Nha Trang II

After the trauma of our motorbike accident, Nha Trang turned out to be alright. After getting lost on our motorbike for about three hours, with little or no help from locals, we finally found Yang Bay Waterfalls.  It was well worth the journey, beautiful, with almost no one else there.

Yang Bay Waterfall

Me, obviously, by the falls

We also had the pleasure of seeing the Po Nagar Cham Towers. Brick towers that were built between the 7th and 12th century, these were a wonder to see in person. The detail that goes into some of these things is amazing, and makes me that much more excited to see Angor Wat in Cambodia.

Cham towers

 Me, in font of the towers

         

We also squeezed in a visit to the Long Son Pagoda. The pagoda was established in 1963 to honor the monks and nuns who died demonstrating against the Diem government. The main attraction here is the 79ft Buddha pictured below.

Sleeping Buddha

Big Buddha. That black speck is me.

I have loads more pictures and they can be found via my dropbox here

Nha Trang

After taking in some museums it was off to Nha Trang for what was supposed to be some R&R. Nha Trang is a nice little beach town about 7 hours away, by train from HCMC. The train journey there gave us the opportunity to take in some spectacular views of the countryside.

Waiting to board the train

After arriving and settling in, Zoe and I did our normal routine of exploring the area and finding a bite a to eat. Nha Trang is somewhat touristy. Russians, in particular seemed to have taken a liking to the place. To get away from all of that we decided to rent a motorbike and set off for Ba Ho Falls. Ba Ho was a little off the beaten path, which made it a bit of a hassle to get to, but that's what we were looking for.

Ba Ho Falls

Me posing

After riding for about 30 minutes we made it, and it was beautiful. The best part is that we managed not to see anyone else until we were leaving. After leaving Ba Ho, we decided to go to the beach, do some swimming, and relax. We did did all of these things and left the beach feeling very happy and satisfied with our day. Unfortunately everything was about to go from sugar to shit.

On our way back to the hotel, a motorbike suddenly pulled out in front of us. I had two choices: run headfirst into it, or try and swerve. I chose the latter and we ended up falling on the left side. It looked a bit like this...




Bonus points for you if you can tell me what music video this is from.

It was a scary experience, but we emerged relatively unscathed from the whole ordeal. Zoe had a few cuts and bruises. I had the same, a bruised elbow, and mildly sprained my wrist. Still, it could have been a lot worse. The whole episode did compel me to purchase some travel insurance, which I had foolishly decided I didn't need.

   

Nursing our wounds...