Heaven in 40 minutes …

March 30, 2012

If you’ve never been to Nha Trang, you might consider putting that on your wish list.  It’s just heaven.  The Russians have obviously found this gem as our short plane ride bound from HCMC to Cam Ranh airport in Nha Trang was filled to 100% capacity with mainly Russians.  Russians come in droves to Nha Trang (and in April, there will be Japanese tourists on holiday).  In fact, everything at the Vinpearl Resort and Spa was written in 1- English, 2 – Vietnamese, and 3- Russian.

The kids were also on holiday this week and with hubby away to Prague on a business trip, I took the kids to Nha Trang for the week.  Sometimes I feel land-locked and need to be by the ocean. If you have kids, Vinpearl is the best bang for your buck.  I booked the advanced purchase, non-refundable web fare and got 26% off the room rates which included breakfast, lunch, and dinner and unlimited use of the water park, amusement park, and water show.  Vinpearl also boasts the largest pool in Southeast Asia. Vinpearl is on its own island and runs all the attractions on there. (Click on the photos for larger views.)

View from the balcony. The pools were massive and couldn't be captured in one shot. While on holiday, my kids are either in pajamas or swimsuits.

We had a corner room #8201 with a wrap-around balcony.

Hint:  Building #8 was built earlier but the rooms there are slightly more spacious than building #7. Ask for the corner rooms Grand Ocean Deluxe.  It’s me and my 3 so the room had a queen bed and I had to pay extra for the roll-away bed.

Restaurant's view.

No, they are not at a precipice ... there are stairs leading down to the beach.

What we did at the ocean:  swimming, building sand castle, surfing the waves with the body board.

Building their sand moats and bunkers.

Oh no! Got knocked by a "tsunami" wave! We live for the rogue wave to test our sand dams!

Out to refill the bucket.

To get to the island that Vinpearl is on, you can take the high-speed ferry or the cable car, both provided free by the hotel.  Once on the island, these tuk-tuks (think fancy golf cart) take hotel guests from building to building, park to park.  Nice ride in open ocean air.

First up was the water park:  all the rides were free (wave pool, body slides, mat slides, lazy river, kiddie pools).

I loved the colorful penguin trash bins. Brilliant!

They are a vision in blue.

Ready, set, go!

Something caught their eyes...

You lookin' at me?

Since I was a participant in all the other rides with the kids, the wave pool was the only attraction that I had pictures of.

The afternoon consisted of more child’s play at the amusement park.  Not many rides there but we managed to get the Dumbo ride (I’m sure it’s not Disney-approved), Merry Go Round, dog and monkey show, indoor arcade (free unlimited plays), bumper cars, indoor play-gym.

.

No coins needed. All free.

"Can we go on the "Miracle Round" mom?" Hayley - 5

Kid’s Club:  Kids chilled here for an hour or so in the afternoons.  Free.  You can drop them off and come back later.

It was quite large and was good for toddlers and bigger kids.

Take a picture of me with this one, Mom.

Mud Baths:  this was the only activity we did that was not on the island.  We only did the natural hot springs, hot pool, cool pool, Jacuzzi, and kiddie pool.  I don’t recommend the mud bath if you have small kids as it gets in their eyes and mouths. *yuck*  (And I brought the camera but forgot to put the battery back in.)

Back at the water's edge.

Path to the beach and pagoda.

Far in the distance is the white statue, our destination.

Pagoda and Temple:  We climbed the steps to a little bit peace of quiet.  You must be dressed appropriately and not be uncovered, though my kids were okay in their shorts and tees.

They are always ahead of me. My kids love following a path of steps. We counted over 150 steps to the top.

Heading back down. What a view!

While staying out of the view so that she could get her photo taken, we totally stole this shot of her. Isn't it beautiful? I wonder what her husband's photo of this moment looks like.

Waiting patiently.

It rained that last afternoon that we were there. But we still managed 40 minutes of swimming in the ocean in the rain!