Precious Memories: Nha Trang After Two Years

12-Day Southeast Asia Cruise on Diamond Princess December 7~19, 2018

Day 10 - Nha Trang, Vietnam December 16, 2019 (8:00 AM~5:00 PM)

This would be my second time at the port of Nha Trang, Vietnam. Most of the private tours here included driving out to see the rice fields, visiting an orphanage and some kind of factory on their itinerary for the day besides the usual sights. None of these was what I really wanted to do. The last time we were here in 2016, we hired a taxi van at port for $100USD for the day, which to me was reasonable enough. I was hoping we will be able to do the same on this visit. We won't need a van and if the price is right, we can just hire a taxi or a car that would hold the four of us. Let's see what happened.

Beautiful sunrise right off our balcony.

Ship slowly sailing into Nha Trang Bay passing by some small villages on the way.

The city of Nha Trang can be seen not too far away.

We anchored off near the cable cars that go between Nha Trang and Vinpearl Resort.

Vietnamese immigration officials getting on board.

Tenders ready to take passengers to shore.

We were fortunate that a member of cruisecritic shared his extra priority tender tickets with us so we were able to take one of the first tenders off the ship.

Inside the tender.

Once we arrived at the tender port, we saw some vendors selling different wares there and some tried to provide taxi services but at a much higher prices. After considering their not so appealing prices, we got on the complimentary shuttle bus which took us to the center of town. We would decide what to do when we get there.

Saw this interesting structure by the beach but not sure what it was.

The shuttle bus dropped us off in front of the TTC Hotel in town. There were many taxi vendors waiting there trying to get the business from passengers getting off the bus. A young girl speaking good English came to talk to us, then her father joined her. While SC talked to them, we went inside the hotel for a restroom break before our tour. Clean restrooms off the side of the reception area were available for free. When we came back out, they had bargained it down to $100 for a van visiting most of the tourist sights and they would take us back to port at the end. Sound OK, so we went off with the wife of the gentleman who would be our driver for the day.

TTC Hotel is about five blocks from the Dam Market and a block from the beach.

Taxi vendors waiting outside TTC Hotel.

Inside the van with a female driver.

First stop, the Catholic Cathedral. Unfortunately, it was a Sunday and they were having mass inside the church which means no visitors were allowed up there.

Long Son Pagoda
After a short stay at the Catholic Cathedral, we drove to Long Son Pagoda. This is a Buddhist Temple with a huge statue on the hilltop right in town. When we were here in 2016, it was ridiculously crowded and we did not even bother going around. It was much better this time, with fewer tourists and we were able to take a little walk checking out the nooks and crannies of this temple even though we gave up the idea of hiking up to the statue.

A huge white statue of Buddha sitting on top of the hill.

History of the temple in Russian and Chinese.

Main entrance of the temple

Our driver saw that we were coming out of the temple gate, she quickly came over and grabbed my arm to help us crossing the very busy street. There seems to be very few traffic lights in the city and the cars and motorcycles do not stop for pedestrians. They would swirl around you if they know where you are moving to. It took us a while to learn the trick but I was sure glad that she was there to help us.

A couple of random pictures that I took while in the van.

Crossing the bridge to Cham Towers.

Ponagar (Cham) Towers

Our van parked across the street from the main entrance and again our driver took us over safely. This must be the most popular sight in the city with visitors from all over the world there. Certainly, this is a fascinating spot in the city. Once you set your eyes on these historic structures it's like taking you back in time immediately.

Columns at the entrance

View of the bay and the Cai River

Just in time for the traditional music and dance.

Stone tablet with descriptions in Chinese characters

Main tower for the goddess Durga.

Beautiful fountain

Showroom/museum in the back.

The four-armed Durga above the entrance to the temple.

The group of towers built around 781 AD, each dedicated to honor a particular god or goddess.

Hon Chong Promontory

Apparently this is a newer attraction for tourists in the city of Nha Trang. The last time we were here it was raining quite heavily so it was good that we came back on a sunny day.

Hong Chong Promontory is located right by the seaside with a group of granite rocks stacking on top of each other making this an interesting attraction. All the tour buses and taxis make a stop here when visiting Nha Trang.

A few minutes of music played on traditional instruments.

After the mini-concert, we walked to the back of the building and the promontory was in full sight.

Visitors getting a close-up look at the interesting rock formations.

For us, we just found a shady spot and enjoyed the view of this seaside attraction.

After our stop at Hong Chong Promontory, our driver took us to the Dam market where we walked around a little but did not buy anything. There are many vendors there selling everything from clothes to food but they all seemed to be selling the same things. We bumped into other people from the cruise who told us that they had some really good buys on knock-off items. Our driver asked if we wanted to stop for lunch and we declined.

Before going back to the ship we stopped at the beach where we just relaxed and enjoyed the sights.

The water seemed to be brownish and muddy with waves that would be too big for swimming. Not sure why people would want to swim there.

Regulations posted

Nice beachfront.

Our driver dropped us back in front of the port gate a little before 3:00 PM. We had close to six hours in town on this trip which worked out just fine for us. With the taxi van we did not have to do a lot of walking which could be quite nerve-wrecking if not careful. We had a good day in Nha Trang doing things that we enjoy and at our own pace.