Day 85-92Ivar stayed in the hotel for 3 days. I visited the Long Son Pagoda, which was built on a hill. A large Buddha sits at the top of the hill. Sitting Buddha Reclining Buddha. Afterwards I drove to Po Nagar Temple. This sacred site was built by the Cham people in the 8th century and was dedicated to a goddess. The temple is well visited by tourists and therefore full. Po Nagar I drove a little further to the Thap Ba hot springs. There is also a swimming pool there. I happily marched to the pool. There was hardly anyone swimming! Excellent! I wanted so much to crawl, to stretch, to push the water away and to glide along. Only the water temperature was 39°C. Far too warm to swim properly! After a few lengths I went back to the spa area. There is the attraction that everyone comes here for: a mud bath! Oh, how I missed the mud! Only this time it is warm and supposedly has healing properties. The mud has high sodium levels, which is why it is said to be good for arthritis and osteoarthritis. Mudmmmmmm I soaked in my slime tub for 20 minutes. Then I had to shower everything off, go to the jacuzzi for 5 minutes and then go to the thermal bath for 30 minutes. That was so warm and beautiful! In the evening I fell asleep quite early. Another day I drove to Thàc Binh An waterfall. First I had to climb many steps. There is also a monastery at the waterfall. Or several monasteries. Or a monastery with many outbuildings. I moved up more steps until I was on level ground. The stones were rough, gray and folded several times. There the water ran into small pools until it became too much and had to continue flowing into the next pool. At some point the water had to plunge into the depths. On January 5th we drove away from Nha Trang. Bye, deluxe room with the floor-to-ceiling windows, daily room cleaning, daily fresh towels, daily tea and coffee! Since we were in Nha Trang longer than planned, our things were scattered all over the room. Packing took a long time. We left Nha Trang on a large road. With lots of trucks. That wasn't fun! In between we drove on side roads that were more relaxed. Our destination was a headland. There was one thing above all: sand! And a few trees, grass and big, empty streets. We found a nice room in a simple inn. The next day we explored the small fishing village of Đầm Môn. It has very narrow streets, every now and then you could see the sea between the houses and many colorful boats. In the afternoon we took a dune walk to the sea on the other side of the headland. Phew, sand can be so tiring! Unfortunately the beach is COMPLETELY littered. Nobody cleans up and everyone throws their garbage into the sea. A few excavators are driving around. Many parts of the headland have already been sold and the first construction work for the hotels is underway. We didn't go into the sea. The waves were just too bad! Besides, it was cloudy anyway. So we went back. In the evening we ate grilled fish in a restaurant by the sea, which was very tasty! At night in the dunes On January 7th we drove on. We drove the Cả Pass, an infamous pass.
In the past, all trucks had to go over this pass and there were probably a lot of traffic jams, a lot of frustration and a lot of accidents. Since Highway CT1 has new tunnels, trucks no longer have to go over the pass and can easily drive through the mountain.
Now there is little traffic and you can enjoy the scenery in peace with the many trees, the rugged rocks and the cliffs that jut out into the sea. We curved to a beach that leads to the easternmost point of mainland Vietnam. There was also a point like that on the headland. Hm..... Easternmost point?! The beach from above. There is the lighthouse We went down to the sea. The waves were awesome! There were warning signs everywhere prohibiting swimming. A few tourists went into the water anyway. A Vietnamese man came up and gestured. He also came to us again. We relaxed a little on the sand in the sun, watched the waves, rolled up our pants and let the sea caress our feet until a wave wet our pants. A little further we found accommodation right by the sea. We ate typical Vietnamese food together with the other guests (two German men) and the hostesses. Now we lie in our room and listen to the waves that are loud, relentless and angry that their journey through the sea has come to an end Beach thunder.
