Rice is Nice

From Da Lat, I took the bus to Nha Trang, which involved descending the mountains to the coast and then back-tracking a bit (at least for me), but heading north. The hills and valleys along the descent were beautiful, but the going was slow. I could see why this trip was expected to take five hours. Due to the windy, narrow road, and the traffic on it, the bus rarely exceeded 20 mph until we hit the coastal plain. They have a new road, I kept hearing, that cuts a direct path from Da Lat to Nha Trang, and it's supposedly very beautiful. And it only takes 3 hours. But the buses don't travel that road, because it is too narrow. If you want to go that way, you pay up by taking a motorbike all the way. I've already taken an inter-city motorbike ride, and one is enough.

Anyway, the rolling highlands soon gave way to a hot, scrubby, coastal plain. There were palm trees and cacti, and the fans in the restaurant where we ate lunch just blew hot air around. So I was glad to be in Nha Trang and check into a chilly, air-conditioned hotel.

Nha Trang is pretty much Vietnam's answer to South Beach. The beach is reasonably broad, only moderately clean, and backed by a busy road. Beyond that road lie rows and rows of hotels. And like South Beach, the collection of small hotels offering cramped rooms is being supplemented by new construction of luxury hotels. There is night life in Nha Trang -- quite a lot, actually, by Vietnamese standards. And like South Beach, the clientele is very international. And unfortunately, like one would in South Beach, I saw a man wearing a thong swimsuit in Nha Trang. He was Vietnamese, too, which somehow made it more shocking.

Tourists line the beach in Nha Trang, but there's a promising sailing business, too

I don't like South Beach much, so it's not surprising that I wasn't in love with Nha Trang. The first afternoon and evening there, I just had a food and some drink, and then ate some great grilled seafood. I will say, at least, that the seafood is very good in Nha Trang. The town has a harbor, and a resident fleet of blue fishing boats. You can even get somebody to grill up a lobster for you right on the beach. So those things, and the overall friendliness of the Vietnamese people, make it considerably better than South Beach, in my opinion.

The second day, I was able to see the sights of Nha Trang. Actually, there is about one sight. I took a motorbike up to the Po Nagar Temple, which is a well-preserved Cham temple. Unlike the ones at My Son, these temples were still in use. And they even had real-live Cham people weaving and playing music, which made it a bit theme-park-like. After that, I had the driver take me to the local mud baths. I paid to sit in a wooden tub of slippery mud for 20 minutes. It smelled kind of good, in a medicinal way, and the view across to the mountains was kind of pretty. After soaking, I did as the sign told me and sunbathed, presumably to dry the mud. But the humidity and my own perspiration in the suffocating heat conspired to prevent the mud from drying. Nobody else was even attempting this. Then there's a shower, a mineral water spritz of sorts, and a soak in mineral water. All in all, it was pretty relaxing. But the sign at the entrance promises that the mud is known to relive mental disorders and rheumatism, and I think I still have a bit of both.

Nha Trang's fishing fleet, at the river's mouth, all painted blue

Columns at the entrance to Po Nagar Cham temple in Nha Trang. This one is Buddhist, not Hindu

The Cham still exist, as an ethnic minority inside Vietnam, now without a kingdom