In another 9 hours on the bus, we'll be back to the Vietnam National University hostel. Everyone seems quite happy to return to a place we had already settled down and is comfortable living in. Our luggages and what we had left behind was waiting for us.

So what do we do during the whole 9 hours of the trip? Sleep.



Well, and stop by for lunch: the default meal of meat, salad, soup, tea and the often watermelon.

After an early morning breakfast of fried rice, sausages, bacon and eggs dipped in fish sauce, we got on the bus and headed for the ferry terminal. The skies were gray and it was starting to drizzle, we were worried that our trip to an amusement park was going to be canceled. Our first stop? An aquarium on a nearby island.

We took the ferry into the waters and it took us a 15 minutes ride to reach the island. We passed by many boats and saw a few neighbouring islands along the horizon with cable car towers stood along the long stretch of waters. As we closed in to our destination, the first thing that greeted us was this enormous ship.




We got off the ferry and realised that the water was so very clear with this blue tinge of colour to it, very different than Singapore's.

It turns out that the ship we saw was actually our disguised aquarium! We "boarded" the ship and headed down below the steps that takes us into the decks. The design for the aquarium was eerie yet still quite beautiful, with large fish jaws as entrances and exits, dull coloured coral painted along the pillars and walls.

The tour guide they have at the aquarium described and gave an introduction of the many fishes we see in the tanks, which got me quite interested in them. However, tourists from elsewhere joined our small group and in the end, "stole" our tour guide from us. With a little agitation but the willingness to continue forward ourselves, we made our way deeper in to the place. There were only a handful of fish compared to Singapore's Sentosa's Underwater World, thus, i was not really impressed.



As our tour in the aquarium ended, we got on our ferry and headed for some scuba diving. Another long trip to an area in the sea, a few my friends got ready with their gear and dived down into the waters. I really wanted to join them but you had to take off your spectacles when you dive in; my eye degrees was really high so I had no choice but to watch them.

As noon came, we headed to another island for our lunch. We had a lunch of fish, eggs, soup, salad, some meats and keropok. As i have noticed with every meal we have eaten in Vietnam, it turns out that it is somewhat much the same for every restaurant we have gone. They will always serve us tea, be it ice cold or hot (depending on their climate) and the usual fish and eggs with a small dish of fish sauce for dipping.


Our fear that the rain would prevent us from going to the amusement park became a reality. The skies still continued to rain, ruining our chances of heading to the beach or the roller coasters they had. With our thoughts of going to the theme park drenched in the cold rain, we headed back to our hotel.

As night fell, we had to get dinner. However this time I decided to join my muslim friends, Muhammad and Syafiqah to an Indian Muslim restaurant, instead of my tour's. Luckily, the halal restaurant was just a few stores away. The place's specialty was indian cuisine and the food there was awesomely scrumptious. My friend made small talk with the assistant of the place and it turns out that the chef came from Calcutta, India. We ordered fish and chips, 4 naans (indian flatbread like roti prata) and 2 satisfying bowls of aloo keema (Mutton gravy with potato chunks and herbs). Even when typing that whole sentence, it made my mouth water and my stomach growl. Why didn't we find out about the restaurant a day before? We praised the chef of the delicious food that we were served and it turned out that he discounted our bill!

With full stomachs and our moods restored, we headed back to the hotel to pack up for home (the Vietnam university hostel that is).

Today we are heading to Nha Trang city, which resides near the sea. Thus, we had to travel down the mountain and take another bus ride for 4 hours.

Our first stop was for lunch, which was then followed by our check into our two starred hotel. Our next visit was to two temples: one a Buddhist temple whilst the other is a Hindu temple.

After the exploring the ancient Hindu Temples, we headed for the famous XQ Embroidery Village. The place held a great design to it and of course showcased their beautifully detailed embroidery. The embroidery were manufactured and sewn by the skilled workers; calm and patient.

We had our dinner afterwards and headed to our hotel rooms.

Many is in stored for us in terms of tours on day 2 of our 5 day trip. Our first destination is the Golden Valley. The Golden Valley is a river situated alongside a beautiful serene garden sitting atop a mountain. The views and scenery of the area was simply breath taking.


After taking in the sights and sounds of the gardens, we headed for Labia mountain. We had to pay for a jeep to take us to the top of the mountain. The jeep ride was fun, especially when it speeds up the mountain. The driver navigating through the rocky terrain and rough turns with such skill really impressed me.

