There was this particular place I felt I must go when visiting Hoi An, it's called Reaching Out Tea House. I knew this place thanks to Andrea Chong, a Singaporean blogger. She took breathtaking photos and that one in Reaching Out was so impressive so I thought I should do the same haha!
The place being beautiful itself was not the surprised element. When we went in but there was no seats, I decided to come back early the next day's morning so I asked one waitress when the store opens. And she was mumbling. After a few seconds going blank, I realised the wonder of Reaching Out Tea House, that special place with that distinctive silence. What do I mean?
Uhm... all the waitresses are mute deaf people.
How to order
I was so confused not knowing how to communicate but they seemed to be very experienced with guests like me. She grabbed one of the menu quickly for me to look for the information I need. Ok! The opening time ... the opening time. Here it was, I looked at the waitress again, nodded to her and left quietly. She did a hand gesture, I didn't know what it was, later I guessed it meant 'Dạ!' (a very lovely, extremely formal word for Yes! in Vietnamese).
The golden spot
We arrived at 9AM sharp, the earliest customers. My aimed spot was empty and we quickly took it. There were these little wooden cubes leaving on the table next to some pencils, each was written with only necessary word for the customers' and the waitresses' conversations.
We ordered green tea, arabica coffee and some chocolate cookies. Notice the communicating cubes in the left corner?
At first when we communicate with the same waitress we met the day before, she seemed not so friendly, at least not the level I expected her to be. But then after I realised I haven't thanked her, the conversation happened so fast I didn't really have time to think of a way to react to be honest. After that, I quickly touched the thank you cube before she turned away, she then smiled brightly and did that 'Dạ!' hand gesture, for a moment, my heart skipped a beat.
Apart from the time we tried to capture that perfect moments, ok not really perfect but we tried our best haha, I felt so peaceful to the point that for me the time did stop for a while there. I cannot describe the feeling, but I definitely knew this place will always have a place in my heart. It was even more special since I knew there were still people who made all this happen had the biggest hearts. I don't know if the same thing will happen to you but I ensure there would be a magical feeling.
We were supposed to return to Danang at 10AM the latest. But I didn't know where 2 hours had gone, I guess we stopped keeping track of the time! Someday if you ever come to Hoi An, there should be several hour well spent at Reaching Out Tea House, you know you deserve a peaceful moment sometimes in your life!
If you have visited Reaching Out Tea House, mind if I'd like to know how was your feelings? ;) Please share with me hehe!
Hi hi! I know it's been a month already since my last blog about Nha Trang. So I guess I should finish the story about my boring getaway hehe. Is anybody excited for it? *Yay* only myself *sob* The last morning was a little depressed because we were approaching reality. We woke up, got ready and had another big-ass breakfast.We then went up to the pool and regretted not swimming in it for the last two days.
The plan for day 3 - Visiting Thap Ba Ponagar - Buying Nha Trang's specialties at Chợ Đầm (Dam Market) - Chilling at I-Resort Mineral Hot Spring - Chilling (yet again) at Runam Cafe (unexpectedly dued to delayed flight)
Thap Ba Ponagar
Dress code
Since we were going to a spiritual place, I was extremely
careful about our dress code. Note: you should wear clothes which cover your shoulder, your knees
(for female), and entire legs (for male). You are obliged to dress
respectfully before entering any temple. Or at least bring a long scarf to cover your skin.
Location
It doesn't say the exact address, just type in google map and follow it. Or simply ask the hotel receptionist.
Thap Ba Ponagar is located 2km away from the city's central and 5km from Alana Hotel. We went with the grey route and came back with the blue one. If you want to enjoy the coastal scenery, choose blue, and if you want to see more of Nha Trang city then choose grey. My advice? Go with the blue one, shorter, more beautiful and more fuel-efficient haha. Oh and probably where you stay would be located along Tran Phu Street anyways.
