The first of our six days on the beach began in Nha Trang. Since a bus would have been a long 11 to 12 hours, we opted for a flight from the Danang airport to Nha Trang. From the small airport, we caught a taxi in to our hotel for a fairly reasonable fee, about 100,000VND cheaper than the hotel was going to charge us for a pick-up. We stayed at the Asia Paradise Hotel, just a little bit away from the beachside and about 45-minutes from the airport. It’s a nice enough hotel, though we paid for a room with a view, we had a bit of an obstructed view of the sea. Overall though it was a good enough place to stay.
Nha Trang doesn’t have much to offer in terms of sightseeing, though I think there are a couple of pagodas and perhaps a Buddha one could see. Since we were more interested in relaxing, we focused on the beach aspect of the city. Like in Spain, there were areas of the beach where you could pay for a cabina to rest on for the day and then go for a dip when the mood inspired it.
So, we had one day just walking around and not doing too much. Then, another day we just spent on the beach totally chilling out. The evenings were spent exploring the different restaurants and bars. I think my favorite place was Crazy Kim Bar. The owner is an advocate against pedophiles, which made taking advantage of the buy 1 get 2 cocktails happy hour more fun and meaningful than just getting very happy on the VERY STRONG drinks!
On our second night, we had a farewell dinner with Roman since he was moving on from traveling with us the next morning. We found a nice Vietnamese restaurant and though the food was cheap, it wasn’t great tasting. Roman made friends with one of the fish, though, so that was worth it! ;D
For our last day in Nha Trang, we decided to go on a boat trip since that is recommended in the area. Through the hotel we booked a trip with Nha Trang Tourist company and were guided by Funky Monkey to visit four islands. We made a first stop at an aquarium that was severely lacking as a tourist attraction. Then, we went off for a swim and some snorkeling. I tried snorkeling in real water for the first time ever! It was a bit scary at first and so Craig was sweet enough to hold my hand. Eventually I got brave enough to go on my own and was so amazed by the number of fish in the water below. I’m not sure if it creeps me out more to know they are there or to just not see them…but it was a cool sight to see and now I understand why people like snorkeling. π
After the swim, we had lunch, some entertainment and dancing, then happy hour out on the water. There was only one drink of choice for happy hour and it was a bit dodgy, so I had a couple of sips and just enjoyed floating on my dinghy in the water more than anything else.
Our final stop was at another island that we had to pay to go onto, but I didn’t really enjoy it as my leg was burned by a cigarette and I had to get it to stop hurting. We were both pretty tired by the end of the day. Overall, though it was a nice day to spend with other crazy tourists and a good time was had.
One more stop in Vietnam to go!
-T
