Hon Ba - Yersin Historic Reserve

 

Located on Hon Ba Peak, altitude 1578m, and 56km SE of Nha Trang, this newly developed site includes a reconstruction of Dr Alexandre Yersin's outstation. The building contains items of original furniture transported from the Dr Yersin Museum in Nha Trang, and reproductions of several period photographs. Entrance fee to the historical site is 30,000 dong. On site parking is free.

Outstation interior

Dr Alexander Yersin's outstation

 The peak offers splendid views to Nha Trang and Cam Ranh Bay on clear days. On other days it can be covered in 5000 feet of fog and be cold, wet and miserable, especially in winter.

View from Hon Ba Peak

Also on site are: an open sided canteen, and five small chalets for rent at 500,000 dong per night per couple (100,000 dong per additional guest). The electrical grid has been extended at great expense to Hon Ba Peak, but as yet the lines carry no electricity. Hence (1) the canteen menu is limited to light meals made from noodles with dried fish, dried squid, fresh vegetables grown on site and fresh chicken, killed just for you. Tea, coffee, soft drinks and non-refidgerated beer are available, without ice; (2) the chalets are unheated and without hot water; and (3) small kerosene hurrican lamps are used for lighting.

Two double beds, and ensuite toilet, but no hot water

 To get to Hon Ba Peak, go 17km from Nha Trang towards Saigon, turn right at Suoi Cat commune at a blue and white tourist sign “Hồ Chứa Nước Suối Dâu”, after one km and turn left a market onto the Hon Ba road. Follow this road 38km to Hon Ba peak.

 

The winding Hon Ba Road.

 A visit to this site would suit history buffs and those just wishing an escape from summer heat in Nha Trang. Good swimming holes are available in the stream at the bottom of the mountain, especially near the Foresty Inspection Station boom gate, 13km from the Suoi Cat turn off.

This site is not mentioned in any tourist information yet. The only outdated reference I could find was at:

http://vietbao.vn/Du-lich/Khu-du-lich-Hon-Ba-mang-ten-nha-bac-hoc-A-Yersin/40026921/254/

Mỹ Sơn temple ruins August 2012

 Nga, An Ngoc and I did this trip with my 33 year old son, John, and his wife 26 year old wife, Lixia.  Because Nga and I went to Hue and Hoi An last year, there wasn't much new for us to see in these two places.  So I was keen to see the Cham Hindu temple ruins at Mỹ Sơn. 

We booked a tour through our hotel.  A rickety, rattly, worn out wreck from Phu An Bus Company took us one hour or more to My Son site, where the guide let us know that the forecast temperature would be 38 degrees C.  Fortunately a breeze was blowing during the whole inspection.





There was not a lot to see at the ruins, as the USAF has successfully bombed it back to the stone age.

linga

Yoni

Hindu linga with Buddhist lotus base

  There were several lingas and yonis, which were worshiped as representations of Hindu gods of creation, many Greeco-Romanesque stone columns laying about,  and a few salvaged figurines in a partially repaired ruin.  Most of the statues and figurines are on exhibition at the Cham Museum in Danang.

Cham script

Hindu god Vishnu ?

Elephant figure

 

Only one building was being restored and French archeological team were digging out one hill.  Our guide was entertaining and had a good vocabulary of archeological terms, but completely missed explaining what a yoni and its significance was.  I tried to imagine what it would have been like during festivals when the temple was in use. How many people could fit in here? What would they be doing? Where had they come from? How far had them travelled?


In the heat I drank one litre of water in two hours, drank two cans of beer on the pleasant boat trip back to Hoi An.  I chose to walk the final one km back to the hotel while Nga and An went by cycle. Bad move !  I got the spins along the way and arrived at the hotel exhausted, and then slept for two and a half hours. I woke, ate, and slept for another 11-1/2 hours.

Dalat trip August 2012

Nga, An, son John and daughter in law Lisa, and I have just been up to Dalat for a couple of days.  It was cold 17C and very windy 30km/hr, and that's SUMMER. 

Being so cold, hot water was a must, but in this area our PX Hotel let us down badly.  On arrival in the early afternoon the hot water heater didn't work and there was no one around to service it.  The repairman came in the evening and declared there was nothing wrong with it. The following morning, after a further call to reception, another bloke came up, had a look and shortly after replaced two "D" cell batteries in the gas hot water heater.  Then it worked, temporarily.

In the evening, again no hot water.  Repairman came to inform us, "We are out of gas.  We are getting some."  The heater worked shortly afterwards.  The following morning, Nga informed me we had no hot water again.  Repair man came up and checked.  "Ah, low water pressure. The rooftop tank has run low, we'll pump some water up."  

After a day's sightseeing on Tuesday, Nga again reported 'no hot water'.  It worked all right for me. By this time I'd discovered that the water needed to run at full flow for the gas hot water heater to work, and Nga had turned down the tap while having a shower.  Nga was once again definitely not happy about having a cold water shower.

We had key break off inside the door lock as well, but that's another story.  Travelfish tourist info on the internet reports that PX Hotel was built in 2007 and "seems to have been put together quickly".  It seemed to me that it was put together on the cheap. The hot water heaters, for example, look and work like something from the 1950s. Maybe the hotel bought them second hand.