Ticket price and optional tour guide
The ticket price per person was 22.000VND. There was an option for you to hire a tour guide at the ticket counter, costed 150.000VND, doesn't matter how many people in the group, it all costed the same. We didn't think we needed one but then just seeing the temples wasn't interesting because we didn't know anything about this famous historical place. Luckily, nearby there was a tourist group hiring one tour guide. And we sneakily followed them and heard the story for free (so cheap of myself haha but yeah, couldn't resist) but not all the way anyway.
Interesting facts about Thap Ba Ponagar
Thap Ba Ponagar was built to worship Queen Po Ina Nagar, according to legend who was created by the sky and the sea foam, she created the Earth, rare wood, trees and rice (according to Vietnamese Wiki). She had helped the people in the very early days of Nha Trang, and make this place prosperous. She had 38 daughters, who were all became Saints. But Cham people selected three daughters along with Queen Po Ina Nagar to worship and protect their land. That's why you would see 4 temples at the highest level, the central belongs to Queen Po Ina Nagar, another three belong to Po Nagar Dara - Saint Kauthara (Khanh Hoa Province); Po Rarai Anaih - Saint Panduranga (Ninh Thuan Province) and Po Bia Tikuk - Saint Manthit (Phan Thiet Province).
Second level
The vestige has three levels, the first one was the gate which is not in usage currently, the second levels was where guests gathered and prepare gifts for Thánh Mẫu (literal translation is Saint Mother) - Queen Po Ina Nagar in special occasions; the last level includes four temples as said above. One thing that made me really interested is the stair connected between the second level and the highest one. It is really steep, like 45 degree. If you were to bring the gift to Thánh Mẫu, you must go through this stair (this is quite hard already) and once you were done, you must also come down with the same stair but....backwards (imagine how difficult it would be). The tour guide said this rule was to test the worshiper's loyalty. I was like 'Man! That's so cool' haha. Seriously, I should have hired a tour guide.
View from the highest level
Oh and almost forgot! The coolest thing of everything is that there was no such thing as adhesive to connect the bricks together but still the temples are concrete for centuries.
We spent about 30 minutes walking around the temples. There are many people came in and out of the temples, most entered the central one. I didn't enter any, didn't know why I didn't want to either, but I definitely felt something unease, kinda weird. Tell me if you have that feeling visiting the temples haha. We took some photos, enjoyed the peaceful, surprisingly uncrowded atmosphere and tried to listen to the history the tour guide was explaining (well she was having a loud microphone at that moment haha). We packed our stuff and on our feet again to the next stop.
Dam Market
Taken from Google Image
This is where people sell Nha Trang's food specialties. In my opinion, the food here, most are dried food, is not favourable by the foreigners because they are made for the locals. But if you want to buy something, try to go further into the market. The very first shops you see often set more expensive prices, targeting tourists. You can buy dried cuttlefishes with tamarind sauce (mực rim me) or mango cake (they juiced the ripe mangoes, cook until boil and press them into long sticky mango strips, it causes addiction I warn you haha).
Above: Dried cuttlefish with tamarind sauce - Below: Mango cake (without or with sesame) - Taken from Google
I bought several items, dried fishes, dried cuttlefishes. I did bargain a lot but then it only works for Vietnamese I believe, but you have bargained before, don't hesitate. My advice is to look for a seller who make you feel comfortable and warm, don't settle with the first one you see. We then came back to the hotel, packed our stuff and checked out. We also asked the receptionists to keep our luggage for us to go to our third destination.
I-Resort Mineral Hot Spring
This was recommended by my friend who went two weeks before I did. Normally I never went to hot spring, partly the way to go there was difficult and small, partly because it was so crowded, the environment was somewhat dirty and looked creepy, well at least when I visited them. But iResort changed my perception about hot spring. It is definitely a place to relax, soak yourself in the warm mineral spring and then take a long lazy nap. We wanted to film some videos showing you the place, but GoPro often got hot easily, we haven't figured out why, and we couldn't cool it down by the hot spring obviously, and also we wanted to relax and enjoy our time there. I'll try to paint a good picture for you to imagine haha. Here is a video I found on Youtube showing you how it looks like.
