Da Nang - Nha Trang trip #2: 6 lessons I have learnt in Nha Trang!

Hi there my friend! Welcome back to my blog.

I’m Chynn, a Vietnamese currently a studying in Germany. Here’s my blog “Life in lines” in which I will share with you and the lessons I’ve learnt along. Last time I was talking about my how I prepare for my 10-day alone trip, and now, it’s time to leave my sweet home and explore the world!

My trip to Nha Trang is everything but perfect...

And firstly, I must admit that it’s my fault it’s my fault.

When I was preparing for my trip, I was so excited that I forgot to do one of the most important things before going on any journey…

CHECKING THE WEATHER!!!

Yes, I forgot it. And when I finally opened the weather app, here is what it shows:

Oh…okay, 100% rain...

Well... :’D

What else I can do, I’ve booked the hotel, booked the flight ticket, and they are not refundable.

So... This is a point of no return, and I have to deal with it.

And yes, after this trip, I’ve learnt a whole lot about how to deal with inconvenience and how to turn it into my pleasure.

1. Don’t hesitate to ask other people to take a picture for you!

I’ve always considered myself to be a confident person, but when it comes to ask for help, even to take a photo for me, I always hesitate. I know it sounds silly, but I’m afraid of a lot, I’m afraid of being rejected, I’m afraid that I’m annoying them...

And that leads me to trying to take a picture of myself all alone, until there’s an incident...

While I was visiting Museum Of Oceanography. It was quite empty, as it was raining cats and dogs outside, and was also on Wednesday, so adults are at work and kids are at school. But there was a group of people I think at the same age as mine, who seem to be also tourists like me. They talk a lot and take pictures of each other. Seems fun, and yes, I feel somewhat jealous when they have friends to take photo for each other, while I’m here using the wall as my tripod and my watch as a controller.

It was until when a girl from the group came to me and asked: “Hey, I find that you’re travelling alone, do you want me to take a photo for you?”

I was caught off guard and just stood in freeze. Later, I replied, with a big smile on my face: “Yes of course! Thank you so much!”

“We are also travellers, and we would love to help you take a photo!”, she said, before went away and joined back with her friends.

And that’s the moment when I know, nah, people are often friendly enough to help me do a favour. Why not ask someone to take a photo for me, I can then help them take a picture too!

And from that moment, I’m not scared any more.

And here’s the first lesson: People are willing to help you take a photo, just be kind enough

From that, whenever I find that I cannot take a photo by myself, I will ask for help “Excuse me, can you help me take a photo”, also remember to include a big smile. Always work!

And here are some photos...

Here I’m at Hon Chong

After the Tata Show - a good memory at VinWonder

And here too! I just love every building at VinWonder. It’s like living in a fairy tale dream.

There are so so much more, but wait, I will

2. When unexpected comes, you can either be sad and upset or enjoy the hell out of it.

As I have mentioned, my trip to Nha Trang is kind of disaster.

The rain conquered the city, heavy and non-stop. It’s not until my third day in Nha Trang that the rain stopped. And I finally I have a chance to enjoy the sun and the beach. But it doesn’t hinder me from enjoying the trip.

And it’s by the way thanks to the Internet.

For me, travelling doesn’t mean that I have to go on a crazy adventure, visit every corner of the city and squeeze out everything that the city can offer.

No, it’s just not me.

How do you want your trip to be?

For me, travelling is all about enjoying a new atmosphere, doing things at my own pace and an opportunity to spend money as if there were no tomorrow (kidding, I mean to use money more freely than I used to back home).

So... During the three consecutive days of raining, as I cannot go outside, I have ordered food to my hotel.

I also do silly things but as long as I like it, I will just do it, like eating ice cream in the middle of the cold rain... Because the ice cream store is where my mom used to take me when my family was travelling together 8 years ago (maybe because I was always nagging her to take me there as the ice cream was so good)

Apart from that, there’s a pool on the 21st floor, the highest floor of the hotel. I often go up there and spend time drawing and just casually enjoy the scene from here. I’ve seen nobody come up here, so it’s in some way my own place. The music I put on blended in the heavy yet calm sound of the rain, and in front of my eyes is the infinite ocean with some islands far, far away...

