The Beach Town of Nha Trang


After returning the bike in Hoi An I caught a bus that day down the coast to Nha Trang.  Nha Trang is a coastal beach town popular with tourists, both foreign and domestic.  Want to guess which foreigners you see most often?  Not Americans, not Brits or Aussies...Russians!  I rarely saw Russian tourists in most of the other areas of Vietnam, yet they seemed to be everywhere in Nha Trang.  Every other tourist shop (and there were plenty) had adverts in Russian.  Back in the good 'ole day when the USSR was still alive the Russians had a naval base nearby, and I guess the expats and tourists kept coming.

Nha Trang is on the south central coast of Vietnam; the map's a bit zoomed out but gives you a good
overall sense of SE Asia

Surrounding the city there are waterfalls, islands, and other natural sites to check out.  But really I just wanted to relax and kick it at the beach.  I hadn't been in months!  Not since the Full Moon Party in late May had I lounged in the sand.  And that's probably the first thing that comes to mind when you think of SE Asia!  Well to be fair despite the lack of beaches my trip had been rewarding.

When I arrived in Nha Trang it was a ghastly 4 am; the overnight bus had made good time.  As often happened I linked up with a couple backpackers who also were looking for a place to stay and we got transport from the station into town.  This time we each hopped on the back of a xe om (moto taxi driver) for all of one dollar each.  The touristy area is near the ocean, and since we would have to wait to check in anyway, we decided to haul our stuff onto the beach and watch the sunrise.

Even before the sun came up there were lots of Vietnamese people on the beach.  I had made a joke that we'd see a bunch because they didn't want to be in the sun.  But actually there were more locals on the beach at 6 am then 1 pm - although the beach was crowded later with foreigners.  It was hilarious to watch the old couples do calisthenics, stretching and moving their arms in circles - and then stop.  It was as if they were warming up for the real exercise but never got around to it.  Once the sun came up we managed to lug our stuff around and found a good hostel only a couple blocks away.

The perfect time for Vietnamese sun bathing!
Nha Trang beachfront
The sun is up...these guys are late!

I only spent two (or was it three?) nights in Nha Trang.  I had already booked my flight to Singapore from Ho Chi Minh City scheduled for July 27th, and I wanted to have enough time down south to see the Mekong delta.  Even though the stay was a bit short I did get time to just lay out on the beach.  One day our group took a 'party boat' tour of the surrounding islands.

That was lamest party boat I've ever been on (not that I have been on many).  We were on board with foreign families and local Vietnamese out for a nice, relaxing day on the water.  Then there was our group, ready to drink...well it didn't exactly work out to be what I expected, but at least we got to tour the surrounding bay and lounge on an island (where you had to pay entrance fee and they tried to charge us 10 dollars to use one of their chairs - I probably could have bought one for less!).

This isn't the type of boat I was picturing for a party; at least it looks
 like this one had more young people on board!
The crew of several ships came together to play us
music, which was one of the highlights of our trip
speaking of highlights...the crew band's main singer and cross-dresser!

Considering I hadn't been out much of late, it was also nice to hit the bars with fellow travelers.  Nha Trang has a reputation for nightlife, although I must say it wasn't very crazy.  The local yacht club did throw a pretty crazy anniversary party though.  The bars stay open late, and as a tourist pretty much anything goes - just watch out for kamikaze hookers looking to steal drunk tourists' wallets!  (side note: I didn't have problems, but I heard several stories of prostitutes targeting drunk males, insulting other travelers who were watching out for their friend, and even throwing shoes at them...yes, a la that guy who chucked one at former President Bush in Iraq!).

That shoe chucking guy

My stay in Nha Trang was more of the traditional backpacker experience.  It was nice to relax and pretty much be unproductive.  But not for long - I was soon headed to Ho Chi Minh City, aka Saigon, my last stop before leaving Vietnam.

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