#CruisingwiththeCruzes: Nha Trang, Vietnam Shorex
Shorex or shore excursions is when after being in the water for how many days, the ship docks at a city of a country depending on the route of the trip. For our case, our shorex were at Nha Trang and Ho Chi Minh of Vietnam. I’ve never been to Vietnam so it was another first for this trip. We rode a tender or a small boat when we got to Nha Trang because the city was still far from where the ships usually dock.
For the land tour that we chose, our first destination in Nha Trang was the Institute of Oceanography. We saw baby sharks, turtles, and other sea creatures. It was my first time there too to see a stonefish. I was so awed by it! It literally looked like a stone. In the above photo are preserved specimens which we used to do and examine in zoology lab back in college. Ahh it hits my biologist self right to the core!
The one in the far right is the stonefish. You didn’t guess it the first time either, did you?
For our second destination, we went to Cham Ponagar Tower.
Originally, there were supposedly seven or eight towers, but now only four remain. We climbed approximately 90 steps before reaching the top.
Hon Chong Promontory was our third destination before having lunch. We watched a music show by two Vietnamese women playing their traditional instruments. In fact, this place has a rich history and legend stories more than we expected.
This giant handprint, according to legend, belongs to a giant who, at that time, was fishing until a big fish caught his bait and started pulling him. In order to regain his balance, the giant pulled the rod with one hand and pushed the other against the rock. Thus, this art piece.
I’ve never felt like Ariel from Little Mermaid until I hiked those rocks. It’s not as easy as it looks like, though! One wrong step of the foot and your skull will meet the hard land.
We had our lunch at a five-star hotel which I forgot the name of, my bad. After that, we were given an hour or so to shop at Nha Trang Center which was your typical air-conditioned mall. We didn’t buy much except for some souvenirs and goods. Their Miniso their was having a sale (ours doesn’t ever!) but I stopped myself from getting anything because, I mean, if I wanted anything from Miniso I should’ve just stayed at home lol. I know he probably won’t see this but big thanks to our patient and jolly tour guide, Ting! Even if my family and I were always the last people to return to the bus, he waited and looked for us. He also sang us an English and Vietnamese song on our way back to the tender. He kept telling us how proud he is of his country regardless of their current situation because as he said, as long as they are working together to make their country better, there is no need to compare Vietnam to other more-developed countries. I hope everyone has that kind of mentality.
