Back to HCMC and Diving

I could have spent more time in Nha Trang - but decided to go back to Ho Chi Minh City. I will be catching a 9:45AM Vietnam Airlines flight tomorrow, Sep 24th - from. Nha Trang to Ho Chi Minh City, It is only a 1 hour flight.

Only disappointing fact about this leg of my trip is having not done any diving.. I could have done some in both Hoi An and here in Nha Trang, but the visibility was restricted to 10-20M or about 33-66 ft - and that's what the dive shops were saying. I spoke to some folks returning from a 2-tank dive and they said visibility was just 20 feet. Anyway, given poor visibility and liklihood of few critters (the dive waters are heavily fished) I opted out of diving.

Back in HCMC, I'll help Linh with a paper, and try to get Cambodian visas!
I need to go pack and find a desktop to attempt to straighten out some financial messes.

More later!

Nha Trang

Where are all the people!? This is the question I and a few Aussies kept asking ourselves and one another! This was the beach just before noon today!? Kevin - note total absence of waves.

The Louisiane Club is THE place to hang out! But again, as the pic shows - no people and this was taken about 1PM!? The Louisiane club is located directly on the beach - for just $2 you get a lounge chair w/cushion and use of their fresh water pool, showers, and WC! In exchange, they hope and you purchase their drinks, ice cream, and food. Steady tradewinds make it a nice beach - water temp had to be at least high 70's! I chilled there for the entire day!!


Note that I AM smiling in these pictures - in spite of the fact the locale is sans any Baywatch attributes!

Without question - the best lobster I've ever had - charcoal-grilled with a kinda sweet pineapple/banana chutney, served with an incredibly simple and delicious dipping sauce made of lime juice, ground black pepper and lemongrass. All made, eloquently served, and consumed right there on the beach. They spread out and you eat on the blue tarp in the backgrount. Really a fabulous mixture of tastes! I believe I'll have another tomorrow!


Always present - I suppose to remind me what "is". This is some sort of memorial on prime beach front property!

I've Made it to Nha Trang ...

... And in one piece! Only had about an hour to explore the beach and had to get back to my hotel room for insulin shot.
Looks as if this will be a good place to chill for a while - but it is NEITHER a Baywatch (David) nor South Beach (Kent) sorta beach scene. AND it appears that other than young school kids - no Vietnamese appear to "do" the beach.

I wasn't going to attach a pic to this email because as you'll see it's a cloudy day ... But I have already received emails requesting pics ... So ...

this is the view from my hotel room which was recommended by Lonely Planet (LP)<- my travel bible. Unfortunately, as has been true in almost every case so far, LP's costs are consistently about 25-30% off - meaning I have paid that much more than what Lonely Planet states it will cost!

The Vietnam Sojourn Continues

I made kinda a last minute decision this evening - tomorrow, Sep 19th at 9:14AM, I am flying on Vietnamese Airlines from Da Nang to Nha Trang <- no probs buying last minute plane tickets here!

Nha Trang pop = 373,000 (1/10 size of HCMC but 4 x larger than Hoi An), located on China Sea in central southern Vietnam. It was here that the Miss Universe Pageant was televised live last month - which some of you may have seen - at least parts of it?!

I was going to do Hue and White Marble Mountain - but several French, Germans, and 2 Russian ladies I had lunch with today said neither were worth the long, bumpy, dusty ride. So I opted out of doing these "excursions."

Anyway, I got the urge for a beach and all the guide books, tourists I've spoken to, and Vietnamese tout Nha Trang as being the best beach in Vietnam! We'll see - I mean I'll see and let you know what I find/experience!

I hope all of you are well! Take care!