Even the restaurants seemed to be the same bar an additional posh wine bar. What really struck me was the development on the coast road from Da Nang heading south. From leaving Da Nang city until Marble Mountain there are numerous big name resort developments under way. Kilometre after Kilometre of fenced off beach front, earth movers and concrete foundations strutting out of the ground splaying steel cable everywhere give a sense of awe at the sheer scale of what is going on down there. The weather by the way, was miserable - rained constantly.
Moving south to Nha Trang, again a first visit there for what must be two years, not a lot changed really. A nice new terminal at the Cam Ranh airport making baggage collection a non-stressful experience. The only other thing of mention would be, again, the development along Tran Phu. The new Sheraton building, I have to say, looks awesome. I love the design. It stands with unobstructed views, and the 360 degree shaped thing on the top has to be bar...what a view that place will have.
It's not such good news for the Yasaka, which has a huge shopping/office center being built right next to it which has blatantly obstructed the view from some of it's rooms at the back...!
The old concrete shell/pillar has finally been replaced (it was an unfinished something standing on the edge of the public square on the beach front) - replaced with a..flower or a mosque - I'm not sure which.
One thing about Nha Trang never changes...walks along a beautiful beach!
Heading south again now, a 3.5 hour car journey to Mui Ne. The kite-surfing season is really getting going now but the winds remain calm until mid-morning. 7.00 am on the beach with sun already high, no wind and a gorgeous ocean convinced me that Mui Ne really is the place to be. Sun, sand, swimming and plenty of restaurants to choose from.
An interesting sidenote, possibly, I picked up a very old copy of Huck Finn from a second hand book store. The book has a stamp entitled 'Vietnamese American ****** (can't read), 55 Mac Dinh Chi, Saigon. BOOK SHOP For Students, Teachers, Members'. It has a name written in biro in the top, Pham Van But, and a date, 08-12-70. Obviously this book shop was there during the war years and stocked English language literature.
A fantastic trip overall, and Vietnam just keeps developing.
7 comments:
Jon, we did a similar trip by rented mini-bus. HCMC to Mui Ne, Nha Trang, Dalat and home. I have to agree that despite the Nha Trang hype, Mui Ne was my favourite part of the trip. We stayed at a beach resort on the sand for 400,000VND per night. Can't even come close to that in Nha Trang.
As far as development goes, it's good to see the economic stimulus, but it's kind of sad to see that they're building more places like fully restricted beach resorts. The kind of place for people who want to visit Viet Nam but don't actually want to be *in* Viet Nam, if you know what I mean...
I'm appreciate your writing skill.Please keep on working hard.^^
Hi Jon,
I've been reading your blog for quite some time now and I love it! It's brilliant mate, just wish we didn't need to wait so long between posts... :-)
I would be interested to know if you actually hire a car and driver when you go on a trip such as this, or do you drive yourself using your UK licence and just hire a car / mini-bus?
Thanks!
MrCerulean - Absolutely...I find Nha Trang beautiful but the beach inaccessible. Also yeah, I remember that road from DaNang to Hoi An as a windswept no mans land for most of the way with a rugged open ocean. Now you won't be able to see any of that for these resorts being built...
Sam, thanks very much! I have been slacking recently I know - but I have a few in the tank for January.
For this trip we went by plane Saigon-Da Nang and Da Nang - Nha Trang and then hired vehicle Nha Trang - Mui Ne and Mui Ne - Saigon. I do have a license to drive a car here but hiring one would be too expensive and buying one certainly is too expensive! If it wasn't for the fact that we had a one year old in tow we would have used the open tour buses which are quite comfortable now with fully reclining seats.
Since interest was expressed, I'll make two points:
1) If there's a couple of you travelling, Jon is absolutely right--the tour buses are great. Cheap and very comfortable. I traveled recently to Siem Reap and Pnomh Penh on tour buses and they were more comfortable than a car.
2) If there's a larger group, hired car is the way to go. It's too expensive to buy a car here, and hiring a car gets you a driver. I don't have a license to drive a car. I don't need one. I'd rather have a pro navigating the insanity that is highway traffic in Viet Nam. As mentioned previously, we did a trip similar to Jon's, but all by hired car. There was 6 of us, and we hired a 15 passenger minibus (it was the same price as the 7 passenger in this case). We all had tons of room and were very comfortable.
When hiring a car, note that the daily cost of the car includes the driver, mileage and fuel. Note also that if you plan to go a greater distance, the daily rate will creep up (to account for fuel, mostly). So spending three days make short runs around Ho Chi Minh City will be cheaper than 3 days driving to Nha Trang and back.
Finally, *most* road houses and *most* hotels will take care of the driver for you. They tend to be *really* nice to drivers with comp'd meals and a comp'd "staff" room or bed. The reason is obvious: drivers bring customers. Piss off the drivers, customers dry up.
Jon, thanks and please keep up the good work!
MrCerulean, thanks for your info, sometimes detail like this is hard to find, but very useful to know. We always end up doing an organised tour (like those offered by Saigon Tourist, etc) as I don't speak any vietnamese and exploring other options is hard, but I always feel like I'm missing out on something more special and wish we had more flexibility! I'll look to hire a car and driver next time for sure :-)
Thanks again guys!
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