Location
Address: To 19 - Xuan Ngoc - Vinh Ngoc - Nha Trang - Khanh Hoa Phone: +84 58 3838838 Website: www.i-resort.vn If you thew me this address, there was no way I could find the freaking place. Nope! No! The solution is only to type it into google and follow the route, it'll get you there. If you go by taxi, do pay attention as well, see if the driver goes with the longer route making you pay more.
It's pretty far actually, took us 20 minutes to get there from our hotel but it was so worth it. We had a footage of us walking towards the reception from the parking lot.
Ticket price
Hot Mineral Spring Ticket for adult was 120.000VND, for children is 60.000VND each. The price includes free towel, swimsuit (up to you to take it at the locker counter, they'll ask), and one mineral water bottle. This was the cheapest option I reckon. Hot Mineral Mud Bath and many more services Overall, it was not that expensive the service. We only chose Hot Mineral Spring service, since we didn't like dipping ourselves into mud and we were pretty cheap haha.
Where to put your stuff while you're enjoying?
Obviously you can guess there should be lockers for you. But there were two separate area, one counter at the front and the lockers in the changing rooms.
Remember to put your most valuable stuff at the counter, money, wallets, cameras, they would put them together in a bag and wrap it like it was a mummy. They will instruct you carefully once you're there but do pay great attention.
And for the less valuable stuff, such as clothes and bags, they would give you a key once you're in front of the changing rooms, female on the right, male on the left. Also they will ask if you need a swimsuit (I don't think that's very hygienic, so bring your own!).
What you can do there?
Bring in your vodka and just chill haha Even though there was a sign said you cannot bring food and drink into the hot spring area. We brought two Lemonade Smirnoff bottles (supposedly for last night but too tired and full to drink), hid them into the towel walking in and I was so scared if the security men knew haha. But it didn't seem like they care at all, we chose a pool, opened our delicious boozes and just lied down relaxing. Dip yourselves into the wonderful hot spring But first, I must warn you that the water is hotter than you think (well at least I thought). Don't jump in but walk slowly into the water, make time for your body to adjust to the temperature and after a while, I believe you'd find yourself in the spring of heaven. Exploring different pools There are hot pools (in the ground) and the cool ones (in the upper artificial mountains areas on the left). I preferred the hot ones since it's really relaxing when you come out of it. Cover yourself with mud It's a good option for you to relax in the bath and have small talk with your peeps in your very one personal bathing area. That's why it's more expensive. Enjoy the massage When I was lying the bench falling asleep and minding my own business. One of the masseurs came and handed me the spa's brochure. I didn't know why I chose body massage and paid 300.000VND, was not expensive but inadequate to my expectation. But hey! I might have high standards, so if you wanna try then do it. We spent 3 hours there regaining our energy. Then it was time to go back to the Nha Trang cos we wanted to go to one very special coffee place at Tran Phu Street.
Runam Bistro Nha Trang
This restaurant chain has been very popular in Saigon but I have never gone to one since they are pricey. But passing it for a few days riding around Tran Phu Street, it was so beautiful so we both wanted to experience it. And it was exceptional, the place, the atmosphere, the view, the interior, the combination was perfect. I didn't pay much attention to the drinks and food but most visitors in Trip Advisor said even though the taste was good but overall quite expensive. But I understand because it is really a luxurious place and most of the guests I saw were middle class people (at least they look like they were) so you gotta expect such price range. Anyway if you have time to kill like we did (our flight was delayed for 2 hours) then I really recommend this place.
Pretty blurry sorry T___T
We ordered an affogato and a vanilla milkshake. The bill was almost 200.000VND I remembered.
We sat for another 1 hour and it was time for us to return the scooter. Then we caught the late airport bus and on our way to our flight to Saigon boohooo.
