Flying Visit to Nha Trang

Lee on the beach
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Left Dalat on the morning bus which takes 6 hours to reach Nha Trang, which is billed as the diving capital of Vietnam.  The city is quite small and on a kind of grid system so navigating around on foot is fairly easy.

We heard terrible reports of the crime in Nha Trang and toyed with the idea of missing the city out completely and going direct to Hoi An, however that would mean a 18 hour bus journey which we simply couldn't do so thought we would come but only for a few days.

dragged 40m down the road before the driver gave up hope of getting her bag.

A lone hawker patrolling the beach
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One couple we spoke to in Saigon had visited Nha Trang only 6 days ago and she had her leather handbag which had been over her shoulder grabbed by a passing motorbike.  The leather strap was very good and didn't snap so subsequently she was dragged 40m down the road before the driver gave up hope of getting her bag.  She had terrible injuries to her bag and arm, thankfully they were probably fairly superficial and no broken bones but it does make you worry.  The best advice I would give anyone is keep to well lite streets and do not carry a bag.  Most Hotels have a safe box you can leave things.

Hay Ruddy they sell Dog here!
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In fairness to Nha Trang, we have witnessed no problems ourselves and everyone is very friendly.  The prices here are generally lower that Siagon with beers from 9,000 dong (around 30p) and meals from around 20,000 (70p).  Our accomodation was USD5 which included ensuite room with fan, TV and fridge.

After what we had heard of Nha Trang we expected a busy resort and were surprised to find that the beach was almost desserted.  There were not many visitors here at all and we found that sometimes we were the only people eating in a restaurant.  Lots of hawkers and moto drivers vying for your custom here which was probably due to the low number of visitors so you were constanting saying 'no thank you' as you walked down the street.

After two nights we decided to move onto Hoi An and booked the over night bus which takes 12 hours to reach Hoi An and leaves at 6pm at night - mmmm, lets see what tomorrow brings.