Nha Trang

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Nha Trang

Monk and Saavas escaped from the hustle and bustle of Saigon and flew up to the seaside resort of Nha Trang. It takes 5 hours by bus but is just a short hop, just 55 minutes, by air. The downside is the airport is no longer in Nha Trang, it's a half hour drive away in Cam Ranh. It's a spectular flight in, over the coast, the sandy inlets and the turquoise sea.

Cam Ranh airport is waiting for something to happen - all dressed up and nowhere to go. That something looks to be the wholescale development of the area. From the airport, for a good few miles, the road to Nha Trang is a 4-lane highway with roads coming off going to nowhere except sandy beaches. There are some resort developments in progress but some day soon it's going to be a massive resort area.

Nha Trang itself has already happened. It's set on a beautiful bay with a long sandy beach strecthing for probably 4 miles. The hotel strip is clustered around the town proper at the northern to central section of the beach. There are some very large hotels, many of them catering for the Russian package tour industry. Many of the shops and restaurants feature Russian language signs and menus.

In a master stroke of resort design, the beach is separated from the hotels by a 6-lane dual carriageway with no traffic lights or pedestrian crossings, thus ensuring that all tourists join in the fun of playing the Vietnamese national pastime of 'dodge the traffic and try to stay alive'.

The major part of the town is a working, everyday Vietnamese town. Just a few streets, back from the centre of beach, form the heart of the tourist bar, restaurant and nightlife scene. There's definitely a seedy side to the town. Monk and Saavas were constantly being offered drugs, massages and girls.

There are some very good seafood restaurants and Monk was in his element with shellfish, squid, eels and so many types of fish to choose from. The town also has a microbrewery producing six different types of beer from pale lager, through to a reddish biiter type beer and a dark lager that tastes much like a dark mild or stout. It made a refreshing change from the Saigon Green and Red lagers Monk has been drinking for the past couple of weeks.

Nha Trang is cooler and not humid like Saigon and the delta with a nearly constant sea breeze that keeps the air feeling fresh.

Monk and Saavas spent a pleasant three days relaxing, walking and enjoying the town before taking the flight back to Saigon on the first stage of the long journey back home.

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