Son of a Beach

---

I decided I wanted to spend Christmas on the beach, so I journeyed to Nha Trang on the East coast of Vietnam, sitting on the South China Sea. Having not been completely put off by bus travel, I again decided to travel by Phuong Trang tourist bus. It was a nine hour journey, but through the night and I managed to get plenty of sleep along the way. Arriving in Nha Trang at 730am, it gave us the whole day to explore the city.

Nha Trang is a beautiful city, surrounded by mountains and with the clear turquoise waters it is easy to forget city life, relaxing with a cocktail or an ice cream. As with any Vietnamese city, there are plenty of people trying to separate you from your cash. Xe Om and motorcycle taxis ply their trade along the boulevard and of the course there are the shoe shiners and post card sellers. If you ignore this though, the boulevard is the place the be. Lined with seafood restaurants, ice cream cafes and fresh beer bars you might never want to leave. The beach itself does get very busy, but it is clean and the water is very inviting. There are plenty of places to rent jet skis, go parasailing, learn scuba diving or just swim. The temperatures are fairly steady but the best time to visit is between June and October. For me though, December was perfect. Not so much white Christmas as white sands.

We checked into the Diamond Bay resort. It is 10km outside of the city, but does have its own beach as well. There is a regular bus service into the city or you can hire a motorcycle to travel around. There is plenty to do on the resort, either relaxing by the pool, relaxing on the beach or if you are more energetic there is a fleet of pedaloes and kayaks you can borrow to boat around the bay. These are all free of charge and they have enough available that you can just arrive and take one. There are three restaurants on the resort and several bars, so you could spend all your time there if you wanted. The restaurants can be quite expensive though so it is better to head into the city at mealtime.

After settling into the hotel we hired a bike and started our exploration of the city, starting with Po Nagar. These Cham towers (yes, more Cham architecture; one day I will get to Angkor Wat) were built between the 7th and 12th Centuries and are 2km North of the city centre. Very easy to get to, they stand on a granite hill and cannot be missed from either of the two bridges exiting the city. Po Nagar is a much smaller site that My Son, with only 4 main towers but the architecture is clearly the same and much better preserved here.

From Po Nagar we headed back to the city for Long Son Pagoda. The pagoda was built in the 19th Century and is ornately decorated. There are several people here that claim to work for the monks and will offer to show you around the pagoda. They will then demand 100 VND which they say is for the monks but is in fact for them. Now 100 VND may not seem much, but you are better not to encourage them and just look around yourself. Climbing the hill behind the pagoda, there is a marble reclining Buddha. Climbing even further (it is quite a climb on a hot day) you reach the top of the hill and another Buddha, this time sitting on a lotus leaf. The views of the city from here are very good and the statue itself is stunning. On the climb up there are a lot of beggars though, more so than in any other small area. They will try to sell incense or just ask for money. Treat them as any other beggars though.

On the way back to the resort we stopped for some ice cream to watch as the sun went down. That night there was a gala dinner at the resort. A large buffet with every sort of food you could imagine and some regional entertainment. The food was good, but they failed to capture the Christmas spirit.

Friday, Christmas Day, started with breakfast and then a walk on the beach. We borrowed a two man kayak and paddled around the bay with our Santa hats on. Glorious sunshine and clear water, it was only a matter of time before we decided to go for a swim. The water was warm and so we spent most of the morning swimming around the bay. There were a few others with the same idea, but most guests stayed at the pool rather than the beach.

As morning turned into afternoon we took the bike into the city to get some lunch. Although some restaurants were advertising a traditional Christmas dinner, none had turkey so I just opted for a delicious seafood pasta. It was quite bizarre seeing so many people walking around the city in shorts, t-shirt and a Santa hat.

After lunch and a walk along Nha Trang beach we went to visit Nha Trang Cathedral. Built between 1928 and 1933, this is a traditional Catholic style Cathedral. There were a few people getting photos taken and a few worshippers but generally it was like any other Cathedral in the UK so not of much interest really. Heading back out of the North of the City, we came to Hong Chong Promontory. There are a number of granite rocks to explore plus you get fantastic views of the surrounding mountains and distant islands. The beach here is less commercial and hence is used more by locals than Western visitors. One of the rocks has what appears to be a hand print in it. Legend says a giant fairy was wandering home drunk one night when he saw a female fairy bathing in the ocean. He stopped to spy on her but fell and hit his hand on the rock. The two fairies fell in love but the gods sent the male fairy away. The female waited a long time but eventually lay down and now forms the mountains around Hong Chong. This is a beautiful spot to visit, only spoilt by the graffiti on some of the rocks.

Saturday was a lazy day, spent mostly on the beach at the resort. We did venture into the city at dinner time though to try one of the local seafood restaurants. The restaurant we chose was outside of the city but it had been highly recommended by the locals as one of the best around. The food was undoubtedly fresh, most of it was kept alive in tanks until it was cooked. The restaurant itself was only slightly more upmarket than a street restaurant, with plastic chairs and small tables. The food though was excellent and reasonably priced.

Sunday we awoke early for our trip to Hon Lao aka Monkey Island. There are a number of organised tours available which include this island and some of the others of the coast of Nha Trang, but as usual we prefer to do things our way. Travelling the 15km North of the city by bike was a scenic journey through the mountains. This is best experienced by bike since you cannot take it all on a bus. We arrived at Long Phu Tourist, easily spotted by the huge dragons forming the entrance. From here we paid the 50000VND to cross over to the island. There are several other trips available from the same starting point, but they only run in the morning. The trips to Monkey Island run all day. The boat journey is short and as is customery now, very scenic. Arriving at the island you are free to walk around at your own pace. There is a clean beach here and if you have the time, you can go snorkelling or scuba diving. We just decided to walk around the palm trees of the island and of course see the monkeys. These are wild monkeys and although they are used to the constant visitors, you need to keep your wits about you. There are guides on the island who are only too happy to explain the behaviour of the monkeys. We joined with another group and hence did not have the pay anything for the privilege. The monkeys have a learned behaviour at times. Having seen people produce food from their bags in the past, they think all bags have food and hence will sometimes snatch them from you if presented with the opportunity to do so. The same goes for some shiny items, sunglasses and cameras for example. We did not come across a market of monkeys trying to sell their stolen goods, so somewhere on the island there must be a secret stash of their merchandise.

Travelling back to the city using the low road (well we had taken the high road to get there and neither of us had arrived in Scotland before the other), it was again a scenic journey. Stopping off to view a deserted unfinished resort (it is quite common to come across incomplete projects in Vietnam, they are started but then they run out of money and hence are left abandoned).

We arrived back at the resort to watch as the sun set and watch the stars appear from the beach before having to return to the city by shuttle bus and board our return bus to Saigon.

The return journey was slightly less comfortable than the outbound journey. The bus even got lost once it arrived back in the city. We arrived reasonably on time though and not too tired.

Nha Trang is by far one of my favourite cities in Vietnam. There is plenty to do, or you can just relax on the beach (and it is impossible not to feel relaxed in this city). I would happily go back to explore more of the outlying islands and hope to get some scuba diving in next time.

---