[jackbl]

Dear TS, this is for you.......

An unpackaged holiday in Nha Trang
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Nha Trang, on Vietnam’s south-central coast, carries a contradictory reputation: many people, guidebooks included, say it is home to the country’s best beach; while a recent National Geographic survey rated it as the worst beach destination in the world. With all of that in mind, I wasn’t sure what to expect when I visited Nha Trang for the first time over the recent holiday weekend.


I arrived early in the morning, after a long overnight bus ride up from Saigon, and my friends and I hit the beach almost immediately. We grabbed some chairs on the beach in front of the Louisiane Brewhouse, and my first reaction was to wonder what the critics were talking about: the sky was a brilliant, azure blue, the water was calm and clear, and the mountains surrounding Nha Trang Bay were stunning. Even though we were there on a holiday weekend, the beach was surprisingly empty. Sure, the sand was incredibly hot, but running from the water to the chairs wasn’t that big of a deal.

After spending a couple hours on the beach, several of us rented motorbikes from our hotel, the excellent Pho Bien, and cruised north onto the city’s coastal road. When I travel, I try my best to avoid any form of guided or package tour, not just in Vietnam, but anywhere. Occasionally, these types of tours are fine; for example when you want to learn more information about a place, such as Angkor Wat. Most of the time, however, I prefer to do my own exploring. This is the best way to interact with a country, since you can stop and go wherever you please, meet everyday people that you wouldn’t meet on a tour, and experience the location in your own way. Our bike ride proved to me, once again, that this is the way to go.

The strip along the coast was nearly empty, so traffic was of little concern as we took in the incredible views that the new road provides: shockingly blue water, scenes of fishing villages and their fishermen, and impressive mountains looming over the sea. We zoomed along until we reached Highway 1, which is a chaotic mess of honking trucks and buses, and turned around. That is the best way to travel: no set itinerary, no hour that you have to meet the tour guide, no restrictions on how long you can look at something.

The only tour-based activity I did on the trip was a day-long snorkeling adventure, and that’s only because it would be impossible to do on my own. We booked through Amazing Snorkeling Tour, and my only interaction with a tour outfit was a good own. Our guide for the day was friendly and helpful, the boat safe, and the underwater scenery excellent. The trip also included lunch on the boat, and what a meal it was! A huge feast consisting of stir-fried noodles with vegetables and tofu, fried spring rolls, steamed fish in tomato sauce, water spinach, fried chicken, rice, squid mixed with green peppers, omelets, and bananas, left us stuffed and very happy. I went on a similar trip on Koh Tao, in Thailand, earlier this year, and I believe the trip in Nha Trang was better.

While all of the previously mentioned activities were excellent, there is certainly reason to criticize some aspects of Nha Trang. Tran Phu, the main road running between the beach and the hotels, is very dangerous to cross during rush hour. There are no stoplights and, same as almost everywhere else in Vietnam, motorists have little inclination towards stopping for pedestrians. I live here in Saigon, so I’m well trained in the art crossing a Vietnamese street, but I imagine many first-time visitors to the country would be intimidated by the traffic.

Street-side hawkers are also an annoyance. I’m fine with them trying to sell me cigarettes, a book, or sunglasses on the sidewalk, but it is frustrating when you have to constantly wave them off while you are enjoying a meal at one of Nha Trang’s excellent restaurants. The staff at most establishments I visited didn’t seem to care when someone wandered all the way to the back of the restaurant to bother us at our table. The city should implement some kind of rule confining hawkers to the sidewalk.

The final annoyance is trash. There aren’t enough trash cans (or rubbish bins, as many here call them) on the streets or near the beach, which leads to huge, unsightly piles of garbage being stacked up by night’s end. One sight I distinctly remember came on my last night in Nha Trang: there were several vendors on the beach selling cans of beer from coolers, and next to them were dozens of discarded cans. I hope they were cleaned up by the morning, but I’m not sure if they were. There is also trash in the water, which is an ugly sight, not to mention dangerous for the marine life in the area. Sadly, this is another problem that is prevalent throughout the country; an issue that could certainly be improved simply by placing more trash cans in public areas. Whenever I bought a bottle of water, it took some serious effort to find a proper place to throw away the plastic that is wrapped around the bottle cap. That shouldn’t be the case.

Even taking these issues into account, I had a great time in Nha Trang. In many ways, it was far less touristy than I was expecting. Moto and cyclo drivers are far more persistent in Saigon, and few tour operators are pushy about advertising their product. The natural scenery should be enough to sell the area on its own. If you’re adventurous enough to do some exploring on your own, and know how to pick a good tour when necessary, you should love Nha Trang. World’s worst beach? Not a chance.



Michael Tatarski (American, teacher)