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Published: August 6th 2013
The most blog-worthy thing about Nha Trang was the journey there! That's a bit unfair really, but Russ had a bit of a stomach bug which restricted our explorations somewhat, and it wasn't what you might call beach weather either.
Our bus from Hoi An took just under 12 hours. It was an overnight sleeper so we were a little dismayed to find the bus wasn't in as good a condition as others we have seen. None of the seatbelts worked for a start. Throughout the night the journey often felt like a white knuckle ride at a theme park ad our driver, clearly in a hurry, took bends at speeds which must have exceeded not only speed limits but common sense! Add to that the fact that the bus was fully booked yet our driver was content to stop and pick up Vietnamese passengers who then slept in the aisles amongst the tourists who had paid a far higher fare. That meant getting to the on board toilet was more of an obstacle course and for us they represented an enormous safety hazard. In addition, they think nothing of receiving phone calls in the middle of the night, not
that we got any sleep anyway!
At a little after 5am the bus suddenly stopped and all the lights went on. All the foreigners on board were a bit fuzzy headed and confused, and we all wondered if we had arrived. Surely it wasn't possible to get there an hour early as we had suffered from two police inspections and a late supper stop. All luggage was taken off for both inspections and torches were shined in the aisles where sleeping bodies lay. Clearly they were not a problem as we were waved on our way again. Sure enough though, we had arrived in Nha Trang so God only knows what kind of speeds our lunatic driver must have been doing. At least we had made it there in one piece.
Several hotel hawkers met the bus and one had a leaflet for the place we had booked - The Nice Swan. He helpfully put us in a taxi but the driver wanted 200,000 Vietnamese Dong, about $10. We were sure we had arrived not far from the hotel so we insisted that the meter was used. It turned out we were about 3 blocks away but the
driver still took the long way round ensuring the meter read 50,000 just to make it worth his while! The hotel was in darkness but as if by magic a little man appeared (any Mr Ben fans reading this???!!!) and he allowed us to check in which we were eternally grateful for. Our room was lovely and we managed a few hours kip before getting up and about.
Nha Trang was like Moscow-by-Sea! Every other signpost is in Cyrillic script and there are loads of Russian tourists. We were quite worn out by the journey so we just wandered around the backpacker area and stocked up on some essentials, enjoying a fresh fruit smoothie as we went. Maybe we were too tired to see the nice side of town but it certainly appeared to be nothing special. The topiary in the beach gardens is a bit weird, even more so when they are illuminated a lurid green at night. We did enjoy the backpacker bars though, and there is a wide choice of restaurants. We found a great Vietnamese place which was over so slightly posh but far from overpriced!
The next day was quite cool and cloudy.
We decided to walk out to the port to see if we could do a boat trip of sone sort. Along the way we passed the Navy barracks and just opposite was a pagoda with some kind of military memorial outside. By the time we reached the Oceanographic Museum some 5km away Russ was in desperate need of a toilet. Luckily they let him in without a ticket as they could probably see his discomfort! He reported back that it was little more than a crap aquarium really!!
Our wandering took us coast the port where long trips around the island were on offer but nothing shorter and simpler. We didn't want beaches and snorkelling, just a quick trip around they bay, but nothing suited us really. We continued to the entrance to Vinpearl, Vietnam's answer to Disney. The world's longest cable car over the sea runs to a nearby island where the theme park is located. Unfortunately for us, you can't just ride the cable car without paying the full entry fee. Instead we got a taxi back into town.
The next day we left Nha Trang for the cool mountain retreat of Dalat. There were things
we hadn't done but in reality we are not sure we missed much.
Hopefully photos will be added soon!
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D MJ Binkley
Dave and Merry Jo Binkley
A wild bus ride
The bus sounds horrible. We took the train and the tracks got washed out. Then a crazy cab ride with an insane driver. We were happy to reach Nha Trang safely. Interested to hear what you think of Dalat.