it's been swell, nha trang.

the couple of days spent in nha trang have been more than wonderful. it is a gorgeous coastal city, with ocean-blue waters and beautiful islands that i very much enjoyed. next time i'm back in vietnam, and who knows when that will be, i am definitely coming back to nha trang; it made an awesome first impression.

my family and i got to nha trang on thursday night at around 7pm, so it was a bit too late to enjoy any of the local attractions. we settled into our hotel, freshened up after our 14-hour long drive, and enjoyed dinner at a bayfront restaurant with our driver.

the following day, the weather decided not to cooperate with our beach activities but that didn't quite hinder us from going out and visiting some local spots. 

• po nagar [the complex of temples built by the cham] - it was raining quite a bit, so we decided to pack up and leave after about 10 minutes
• live seafood restaurant - we picked our own live seafood and had it prepared however we liked. it was uber fresh and delicious! nomnomnom!
• cafe - had some drinks and listened to the DJ mix a few jams
• manicures and pedicures - my mom and i left the guys to enjoy a couple more drinks while we got some beauty treatments [the service was just ok, but can't really complain because it was extremely cheap... and when i say cheap, i'm talking about a few dollars cheap... oh the life in vietnam].
• cho dam - a flea market type of place where we picked up some knick knacks
• dinner at the hotel with a free-flow of wines - gulpgulpgulp!
• riding on a xe loi/cyclo up and down the street of tran phu

saturday, we spent the day island hopping, which was so much fun. we went to the aquarium at one of the islands and looked at all the different sea creatures. we saw a puffer-fish [a fish that has a deadly nerve toxin in one of its organs], which was featured on one of the episodes on the simpsons. we then took our private boat around a couple other islands without stopping by [just enjoyed the scenic sights] and finally made our way to vinpearl island, where miss universe 2008 was held.

there is much to see and do on vinpearl island: an assortment of rides, giftshops, picture-taking with the different statues, eye candy [beautiful views], restaurants, and enjoying live shows. we rode the cable car back to the mainland and that enabled us to marvel at the wonderful views one last time before heading back to the hotel to take a dip in the infinity pool [gorgeous!].

saturday night, we headed to pho 24, to, or so we thought, enjoy some pho. to our dismay, we discovered that there were ants in our driver's soup. everyone immediately checked their bowls, and although i didn't see any in mine, i had lost my appetite and refused to eat the rest. ugh. afterward, we went to paramount cafe and bar to sip on some margaritas.

on sunday, we departed the beautiful city of nha trang at 5am heading toward saigon. i thoroughly enjoyed our stay there and am looking forward for next time, when we might actually have time to go on more adventures.  overall, an awesome, short beach trip!

anddddddddddddd... HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY BROTHER, TRI!  today he turns 26!