As we reached he top of Labia mountain (which is said to be the tallest here), we had a panoramic view of Dalat. Rivers meandering into fields as mountains and hills go on and on into the horizon. Half an hour, we took another bumpy ride back to our tour bus.

Our third destination was Deaming hill, the same as the other previous tours, the scenery and landscapes were beautiful. There was this table which sat in an ancient house and it is said to hold magical powers whereby it would turn if someone were to put their hands on it. Well, it didn't for me.

Walking slightly further up the hill, was a tree of love and fortune where people would throw cloths of red and pink tied together, which would hang on the branches of the tree.

There was also a garden and a miniature great wall of china which we didn't really manage to check out as dark clouds were looming above our heads, indicating rain.

After our lunch somewhere, we went to an old and not functioning train station. The steam trains were grand and classy, as if they've came out of an old classic movie. I was able to climb into one and look at its steam engine and its many levers and controls.


Our next site of visit was a catholic church built by the french decades ago. The church was closed so we managed to only view the outside of the church. If you could see closely at the top of the cross of the church, there is a rooster; the French's animal symbol.

Nearby there is also a mini Eiffel tower which is very beautiful at night (passed by it as we went to the hotel for the first time) built by students.

Next for our tours was a vacation home for the last king in Vietnam. The place was grand and royal having large halls and many different functioned rooms. Rooms for dining, conversing, meeting, sleeping, slacking and even moon watching.

The following tour was a temple up on a hill. There were monks living here and the place was so very peaceful. I felt so safe that I had to joke that if I were to place my wallet down on the ground and revisit it a day later, it will still be there waiting for me.

Finally it was dinner. We had our dinner at the same restaurant and had another walk through the chilly air at the night market.

We woke up very early today for our five day trip to Dalat followed by Nha Trang. Our first stop is Dalat city, which takes us a 10 hour bus ride there. Dalat is basically a city in Vietnam that sits upon and is surrounded by many hills and mountains. We stopped by on our way to a restaurant to have our breakfast, mine consisting of iced coffee and beef pho (which was much delicious than Pho 2000).

Highway 1, is the only highway from Ho Chih Min city to Hanoi (Northern Vietnam). Hence, every morning there will be many vehicles on the road. We were using highway 1 for our journey there, but had to turn to another lane at a certain point of the road.

Hours after we turned into another lane off highway 1, we were already heading up the mountains. The air was getting colder, similarly to that of Malaysia's Genting Highlands.

We had another stop at a coffee shop, where we proceeded to drink some drip coffee. Drip coffee is coffee dripped from a filter consisting of the grounded coffee. First, hot water is run through the grounds. A small mesh is then pressed down on the coffee grounds, causing the delicious coffee liquid to drip down the tiny holes through the base of the filter.

After our coffee break, our journey continued on. Our first tour destination was supposed to be a waterfall. However due to unexpected rainfall we were to have our lunch first with hopes for the rain to stop.

The merciless skies still continued to rain after lunch. So, with lost hope of having the chance to see the waterfalls, we got onto the bus and headed for the hotel. So to substitute the picture of the waterfall, here's a photo of a running tap.

After many boring hours on the bus, we finally reached the hotel. The air was freezing cold and everyone (rather, the people who brought them) were in their jackets.

We checked into our three starred hotel, which was pretty comfy and then headed off for our dinner.

We took our bus to a short distance away. Our dinner consisting of warm food and hot tea.

After dinner, we went to the night market. The girls bought sweaters, jackets and hats to protect themselves from the cold winds on the mountain. The girls ventured into the markets, stopping by at many shops to browse the goods. Me and my roommate just followed them around, needing some rest as our browsing stamina couldn't match that of girls.

Many browsing and bartering sessions later, were back to our hotel, preparing for the next day.

Today, our group had to go to the golf resort for a tour around the place. The place was run by mostly Singaporean directors which made us all feel like home. Three pin plug sockets, Singaporean food and even our national theme songs being played over and over again in the restaurant.


We had a short introduction of the golf resort then we were led to a tour. We were shown the guest rooms of the resort which currently there are only 9 rooms.


We are also shown the many golfing areas and the different themes, one of them being a desert.




Whats more, we are also shown the "behind the scenes" areas like the landscape vehicles and the water treatment plants.

Following on our tour were also two Singaporean students that were in Vietnam for an internship. Both being environmental science students, their job here was to find out what is causing and also to fix the pollution in the ponds around the course they were given to take care of.

They seemed friendly and shared their many experiences they had in Vietnam.

For lunch, we headed for a buffet. Which was really a treat for us as we haven't had a really good meal for some time.