April 8th, 2010 My Son and to Nha Trang

Mi in the morning at 7AM, I bought half a bowl for 5,000 VNDs.

8:30AM I get on a bus full of foreigners to My Son. They call it the My Son Holy Land, or 美山. I tell you, you would appreciate Angkor Wat more once you get to My Son. It is much smaller in scale and the temples are not as impressive. Now I wish I had a guide at Angkor Wat because our guide certainly made this little My Son much more interesting.

The American Jeeps from Vietnam War are used as transportation to My Son sites.

The bricks compared side by side show that those built two thousand years ago withstand wind and rain much better than cement between bricks. I believe Angkor Wat was built the same way.

12PM I paid an extra 15,000 for the boat ride back without lunch, which was vegetarian for others and seemed forgettable. The boat ride was also unimpressive. The fishing village on an island was decent. There were many carpenters there and the guide showed us the flooding line, which has been much higher in recent years. The people that lived on this island would have to move to the roofs.

2PM We got dropped off near the center of Hoi An and I headed to Hoi An Beach for seafood. The beach was the best I have see in my life! It was quiet. The water was calm and blue, much better than that of Miami, Phu Quoc and Nha Trang which I visited later. The food was another story, I bought 2 small crabs cooked with sau for 85,000 VNDs and grilled fish for 60,000 VNDs. I must say I have not really had stellar seafood in Vietnam except for the shrimps I had in Phu Quoc.

Hoi An Beach

3:30PM I returned from the beach and spent an hour bargaining with the saleswomen at the market for a few dishes. I wanted the bamboo bowl, for which they wanted 50,000 VNDs, the coconut bowl (50,000 VNDs) and three plates decorated with eggshells 200,000 VNDs (they were going to give it to me for 180,000 VNDs. They wanted 265,000 VNDs but I did not bite in the end.

6PM I was picked up at Thanh Binh for Nha Trang, which was 280,000 VNDs I believe. I think I paid around 345,000 VNDs for My Son and the sleeping bus to Nha Trang, though my memory of this is not entirely solid. It was 12 hours to Nha Trang.