Nha Trang, even though was a very familiar place for myself but coming back to it at different age gave me different feeling. With everything it offers, the culture, the nature and the people, it is definitely a place that you should sometimes in your life experience it hehe. And finally I hope you like my travel diary and find it useful. If there is any question about Nha Trang, please ask I'd be glad to help you!
Here is my Nha Trang Getaway Day 1 (Click here) and Nha Trang Getaway Day 2 (Click here) if you haven't checked them out.
Continuing with my adventure to Nha Trang during one quick weekend!
These are some tips for you when visiting Vinpearland Nha Trang, before you get bored of my gibberish haha.
1. Since you pay almost $30 for visiting Vinpearl Land, prepare to spend the whole day exploring everything, make the most our of your money (10.30AM to 7PM preferably like we did).
2. Bring your swimsuit! You are not permitted to play those ride in the water park not wearing proper swimsuit. And the rides are extremely fun, one did hurt my ass a lot but overall fun fun.
3. Have a huge breakfast! Anything you can eat, so you won't be so hungry in Vinpearl Land. The drinks are priced quite reasonably, but the food is really expensive, and it tasted awful (well it did taste good those sausages at the water park gate, since we were so hungry after 2 hour dipping in water fun. However, we didn't eat anything since the breakfast). The 2 sausages costed 60,000VND I tell ya! ( ⚆ _ ⚆ )
4. Lastly, have a lot of fun! σ(≧ε≦ｏ)
Here's my diary :P
I woke up at 6am, surfing the Internet as usual and came across a warning that there was a huge storm coming to the East Sea, and we practically lived among the beach. 'Man there goes my holiday', I was thinking. Fortunately, it was the nicest Saturday, no rain, all sunny all day, thank you God!
OOTD?
We came down to 3rd floor to have the fabulous breakfast buffet. The breakfast was delicious, combining Western and Vietnamese food. The waffle altogether with butter and maple syrup was exceptionally delicious, I ate 4 big pieces with crapload of butter. The waiters looked at me with strange eyes seeing how much butter I took haha, no shame! I did eat some of the sausages with potatoes soup mimicking the wonderful Louisiane's dish last night.
We wanted to keep the transportation cost at the lowest, so renting a bike was the best choice. Reading some of the review online, I called an uncle who was commented to be very friendly, honest and gentle. The daily rate was 80,000VND for a gear scooter without gas, we paid 150,000VND for almost 2 days, quite okay since the hotel rate was nearly double. I did not get his name even I called him for a few times (I'm such a jerk!) but if you want to rent a motorbike in Nha Trang, he is the guy.
The Vinpearl Land ticket was 600,000VND buying directly at the entrance, the renting scooter uncle sells those too, but 15,000VND cheaper so we bought 2 from him as well.
Renting scooter: 0935605963
And btw you can leave the scooter overnight at the hotel, mine was really friendly but probably asked the reception first before renting any. But I believe they would be happily ok for you to leave the scooter at their basement.
There was a gas station on the way to Vinpearl, it's on the right if you go along Tran Phu Street. 20,000VND was enough (1 and 2/3 day) for our gear scooter because it is very fuel efficient.
We parked our scooter in the parking lot, the fee is about 2000VND, make sure to take the scooter ticket (which evidently shows that you did park your scooter there to show to the security guys) and pay the money upfront.
At 10.30 we reached the cable station. The security will check your bags for food and drink since you are not allowed to bring them from outside to the theme park. My bag was considerably small, (like a kindergarten bag, some people commented) so the security lady didn't even bother checking! Score! Except didn't score anything since I didn't bring any food at all, not even drinks!
The cable ride was 15' to Vinpearl Island. There weren't many people that day and we could have the cable car all for ourselves ! Lucky us!
We went to play those indoor games first. I LOVE LOVEEE the 4D ride, since I was a little kid so obviously we queued there first. But the ride has become very old now, and frankly I couldn't see anything for the whole time. The video image was unclear, dull and dark. And only the English speakers could understand what was going on because the voice was in English as well. But we did pay for the whole package then so shall oblige to play everything.
