins, as they had been build between the 7th and 12th century by the Cham civilization, but taking off my shoes and going inside each of the towers, the amazing shrines and burning inscense told me that these towers are still actively used as a place of worship by the local Buddhists.
After seeing the towers, Liam brought us the the local market, where we were given time walk around and do a little shopping, which was the last thing I wanted to do because of the heat and I was just sick of markets in general. Luckily we only did this for an hour or so before we got back on the bus to go to our next location.
Liam took our group to a part of the shore where there were a bunch of large boulders jutting out into the water. We climbed on them and took a lot of pictures, just enjoying the scenery for a little while, until finally it was time for lunch. On SAS trips, you usually don't get a choice of food, but rather they bring out a series of different dishes and you get to try everything. This is a good idea in theory, because you get to try all sorts of local dishes, but let's just say that sometimes it doesn't turn out well. Oh well.
After lunch we were taken back to the hotel and given our room assignments. We were given the afternoon free until dinner, so we all rushed to change into our bathing suits and beelined it for the beach, where we spent a good few hours just drinking, swimming and hanging out.I was so tired by dinner that I couldn't even tell you what we ate or talked about. Afterwards, I attempted to go out to a bar with a few friends, but only stayed out for a few drinks before I headed back, exhausted from the long day and lack of sleep.
The next morning was simply incredible. That morning, we took the bus out to the water and rented two boats as well as snorkling equipment which came out to arounf $0.50 American for the day. We separated into the two boats and sailed out to the middle of the water, which was so clear that we could see straight down to the bottom, although where we were anchored the water was probably about 20 feet deep. This is where we stayed for several hours, just climbing up to the roof of the boats and jumping off into the water, or laying out and drinking. There were women on our boats who were giving massages and manicures, so Liam, being the crazy, hilarious guy he is, decided to take nail polish and paint the toes of some of the guys in our group while they weren't paying attention. It was SO funny, and Liam laughed the hardest out of all of us.
In the early afternoon we drove the boats to a resort that was built right on the water to get some lunch. The place was very secluded, very beautiful. After lunch we just spent some time sitting in the lounge chairs or going swimming. I actually fell asleep for awhile before we headed back to the hotel. Again, we had the afternoon free before dinner, so I hung out at the pool with some people. We compared sunburns, played some games in the pool, showered and met up for dinner.
After dinner, we all went out together and, well, had a great time! Haha. No details necessary here. It was a fun night. The following morning, we caught our flight back to Ho Chi Minh City and I met up with some friends for our last evening in Vietnam.
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