                                                            John and Lisa

On Monday, the others went shopping to Dalat market, while I escaped to a nearby coffee shop to read the morning Thanh Nien newspaper.  Lisa bargained for some clothes, but wasn't able to get the price she wanted, and when she turned to leave, the salesman tried to hit her. John pushed him out of the way, then was punched by Salesman No2 (SNo2).  Not a good move!  John's first punch split his lip wide open and maybe knocked out a tooth.  Then John preceded to re-arrange his face a little more, while SNo1 lobbed a few punches into the side of John's head.  Having finished with SNo2, John turned towards the SNo1,who backed off in a  hurry.

While this was going on, An was screaming, "He's hitting John! He's hitting John!" and a woman picked up a stick to hit Lisa.  Nga intervened and took the stick away.  SNo1's kick to John's stomach had no effect, as John simply used his stomach to push the fellow backwards.  After that Nga and family left and caught a taxi back to the hotel.

I later put a post on the Lonely Planet travel forum warning readers to avoid Dalat market, and one woman reader complained, " I can't imagine any parent boasting about how their child had used violence against another."    Other readers came to to bat for me, including one bloke who complimented her on single-mindedly supporting would-be thugs.  

Nga and An

On Tuesday we hired a taxi and did the normal tourist sightseeing to: the Chinese temple, which was a very windy place indeed; the cable car, which was running at one-third speed due to wind; Truc Lam temple, which surprisingly grew specimens of Australian silky oak and banksias; Datanla Falls, where we had great fun riding their billy carts on rails one km down the mountain; and the city flower garden, where there were many beautiful orchids on display.  Dinner, beers and a good red from Chile at "Peace Restaurant" nearby our hotel finished the day.  Now it's good to be home again in Nha Trang.

 

 Chinese temple with three bodisattvas

                                                           Datanla Falls

 Hollyhocks in Dalat Flower Garden

The new route Nha Trang to Dalat via Khanh Vinh is very scenic and very winding, so the bus sways and lurches a lot while travelling. This is not a good trip for people with bad backs, nor for poeple who get motion sickness.

                                           View on road to Dalat

Hanoi trip July 2012

We have just got back from a week away in Hanoi and Halong bay with  An, John and Lisa.

Hanoi is a charming city, with it's parks and lakes, French era buildings and wide streets around them.  There are also a very large number of back street temples to suddenly come across. Being a capitol city, the cost of visiting there is quite high: hotels and food are dearer than Nha Trang. 

                                                 A park in the French Quarter

We stayed at The Artisan Boutique Hotel (that's the way the blurb described it), 24 Hang Hanh Street, a hotel Nga found on the internet. It's Australian run, very polite staff, good room and facilities, including supply of laptop with wifi, and a hairdryer for the ladies.  An loved the hotel laptop to play her Pokemon games.  She liked to walk with John and Lisa, so that everyone thought she was their child, which was quite a laugh for us all.

                               A restaurant two doors down serves as the hotel dining room

While in Hanoi I sent this sms to friends:  "In Hanoi. Lots of:  tall, beautiful young women in short dresses; expensive fashion wear shops, upmarket hotels and restaurants; red light runners, parks, trees. A charming city".  I do like Hanoi.

                                               Artist and model, Sword Lake, Hanoi

We visited excavations at No. 18 Hoang Dieu Street of a 1000 year old palace of the original Thang Long city on 12 July.  The excavations are under a huge hangar type roof.  There is not a lot to see, but the government guide gave a good summary of the site while guiding us around, pointing out which centuries footings came from, the size of the original palaces, where the servants prepared the meals and where the king lived.  Unfortunately, only about 40% or the original site remains. The other 60% has been destroyed to a dept of 30metres to build a new National Assembly.  When I expressed my disappointment, our guide asked, "Wouldn't you do that in Australia?"   I answered that in Australia we are not allowed to demolish or destroy 100 year old buildings, let alone 1000 year old artifacts.  No photography was allowed, so I have no pics.   I bought a DVD with photos, Vietnamese commentary and English subtitles, but it is such poor quality that it won't play.

For more details, see also 

http://talkvietnam.com/2012/05/thang-long-imperial-citadel/

http://www.saigon-gpdaily.com.vn/National/2012/8/102281/
or both these links at
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1twbpg68mnjTGgQ_IyF6-5aG1ox4BlkM8in9rmqmKYjU/edit

We lunched yesterday with the tres nouveaux richs of Hanoi at 'Maison Sen', 61 Tran Hung Dao Street. There was a 300,000DVN ($15) [450,00 DVN Fri-Sun including crayfish] for an all you can eat seafood buffet, from which a pretty young waitress served me without my having to leave my seat.  A steady stream of pretty patrons came past our table on their way out the door, allowing me to catch up on what the latest fashion wear is amongst the Hanoi elite. Short dresses (not skirts) are very 'in' at the moment, and platform shoes with impossibly high stilletto heels, both of which  made for those long legs look lovely.

We booked through our hotel a boat trip on Halong Bay. It was a bit expensive, but we had lovely, clean, adjoining cabins at the stern with a share balcony to sit on and watch the stunning sunrise over Halong Bay.

                                                           Halong Bay dawn

 The trip went very well, although it was tiring, and we over ate.  It's good to be home to relax.
The weather is so much more pleasant in Nha Trang after sticky Hanoi.

For more of my photos go to
http://www.flickr.com/photos/10754999@N08/sets/72157630567712988/