My friend and I are really impatient people so we could not play any game until end. As soon as any game started, we walked away :)). We stayed there for maximum 30 minutes. Made a bunch of Gopro videos (and they are lost because of the stupid Gopro, can't stress that enough T___T).
We then walked our ways to the most interesting ride of the park, it's called Vinpearl Alpine Coaster.
This is how it looks like (taken from Vinpearl Land's website)
So basically there are two handles on both sides. You push them to the front, the car will accelerate due to gravity pull (I do remember physics, or don't I), and pull them backwards to brake. I did manage to video the scenery while the car was being pulled up. The ride going down was fun but sometimes scary everytime I did those turns.
Pretty hur?
Warning though, if your companion is one of those people who love speed then let them go first. Why I said that? Because my stupid, impatient flat butted friend just kept yelling me to speed up and pissed the crap out of me ಠ_ಠ. We fought for the next 30' haha, I was so angry. Here's a picture of that butt-face (if you're reading this, yes I'm still mad at you!).
View of the resort looking from the outdoor games area
My most favorite part of Vinpearl must be the aquarium, as they call it under water world. Back in 2010 when I first went there with my high school peeps, there was nothing much to see in there, the fishes were normal and so was the design. The only reason we went into it because of the air conditioner :)), little break from the extreme sun. It surprised me this time!
One fabulous dragon
Pretty fishies
We spent 40' looking at fishes swimming around, and I have ever felt so relaxed in my life. I said to myself if I ever earn enough, I would spend whole week once a year to swim and dive in the ocean looking at little fishies swimming around.
The next highlight of Vinpearl is the water park, it's not Saigon Water Park (I know, it's ages ago) or even Dam Sen Park, but it indeed was fun. The beach was located there as well, the best beach the most peaceful beach I adore. Nha Trang's beaches are mostly very steep, three steps and the sea level is already at your waist, but Vinpearl one was man made and really shallow, which I like. The water was so blue and the sky is so clear. Urghh, just heaven!
Before you go have fun, make sure to put all your stuff in the locker. Each locker costed 10,000VND, keep the paper the lady gave you so you can have your stuff back later. The locker for technology, expensive stuff should go into those lockers behind the ladies at the counter. Other stuff you can leave in other normal lockers.
Here are some awesome rides!
Taken from Vinpearl Land's website
Taken from Vinepearl Land's website
And this asshole hurt mah butt, so make sure to follow life guard's instruction (taken from Vinpearl Land's website)
Footage we took during a ride. Yes do ignore our creepy voices
At 5pm, we went to see dolphin show, which lasted for 20' I think, was not that long. Something that I didn't know exist before. The show was funny, and very gentle for the mind after the whole day running, fighting (if you travel with friends haha). The seals and the dolphins are always the cutest. One thing constantly popped up in my head, how much fun the trainers have working with the most adorable friends like those cuties. So you must attend the show!
After the show, we were pretty exhausted, walking real slow to catch this scene, and of course shall take mandatory photo :P.
On the way back to the cable station, we decided to relive our childhood with this ride.
And while riding it, I saw a couple were prepared to play some kind of Bungy Jump. It looked really fun and apparently nobody knew you could play it. We got off the horsie ride as soon as it stopped and ran so fast to the Bungy Jump, it locates nearby. We saw the couple played for 7 or 8 minutes (see video)
It looks like fun right? It was really really fun, but one thing is it hurt my thighs a lot. However, the pain was somewhat bearable and the joy was off the hook. It's something I have never ever tried before. This only opens after 5.30 to 7.30PM (that was what I remembered). So if you stay late, come check it out. We played for about 5' and the protective gear was hurting me so I begged the operator to stop haha.
And that's all I wanted to tell you about my lovely day at Vinpearl. I do hope you will have a good time there too!
Here is my Nha Trang Getaway Day 1 if you haven't check it out :D (Click here)