You can see the dark clouds hovering up in the sky. It’s raining cats and dogs right then :)

What else I can demand :D.

Of course, I’m not wishing for the rain, but it’s part of the nature. What else I can do but find a way to enjoy it? Therefore, with that mindset in mind, the trip turned out to be fulfilled and I have had one of the great experience there.

3. Be flexible enough

Honestly, half of the list that I have written out when preparing for the trip aren’t checked, and I don’t regret it at all. I choose to be flexbile and just let the mood guides me to do whatever I feel like doing.

But an outline of the day is still needed.

And what I mean is the Highlight of the day, which is the only one activity that I want to do on that day.

Every morning when I wake up, I will plan my day through of what I want to do. For example, today I feel like going to Vinwonder (A famous amusing park in Nha Trang), so I make it my highlight of the day, and I dedicate the whole day for the trip. But then I would find out where I want to eat for the breakfast and the evening, and what to do after the trip, pulling out stuffs from the list. Then, I hopped out of the bed, did some personal stuff, dressed on and began my journey.

The reasons I’m doing this are:

• It provides me an adequate flexibility in which I can change if I want, depending on the weather and on my feelings.

• Things will interfere eventually and inevitably. So there’s no reason to plan detailed so far ahead. For me, it would stress me out and I would rush to finish everything on time.

• Having a general outline of the day prevents me from not knowing what to do next. I’ve found myself in this situation a lot I lost my count, in which I don’t know what to do at that time, and casually kill time surfing Tiktok.

4. Document the trip

Here comes the best part of my trip.

Maybe you still remember vividly what you did yesterday, how you’re feeling now, and the scenic views from your hotel room. But will you still remember it a month later, or even years later? That’s why I’ve taken quite a lot of videos of myself talking, short clips of what I’m doing... Then later, I can do something out of them later (maybe a clip?), or simply just store it on the cloud and then later when I’m bored, I can open it and experience the journey again.

And this leads me to another sub-tip: How to take a photo of yourself.

Well this may become a long longgg post so here I will just mention generally here:

It’s better to own a tripod and a remote (if you don’t have a Smartwatch that can link to your camera). I myself didn’t buy the tripod because they’re all sold out at my favourite store (lol!). So, while I’m on the trip, I was kind of struggling finding a sweet spot to place my phone on. But still manage to find some.

But still, you can friendly ask someone to take a photo for you!

5. Talk with locals

My main method of transportation here is GrabBike. And I totally love it!

First, all the drivers I’ve encountered are extremely friendly, and when I said that I’m a lone traveller, they are really helpful in showing me where to go and where to eat. One of my highlight of the trip is thanks to a driver. As the Nem Nuong restaurant on Tiktok is closed, he drove me to his favourite stall where he usually takes his family to there. And yes indeed it’s DELICIOUS! One driver even shows me a place that sells specialties if I want to buy some when getting back home...

Thanks a lot guys haha!

6. Only make decision when you’re truly rest.

I was in Vinwonder, wandering around, when it dawned on me that I haven’t booked the next flight ticket to Da Nang.

And according to 2-minute rule, as I was sitting down to rest after a long walk, I pulled out my phone, opened Traveloka, and searched for the flight.

Everything was done in exact 2 minutes, with just a mistake...

A HUGE MISTAKE indeed :D and it’s not until the next day, when I was packing up and ready to check out, that I realised:

My flight is tomorrow, not today!

Lol, so, I unpacked things again, took out my phone, and planned my day once again.

Yes I cursed myself a bit, but then just accepted it. What else I can do.

So this leads me to a great journey for the end (final v.2) day of my stay in Nha Trang: To Ponagar Temple and Hon Chong!

Thankfully, the weather was super fine and I had wonderful trip and took fantastic photos!

Thank you Nha Trang for the wonderful experience you have given to me!

Now it’s time leaving Nha Trang to head to my next destination: Da Nang!