We arrived to the city of Nha Trang on February 7, after a fairly comfortable 12 hr train ride. We had booked an apartment thru Airbnb for 10 nights - 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom, a small balcony with a sea view for $331 - certainly didn’t need that much space but the price & location were right. And it included housekeeping every 3 days if you wanted it. Located away from the busier main beach area in an area called Hon Chong - on the 16th floor in one of three high rise apartment buildings. The first level of all 3 buildings held restaurants & coffee shops (16), minimarts (8+), at least 6 spas & 2 larger well equipped grocery stores! Crazy - you could have never left the property if you so chose. And the beach was directly across the street with a lovely paved walkway along it that went for over 2 km (great for my morning walk/run). We started off our first night with a very delicious pizza (we haven’t had much Western food so it was a treat).
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| The apartment |
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| View from the balcony |
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| Our building |
Of course we had to find some touristy things to do so our first stop was Po Nagar - very impressive Cham temple tower complex founded sometime before 781. The relics date from the 7th to 13th century when the Champa Kingdom was flourishing & Hinduism was still worshipped there. The architecture was magnificent & it has withstood time very well.
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| Po Nagar lit up at night |
From there we went on a walkabout, crossing 2 bridges over the river to get to the huge Cho Dam Market - indoor & outdoor stalls selling pretty much everything you could imagine for locals & for tourists. The surrounding streets were full of tour buses as this is a “required” stop on tours.
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| Every kind of rice paper - & the shop keeper having a nap |
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| A hearse |
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| Cho Dam market |
On to the main beach area of Nha Trang, where we returned another day for the night market - not overly impressive. Lots of hotels but not much for restaurants or shops. We discovered a handy green bus that travels all along the beach for kilometres for the cheap price of $0.84. Useful when we got tired of walking.
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| Cooked lobster for sale |
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| Bicycle taxis |
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| Outside a club, take note of the shoes! |
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| Bridges lit up |
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| Night market |
We visited the Museum of Oceanography & really enjoyed it - lots of tanks full of beautifully coloured fish & sea creatures, plus whole rooms of preserved ocean specimens. And we did a lot of walking - 23,000 steps!
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| Sea urchin eye |
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| Cool tunnel under the aquarium |
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| Strange preserved sea creatures |
We ate a fair amount of “Western food” in Nha Trang but we found a great dish called Bun Dau - a collection of fried tofu, meats, cold rice noodles & greens - all to be wrapped in rice paper & dipped in sauce. Usually some version of fish sauce but once we got a very stinky bowl of fermented shrimp paste - could not leave it on our table!
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| The round rice paper came with a container with water in one section to soften the rice paper in |
We spent a bit of time cooling off in the ocean, sorry no photos! We decided to try cooking again before we forgot how - found all the ingredients for a veggie stirfy & sautéed shrimp - tasty. And we cooked eggs a few times as there were always fresh croissants or buns to be found.
We sort of knew that this area in Nha Trang & the city itself is a favourite amongst Russian travellers & those avoiding the war. Extended family groups, from babies to grandparents travelling together to couples. Elsewhere if we saw Caucasian folks there was a pretty good chance that they spoke English, but not here. Lots of Russian signage, menus, specialty restaurants, right down to Russian ice cream treats in the grocery store!
We spent a fair amount of time drinking inexpensive beer, enjoying the food & watching the world go by.
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| 1 litre $1.63 |
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| Random street view |
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| Cheap cigarettes, no wonder so many people smoke - $1-$3/pack |
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| Of course a massage - $20, includes a tip |
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| Bun Cha Hanoi, one of my favourites |
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| A rice store |
Robin always likes to check out the roof of anywhere we stay, if we are able. This was the 42 story, not really supposed to be there, but great views!
Of course I had to look for sea glass, found a bunch, kept 2 pieces.
A few random “peculiarities “ of Vietnam - they attach fake flowers to trees to look like they are blooming, they women wear socks with a space for flip flops, pyjamas are fine for daily wear out & about, coffee shops are everywhere!, kids ride on the scooters without helmets, in strange seats or just standing up (freaky).
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| She is wearing socks |
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| Probably not CSAapproved |
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| Who needs a truck to transport long pipes/rebar - just 2 scooters! |
We realized that flying to Ho Chi Min City was not much more than a train ride so we booked a flight, 1 hour, $214 total for both of us. We chose Vietnam Airlines as they allow 12 kg of carry on, a bigger bag plus one for under the seat. All included in the fare. We left Nha Trang on February 17, off to Saigon (now called Ho Chi Min City, HCMC). But we think we will be back next winter as this seems a good choice for a longer stay.
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| Fishing boats in the river |
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| My walking route |
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| Lots of different exercise equipment in public spots |
Of to “the big city”, Still Living the Dream.
