In Nha Trang


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Asia » Vietnam
February 28th 2014
Published: February 28th 2014
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Flying into Nha Trang was amazing. The landscape is desert, with huge sand dunes. At the coast, yiu. Oiled see miles of white sand beaches and blue/green water. I was very excited to check this place out.

First clue this was an odd place came at the luggage carousel...I was looking at the signage, and commented that it looked like all the signs were in Vietnamese and Russian...why would that be, I wondered. Bags arrived and we met our guide. He told us, even before we were out of the airport that Russians love Nha Trang, they come for the sun and the beaches. There are five flights daily, yes, daily, from various cities in Russia to Nha Trang. English tourists are a definite minority, in fact, Vietnamese are almost a minority. When we went out to eat last night, we passed by several restaurants because the menus were only in Russian. I took a photo of one of the travel service centres....the ads are totally and only in Russian. Most of the guests in our hotel are Russian. For the most part, they are large, loud and eat an incredible amount. Three plates for breakfast is the norm. The local night market is fully of tacky, horrid junk, absolutely nothing of any interest, and it is packed with Russians.

They do grow rice here, and it is way ahead of the crop in northern Vietnam. The rice fields are absolutely gorgeous, a wonderful shade of green, hope the photo captures the beauty.

The beach is o.k. But, the water has kind of a funny smell, so I did not go in...imagine, me not going into the ocean. Many reports of dirty water, so am being cautious.

Food here is not great. In fact, we ate at the hotel this evening, figuring it would be as good as anywhere else. Only place so far where the food has been less than fabulous...guess we have been spoilt.

We dined outside, by the pool. They had a big screen and played really, really old music videos. Bryan Adams and Phil Collins were young in the videos. Then, they had a couple of Spanish music videos????

This is one bizarre place, with a number of huge hotels that are rather like a poorly done Vegas, which is, indeed, very bad.

All one can do is smile, laugh a little bit and wonder at the oddness of it all.

Off in the morning for Dalat, hoping to leave Russia behind and return to SE Asia.

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28th February 2014

SE Asia (or is it?)
Reminds me of Ko Phagnan, in Thailand, which was full of Germans and Israelis. You couldn't find a noddle to save your life, but lots of schnitzel and tons of falafel. It was BIZARRE. Hope you find yourself back in Vietnam soon. :) (P.S. I don't know if you've heard anything at all about the Olympics, but maybe don't mention hockey in front of any Russians...)
28th February 2014

Hockey
Yeah, did hear we won gold, twice over. Actually did think of just this when I got pushed for the don't know how many th time at the tacky market by a woman wearing a Sochi t--shirt. Love you
1st March 2014

Rice Fields!
Wow Deb and Gayle this is a gorgeous photo of the rice fields...I too would take a pass on some of the restaurants...so when in doubt choose your hotel with a nice glass of wine!! Happy travels...
1st March 2014

Wine here is pretty bad, usually go for a beer.....

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