Mud Bathing and Beaching

Entry 14:
Despite our not-so-great start to the day, things quickly turned around. We found a wonderful hotel one block from the beach, which true to its name was nice (Nice Hotel). It was also $8 a night, so we decided to stay a while and relax.

Nha Trang in a typical beach town with dozens of hotels, beachside restaurants, and pubs. The only thing not typical are the Buddhist pagodas that overlook the beach from the mountains. While we stayed in a nondescript local hotel, many chain hotels like the Sheraton are planning to open up along the beach. In addition, as we were there on a weekend, we passed by several local weddings taking place in beachside hotels.

On our first day there, we took a taxi over to a center in the mountains where we could soak in mud. This unique resort has a variety of different sized outdoor tubs that once you sit in them, they are filled with muddy mineral water. After 15 or 20 minutes, one is supposed to then go "bake" in the sun to allow the mud to dry on the skin. This is followed by a series of showers and warm/hot clean mineral water bathing. All of this with giggling Vietnamese girls who don't speak any English and fat Russian men and their families. The day was made even better by ice cold coconut water drunk directly from the coconut via a straw.

Another site of interest included the gallery of Nha Trang's most famous photographer, Long Thanh. His photos are all in B&W of locals and are very captivating. Our trip to Long Son pagoda was beautiful, but as our photos are temporarily unavailable, please click on the hyperlink to see photos we found online.

The rest of our days in the city we spent on the beach, in the water, getting massages, or eating wonderful food, including at the very impressive Sailing Club and Relax Club.

We didn't want to leave, but also realized we still had lots to see in Vietnam and beyond.