I have been looking forward to visiting Vietnam again since we had such a great time here a few years ago. Nha Trang is a resort city on the southern coast. They have no large berths for the type of ship we are on so we have to take a tender to get to and from land. I prepared with my Dramamine, but it wasn't necessary. The ride wasn't too bad and took only ten minutes once we got going.

Another shore excursion from the ship kept us busy most of the day, but it wasn't considered a full-day tour--about five hours though. We returned after 2 p.m. and were pretty hungry by then.

But first, the tour. We first went to a silk embroidery workshop. The women were working on beautiful pieces that would become framed wall art. The stitches that they took were the tiniest you can imagine, but the items for sale were very inexpensive. We were tempted to buy a picture, but didn't. We did get a tie for Philip and a shawl for me. When we were in Vietnam the last time, we bought a lot of silk pieces. One of them was a silk muffler of pastel colors that I just loved. Unfortunately, I lost it on a train in Switzerland a few years later. I wanted to find something similar, but didn't see any.

The next stop was to visit Long Son Pagoda, a Buddhist sanctuary. Behind it sits an enormous white Buddha that was built in 1965. We have seen many temples on this trip, but this my favorite. It is larger than most others we've seen and not as crowded with stuff. The gilding on the statues is perfect. We had to take off shoes and hats before entering. Philip forgot to remove his hat, but one of the locals at the entrance reminded him loudly.

Next, we went to the Ponagar Cham Tower which is actually four towers built during different time periods that are all in one complex. They were built from the 7th to the 12th centuries in different architectural styles. The largest was built in the year 817 and is dedicated to Ponagar, Lady Thien Y-ana, who married a Chinese prince, but returned to Vietnam and brought new agricultural and weaving techniques with her. The Cham people are descended from an ancient culture that was one of the few matriarchal societies in the world. These towers our wonderfully preserved and cared for in contrast to the Cham buildings at My Son which survive in almost their natural state; it is a constant battle to keep the jungle at bay. I think I liked those better.

We made a few more stops, but they seemed to be fillers for the tour: a snack stop where we listened to music on locally made instruments, a look at Hon Chong Promontory and Xom Bong Bridge, and another stop for snacking, shopping and watching a performance of young women dancing.

Back at the ship we have dinner and attend another show with Landon Swank. This time it is in the Vista Lounge which is a smaller venue. He did card tricks with a video camera pointing right down on his hands and table. It was very impressive. We were fooled every time. I think he should concentrate on this type of performance.