Nha Trang

:: Pho is your friend ::

I'll start by admitting that our first number of days in Nha Trang were spent in a fabulous hotel with magnificent balcony views over a turquoise South China Sea. Staying in the flashpacker hotel was of necessity to be close to our families ... or that's the excuse anyhow!

:: Um, Yeah...probably the best room view yet ::

Nha Trang always receives mixed reviews. For the most part travellers find it to be one of the less attractive parts of Vietnam. It's a beach side city, the core tourist area is a small group of streets containing restaurants, cheap hotels and dive shops. It is a real ugly ducking compared to Hoi An but it's one of those places that's well worth the time when you scratch the surface.

When we'd said goodbye to the Nances and the Littles we packed up the bags and moved to the "Nice Hotel" a bright blue budget high rise hotel slap bang in the centre of the touristy area - it was straight into cheap and cheerful tackiness. If a shop isn't selling bikinis, board shorts and souvenirs then it's a dive shop selling dive courses. Nha Trang is well known as a good dive spot in Vietnam as a result a large number of dive shops have mushroomed and competition is so healthy that it rivals Thailand for cheap dive courses. We did a couple of amazing dives over the national park to see the coral and fish first hand. Marcus completed his open water cert here, and the Littles all went out to experience the depths as a day trip together.

In our final days in Nha Trang we ventured out of the tourist area in search of a highly recommended Pho (noodle soup) stall. Not only did we manage to find great Pho but we also stumbled upon beautiful little secluded neighbourhoods. These were local residential areas under the shade of huge coconut trees, all the houses had big displays of plants and flowers. Men woman and children sat out in the streets watching life go by... a far cry from the touristy Nha Trang only a few blocks away. As always when you take a few steps away from backpacker central you always see real life.

:: We really enjoyed our time with our parents and Maija ; Thanks for coming to see us, it means alot to us ::