Vietnam Travel Diary #06: An amazing Airbnb, a day by the beach, and a thunder storm!

After getting into Nha Trang station we hopped in a taxi and headed to the ‘Hon Chong Center’ to meet one of the staff members of our Airbnb host. It was so beautiful and sunny, and our taxi driver was listening to K-Pop, so this was a really happy and upbeat introduction to Nha Trang. We waited outside the Hon Chong Center for a little while and admired the surrounding area.

The area we were staying in was right on the coast, and it was surrounded by lush mountains and colourful buildings. When we got to our Airbnb we were amazed. Every room had a beautiful view of the coast and the surrounding mountains and islands.

I sat by the window for a while just watching the fishing boats bobbing on the water. As you can see, the water was beautifully clear!

The apartment had a clean modern kitchen, two bedrooms, two bathrooms and a big living room with a large smart TV that had Netflix installed (always a bonus).  It also had a balcony with an air drying rack, and washing facilities! This meant that we could do all of our washing from the previous week for free! We packed light, so had only bought about 7-8 days worth of clothes with us that we had always aimed to wash during our stay. So having a washing machine was a massive bonus and helped us to plan ahead. We hung all of our washed clothes on the rack and left them to dry in the warm sun, which meant we had fresh, dry clothes within a few hours!

All the way up until the day of our arrival I had been chatting with the host, a lady called Mai, who was incredibly sweet and helpful. She allowed us the chance to check in early, and gave us a huge amount of information about the surrounding area; things to do, the cost of certain activities, taxi costs and journey times. She even continued to give us recommendations for our continuing journey after we left Nha Trang! This was our first ever Airbnb experience and Mai made us feel so safe and comfortable. If you’re at all interested in looking for accommodation in Nha Trang I would 100% recommend Mai’s place. You can find it here. We were actually sad that we only stayed there for a short time, and wished we could have stayed longer!

Since we got to Nha Trang so early we decided that we would make the most of the gorgeous weather and head down to the coast. The sea was only a 5 minute walk from our apartment, and we were so close that we could actually see our Airbnb from the beach!

The beach was absolutely stunning. We rented two sunbeds with comfy cushions and a big shady umbrella for 100,000 vnd (about £3.30). We ended up getting about 2 hours use of them and we thought the price was reasonable and it meant we had some shade and a place to leave our things.

The water was a beautiful greenish-blue. It was crystal clear and I could see small fish swimming around me. The water was calm and tranquil, and I spent a lot of time just floating in the sea and staring up at the beautiful blue sky. It was blissful. Truthfully, I could have stayed there for hours.

After about 2 hours we were ready to get some lunch. Since we could now take full use of a kitchen we headed to a local supermarket to grab some ramen, drinks and snacks. We cooked, ate and chilled out in the apartment.

As we were settling down to watch some Netflix the weather outside suddenly turned. The wind began to pick up and we could see the palm trees waving in the wind, and the sky suddenly clouding over.

It began to rain heavily and then thunder. We felt so cozy and safe up in the apartment. And we felt fortunate that we’d headed inside before it started to pour with rain!

We decided it was probably best not to venture out in the rain and we’d luckily planned most of our sight seeing for the next day, so we just had a chilled afternoon. After that we headed out to find some dinner. We headed to a place called ‘Caleen’ which was right under the apartment block. It was primarily a coffee place but it also had a good selection of food.

The decor was modern and clean, and it was a calm place to eat that didn’t feel too stimulating or busy. I had pork and noodle broth which was delicious, and some peach tea.

After having dinner we headed back up to the apartment. The views of Nha Trang from our Airbnb were just as gorgeous at night. It was wonderful to be able to watch such a beautiful vista change from a day of beautiful blue skies, to an afternoon of rain and thunder, and then finally end with a calm and crisp night sky.

Although we didn’t do a lot of sight seeing on our first day in Nha Trang, we had a well needed day of rest and relaxation. We were able to do our washing, spend some time on a beautiful beach, re-charge, eat cheap and delicious food and generally take in the surroundings of an absolutely beautiful city. Nha Trang was already shaping up to be a wonderful experience.

 

Click here to read all about our experience travelling to Nha Trang on the sleeper train!

 

 

Vietnam Travel Diary #03: Ho Chi Minh City – Delicious Pho and Breathtaking Views

I woke up with some seriously low energy after being very sleep deprived. The jet lag still had me fully and firmly in it’s grasp. But then… it was time for breakfast. All of a sudden, it was like I had been gifted a bowl of pure joy to cure all of my woes.

I’m talking about Pho…

Pho is a delicious mixture of broth, rice noodles, herbs and usually either beef or chicken. In our hotel they put a little Vietnamese meatball in there too! You can add beansprouts, lemon juice, and also red chillies if you’re up for a bit of spice! There are slight regional variants to the taste of Pho, and in the South of Vietnam the broth usually has a sweeter flavour.

After being far too cautious and eating mostly from the buffet the morning before, I decided to venture into new territory and went up to the Pho counter. As an incredibly socially awkward human being, I got very flustered when I saw all of the extra ingredients that were placed by the station. Just to put how confused I was into context… I put my lemon wedge into my broth WHOLE. I didn’t even squeeze it… I just dropped it in there like a berocca tablet in a glass of water. But the chef at the station was so lovely. She used tongs to take it out for me, and then got a new lemon and squeezed the juice into my broth. Within 10 seconds, and without speaking, she had properly instructed me on how to properly garnish a bowl of Pho.

It was so delicious. A beautiful blend of flavours and textures… With every spoonful of broth that I had, I felt better and better. You know how Popeye needs spinach to get all strong and brave? That day I needed Pho, and Pho worked. It warmed my soul and reminded me that travel is a wonderful and unpredictable experience that creates something truly priceless memories. I thanked the lady again when I left and she nodded and gave me a warm smile. She’ll never know how much she cheered me up that day.

We’d already seen the majority of the things we had wanted to see in the city the day before, so we decided to spend the afternoon chilling out at our hotel’s amazing rooftop pool.

We set up two sunbeds by the pool and had a relaxing swim. It was so refreshing up there and the views weren’t half bad either!

After we got out we sat on the sunbeds drying off and feeling the gorgeous breeze that drifted past us. We watched the occasional dragon fly come and explore the pool area. I listened to an audio book and watched the clouds roll by.

In the early evening we headed to Bitexco Financial Tower. Until January 2011 this was the tallest building in Vietnam, and you really can’t miss it! We headed up in an elevator that whisked us all the way up to the observation deck. Once you’re up there, you can see panoramic views of the entire city.

We had aimed to get there about 30 minutes – 1 hour before sunset, and luckily we made it in time to see Ho Chi Minh City both in the daylight, during the sunset, and also after dark.

This was such a wonderful way to spend our last night in the city. As I sat there, I just kept thinking about how much this skyline has changed throughout history, and how different it may look in the future.

To see my previous post all about the history and culture in Ho Chi Minh City click here