So today we were blessed with clear and sunny skies! We got breakfast at the same place, but this time, I tried their mien xao thit cua, which is fried clear noodles with crab meat. Pretty good, but not spectacular.
We had arranged to go on a tour of some of Nha Trang's islands, so we headed back to the hotel. The bus took awhile, so we all got kinda lazy, and when the bus finally did arrive, we scrambled out to the bus late. In fact, it had to circle the block for us because police don't allow buses to wait in place for too long on their beach boulevard.
The bus takes us to the docks, where we board one of many tour ships. The ship is old and designed to fit 60 VIETNAMESE people, so let's say that even without 60 people, our ship felt a bit cramped, but it wasn't bad. The tour guide was actually pretty funny. He got an Australian woman to come to the front of the ship, spread her arms out facing the ocean, and singing "My Heart Will Go On."
The trip to the first island took 45 minutes, where we went snorkeling. The beach itself was rocky and slippery, but if you swam out far enough, the corals and fishes were pretty cool. Da Nang was much better though.
On our way to the second island, we were served lunch, which had a bunch of stuff in it, but nobody really ate any of it. They had left it out for awhile, so everything was cold, and flies were attacking it the moment it came out. I was starving, so I had one bowl of rice and ate the cleanest parts that I could find out of everything, but after that, I let it be.
At the second island, we didn't really get to see the island. We stopped at a floating station near a second island, where you could jet ski, parasail, and other stuff. I was super down for the parasailing until I found out that it was $20 for 2 or 3 minutes. Instead, I got off the boat for some stability and non-waving grounds while the tour guide folks pulled out a keyboard, a drum set, and guitars and performed for everyone. The tour boats then kinda formed little circles with each other and created a floating bar in the ocean. We started jumping from the boat into the deep waters to swim and drink light Vietnam wine. At a certain point, our tour guide stood up on the floating bar to do a booty dance. He also climbed up to the top of the boat and jumped in the water. I jumped in the water myself for a few glasses and then climbed back on board.
At the third island, the beach was dirty, so instead of swimming, we took a break and played 13. It was a much needed rest anyway, since everyone else was tired. Me? I love the ocean. Besides, I napped on the boat.
At the fourth island, we visited an aquarium. I have to say that we're spoiled by Monterey Bay, which has super clean windows and well lit up tanks. It was kinda hard to see some of what they had, since their tanks were dark and dirty. The eels were the coolest though. They were HUGE. In fact, most of the fishes in this aquarium were huge. The only display that had similar sized fish in Monterey is the deep sea exhibit.
After all of that, we headed back to the hotel to rest. The tour went all day, so we didn't get back until 5. We cleaned up and rested for a bit before we met with Jess's aunt for a lobster dinner grilled at the beach. I thought it was very nice, though it was a bit dark, and the lobster tasted good. We finished our dinner at the hotel though, since the mosquitoes were enjoying their own buffet of jess's legs (apparently my legs have been Vietnamized, because they didn't touch me at all.)
It was a nice end to our stay in Nha Trang I think, though I have to say that for everything I heard about Nha Trang, I thought Da Nang was MUCH better. The beach was better, the snorkeling was better, and the food was better (though I did enjoy the lobster). I just hope that Da Nang doesn't turn into a big tourist attraction like Nha Trang has kind of become.
Heading back to Saigon tomorrow.
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