Phu My

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A brief drive south from our port city of Phu My brought us to the lovely seaside town of Vung Tau. Here the land is flat and low and there are endless stretches of beautiful sandy beaches. We took a half day tour here as in lieu of a 4 hour bus ride to Saigon.

We began our day at the Whale Temple.  Many years ago a whale washed up on the beach so they saved the bones and built a temple as the whale was seen as their protector during storms.

The famous bones

Making an offering

Next, we visited a giant roadside Jesus Statue on our way to yet another Buddhist Temple nestled neatly in an old seaside neighborhood. This photo is at the bottom of a high hill (that we didn't climb) where the real statue is. Here's a video of the statue from the air.

Incense

As we lit incense at the temple, the custom is to ring the bell. What a magnificent sound!

Here are photos of the White Villa, and old colonial French Royal Residence.

Path through the gardens

Life is good

More photos of Phu My here!

Nha Trang

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Nha Trang is quite south and it's getting really tropical, at last. We are feeling the heat for the first time and we finally see a beach filled with sun bathers (mostly from Russia) and an ocean of warm water. We spent time visiting temples, an outstanding marketplace, and the beautiful beach. In Vietnam, all the beaches we saw were right in town with the commercial section directly opposite the beaches. It reminded me of South Beach in Miami. There were outstanding sights to see in Nha Trang.





First, we visited the Long Son Pagoda. There was a service taking place in the temple and we climbed stairs to the reclining Buddah and the giant white Buddah.

Reclining Buddah

Giant White Buddah

Next we went to the Dam Market. I bought a tee shirt here and we visited the famous seafood section. I don't really know what kind of seafood we saw, but it was pretty interesting and really smelly!

Our guide's mother at her booth

Seafood! Don't ask. All I recognize is the dried squid and some sort of shrimp like creature.

Finally, we travelled across the Xon Bong Bridge to the impressive ruins of Po Nagar Cham Towers. The Cham were an ancient civilization who built these temples between the 7th and 12th centuries. They were very well preserved and a real highlight to visit!

The towers

An offering inside the temple

More beach!

This is one of many fishing baskets we saw

Having tea with our guide

More Nha Trang photos here!