December 12,

Awoke to the “normal scene” – for us anyway. It was cloudy, gray, and no horizon in sight – let alone mountains. We got around, having our Javas and breakfast of Muesli , yogurt, and milk. By 1000 it was raining, so we finalize or at least planned out our next several months.

Around 1300, it had stopped raining.It was still wet and now just drizzly. We readied and went out around 1330 for lunch. We decided to try walking to the Livin Restaurant. As soon as we showed up we were remembered and welcomed. We sat and ordered a Chimichurri Brisket Sandwich – brisket, onion, tomato, mixed greens, pickled cucumber, and mayo & Chimichurri sauce; a Smoked Pastrami Sandwich – pastrami, Emmental cheese, sauerkraut, pickled cucumber, and Dijon mustard; and Mac & Cheese. Then I had a Saigon Cider – Apple & Ginger flavored; Jeff a Pasteur Street Brewing Co. – Pale Ale beer. The sandwiches came out. They seemed to be a foot tall! The fries were great as well. Again, it was a super fine meal. The meat is superbly smoked/cooked, it almost melts in your mouth! The Mac & Cheese was warm and comforting on an overcast day (but not a cold day). We did not make it to dessert, as we were hoping. We were surprisingly as full as our previous meal here! The meal cost us 828,100 Dong ($32.61). I stopped and took a picture of the kitchen crew, what fun.

Outside it was not raining… So we caught a Grab taxi to the Champa ruins here in town. We arrived at Nha Trang Ponagar Temple Relic. The entrance fee was 30,000 Dong each ($1.18). The site is right in the middle of town on a hill. It is pretty busy with what seems to Chinese(?) tourists groups all following their guide. But it is a big enough site that it’s not too crowded. The ruins are impressive. First there is a forest of pillars that were to the Hall of Meditation. Great photo places here. The pillars are massive. Then we climb stairs to the temple area. First impression is three main structures with two having been restored somewhat, but then you see other lesser structures. I don’t know how many there were. I did not see any placards in English. We went inside the main biggest temple. There was a “monk” tapping a small bell as two people prayed. When they finished, the “monk” stopped. It was a pleasant soft ring and nice to hear it. They left and we had the inside to ourselves briefly. It was a bit smokey from the decades/centuries of incense burning which in turn made the walls blackened. The light was on the colored alter. It struck me this kind of worship is probably the same as it has been for centuries, as long as the soot has been here!

Anyway, we now meandered about, as the rain was holding off. There was a well kept garden area and we saw two squirrels eating away at some bamboo. Then we ventured into a small museum of the the ruins. It showed before and after restoration photo shots, and replicas of stone carvings & brick sculptures found here. Finished we pressed our luck and started walking back, crossing a bridge to the boardwalk along the beach. This is our first real exploration of the boardwalk and town for that matter. As soon as we crossed the bridge we had a spit of drizzle, but it stopped so we persevered on our trekking venture. We went to a Lotus sculpture/building we had seen when we arrived. Then we started back to our place, finding the liquor store where we had found Vietnamese Rum. We stocked up – we remember we had not found any in Da Lat where we are going tomorrow.

Now we did get back to complex and up to our apartment. The rain held out for us to enjoy a day about Nha Trang!! Yay!!! We spent the evening watching some You tube and having bread and cheese snack dinner. Great day!!