Nha Trang
The beach capital of Vietnam. Town with a lovely long beach, with not so lovely line of tall hotel buildings along it. Modern town, with traffic and chaos and construction and night clubs. Thanks to the direct flight connection with Russia, full of Russian tourists, man strolling around the beach and occasionally around the town in snug Speedoes, showing their impressive beer bellies and hairy backs.
I visited the local mad bath, got sunburned on the beach, watched the sunset from the roof top restaurant in Sheraton Hotel ,braved the local traffic on a motorcycle, learning that there are indeed no rules to follow while entering roundabout intersections and ate lots of local food, thanks to my friend Mark who acted as my guide.
Dalat
The bus ride from Nha Trang to Dalat was amazing. The bus was making it's way east into the central highlands, following curvy road with killer views.
Dalat was nothing what I expected it to be. I had an idea of a small , charming mountain town and got rather big and modern touristy town instead.
There is a good night market where you can buy some of the local grown vegetable, hand made clothing and local food.
I arranged a day trip on a motorcycle for the next day with Easy Riders.
We took off in the morning and after 3 touristy stops in 30 min ( view, farm, temple), I realized this might not be the tour to my liking.
I told Tin Tin ( my driver) that I would rather drive back on the road to the mountains, the same way the bus come. I told him I wanted to go Easy Riding!" Let's get of the beaten path and ride this strong motorcycle into the mountains." I told him.
We adjusted the price and took of ..... as soon as we left the town behind I had a big smile on my face. I wasn't the only one, Tin Tin looked rather happy himself... What a fun ride!
There are thousands of plastic green houses on the outskirt of the town. The story behind it says that one Dutch man opened a farm and started using green houses and this being Vietnam, people copied it and now there are green houses everywhere! I am glad it helped the local agriculture, but sad to say it hurt the way the town looks. So much plastic everywhere!
I am sure Dalat has some charming parts, but I didn't have enough time to explore it.
Ho Chi Min City
Booming metropolis on the move that is what LP calls it and that is what it is . Centrum has a nice mix of old and new tall buildings. I enjoyed walking around, watching locals exercising in the parks, dancing and practicing tai chi and martial arts.
The traffic is crazy, motorcycle and cars, making it hard to cross the streets.
It is a party town at night, all the weirdos and bar girls come out and mix with tourists for long nights of partying.
I liked the posh streets around the Notre Dame Cathedral ( 1877), with its luxurious stores like Chanel and Armani.
It is a town of fine dining, which I did not experience, being sick from some local food I ate few days earlier. I at least stopped at the Czech Restaurant which doubles as a Honour Czech Consulate and had their delicious fresh brewed dark beer.
I walked by a International Clinic and just popped in to see if I could get my last Hep AB shot. Sure I could, right away and it only cost $40.
Ho Chi Min City feels like ....well... modern metropolis... and I was glad to visit.
The beach capital of Vietnam. Town with a lovely long beach, with not so lovely line of tall hotel buildings along it. Modern town, with traffic and chaos and construction and night clubs. Thanks to the direct flight connection with Russia, full of Russian tourists, man strolling around the beach and occasionally around the town in snug Speedoes, showing their impressive beer bellies and hairy backs.
I visited the local mad bath, got sunburned on the beach, watched the sunset from the roof top restaurant in Sheraton Hotel ,braved the local traffic on a motorcycle, learning that there are indeed no rules to follow while entering roundabout intersections and ate lots of local food, thanks to my friend Mark who acted as my guide.
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| Mud bath |
Dalat
The bus ride from Nha Trang to Dalat was amazing. The bus was making it's way east into the central highlands, following curvy road with killer views.
Dalat was nothing what I expected it to be. I had an idea of a small , charming mountain town and got rather big and modern touristy town instead.
There is a good night market where you can buy some of the local grown vegetable, hand made clothing and local food.
I arranged a day trip on a motorcycle for the next day with Easy Riders.
We took off in the morning and after 3 touristy stops in 30 min ( view, farm, temple), I realized this might not be the tour to my liking.
I told Tin Tin ( my driver) that I would rather drive back on the road to the mountains, the same way the bus come. I told him I wanted to go Easy Riding!" Let's get of the beaten path and ride this strong motorcycle into the mountains." I told him.
We adjusted the price and took of ..... as soon as we left the town behind I had a big smile on my face. I wasn't the only one, Tin Tin looked rather happy himself... What a fun ride!
 |
| Coffee beans |
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| Cemetery and the green houses near by |
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| Dalat |
There are thousands of plastic green houses on the outskirt of the town. The story behind it says that one Dutch man opened a farm and started using green houses and this being Vietnam, people copied it and now there are green houses everywhere! I am glad it helped the local agriculture, but sad to say it hurt the way the town looks. So much plastic everywhere!
I am sure Dalat has some charming parts, but I didn't have enough time to explore it.
Ho Chi Min City
Booming metropolis on the move that is what LP calls it and that is what it is . Centrum has a nice mix of old and new tall buildings. I enjoyed walking around, watching locals exercising in the parks, dancing and practicing tai chi and martial arts.
The traffic is crazy, motorcycle and cars, making it hard to cross the streets.
It is a party town at night, all the weirdos and bar girls come out and mix with tourists for long nights of partying.
I liked the posh streets around the Notre Dame Cathedral ( 1877), with its luxurious stores like Chanel and Armani.
 |
| Little bit of France in Vietnam. |
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| Old post office building |
It is a town of fine dining, which I did not experience, being sick from some local food I ate few days earlier. I at least stopped at the Czech Restaurant which doubles as a Honour Czech Consulate and had their delicious fresh brewed dark beer.
I walked by a International Clinic and just popped in to see if I could get my last Hep AB shot. Sure I could, right away and it only cost $40.
Ho Chi Min City feels like ....well... modern metropolis... and I was glad to visit.
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