Our time in SE Asia is drawing to a close, but before we left we spent some time checking out the seaside city of Nha Trang.
The Chams were the original inhabitants of Vietnam. Between the 2nd and 17th centuries, their kingdom extended from the coastline inland across much of modern-day central and southern Vietnam. Although their city of Kauthara, at the mouth of the Cai River, appears to have stood where Nha Trang is today, most of the coastal region was untamed wilderness, with an occasional fishing village eking out an existence.
When the French formed Indochina in 1887 it didn’t take them long to see the appeal of a resort on the warm waters of the East Sea, or as it is known outside Vietnam, the South China Sea. In 1924, the French incorporated five simple fishing villages into a townlet, Nha Trang, which supposedly is derived from a misspelling of the Cham name for the river running through the settlements – Ea Dran (reed river), and the “Nice of the East” was established. In 1937, the townlet was upgraded to a town and it has been growing ever since as more and more people concur with that initial decision by the French.
Dollars – Vietnam likely won’t make our list of places where we would settle down long-term, but it is unquestionably priced right for budget-minded retirees. From our perspective it is an ideal part of the world in which to spend a couple of months, building a little surplus in our bank account.
| Cost/Day (2 people/23 nights) |
What’s Included? | |
|---|---|---|
| Basic day-to-day living expenses | $58/day Canadian ($42 USD / €40) |
Accommodation, sightseeing, beach umbrella and chair rental, groceries, restaurants, and local transportation |
| All-inclusive nomadic expenses | $67/day Canadian ($49 USD / €46) |
Basic expenses above plus: entry visas (pro-rated), bus from Da Lat, haircut, spa, data packages, subscriptions (Netflix and other streaming services, website hosting, Adobe Lightroom, VPN, misc apps, etc.) |
Environment – We stayed in a studio apartment directly across the street from the beach. While not luxurious, it met our needs with a large comfortable couch, king-sized bed (a rarity in Airbnbs), well-equipped kitchen, washing machine, and a shower with consistent hot water. The listing indicated there was a “shared” pool, which seemed like an obvious description – it’s a high-rise apartment building and at the price we were paying the pool wasn’t going to be private. What the listing did not make clear (nor did a single person who’d left a review for their stay) is that you must PAY to use the pool – $15/pp CAD, for four hours, which includes a bottle of water, woohoo. We were hugely disappointed and found it a tiny bit galling that our balcony looked directly down onto the gorgeous pool – good thing we had the beach so close by. Interestingly, during the entire 23 days we stayed, I think I saw people in the pool twice.
Tips, Tricks & Transportation – A bus is by far the easiest and most economical way to get from Da Lat to Nha Trang. We paid just over $18 CAD (total) for the four-hour trip.
We booked through Futa Bus, and despite the short distance (and a daytime trip) they only offer sleeper buses on this route.
Thankfully the glowing reviews proved to be true. At 6 ft, Howard was just on the edge of being too long to fit comfortably on the seat but managed, and we both agreed this is a pretty slick way to travel.
The only negative was the winding road out of Da Lat. Howard does not typically get motion sick yet even he had to stop reading for the first hour. I was exceedingly grateful to lie back (after popping a Bonine), close my eyes, and position the air vent so that cool air could caress my face. Once we were out of the hills, the rest of the ride was most enjoyable. Before it became abundantly clear I was going to struggle to appreciate the scenery slipping by my window, as the bus driver careened around the corners at less than a sedate speed, we passed several miles of greenhouses completely obscuring the hillside – proof of the billions of flowers Da Lat produces for export and frankly not that pretty to look at.
Vietnam has a reputation for quality tailoring, in particular men’s suits. I debated about getting something made last year when we were in Hoi An but was not impressed with any shops in the historic quarter, most of which hyped the fact that they had a one-day turnaround. As someone who used to make a lot of her own clothes, a quality piece in 24 hours seems suspect. A friend who did get a pair of shorts made was only moderately pleased so I opted to save my money. This year I thought I’d look into it again and found a highly rated family-run business just a few blocks from our Airbnb. With language being a possible barrier I’d read that having a piece of clothing you like is helpful for the tailor to work from. I have a dress that other than being somewhat ill-fitted through the bust and sleeveless – not my favourite look on aging arms – suits my figure well so took that with me, hoping I could explain the changes I wanted. With the help of Google Translate, I got my message across, we agreed on a price and they told me it would take 5 days – that seemed like a reasonable time-frame for a custom piece. I am very pleased with my new dress. It’s well-constructed, fits perfectly, and cost me $70 CAD. In addition to being a tailor shop, the family also runs a beauty salon next door where I got an excellent haircut for $10 CAD!
Out and About – One significant downside to writing a blog that isn’t just a private record of our travels is making it an engaging read when we haven’t done very much. Our six weeks in Vietnam haven’t exactly been boring, but we have spent a considerable amount of time with our toes in the sand. Tran Phu Beach, directly across from our Airbnb, may be one of the nicest city beaches I’ve ever seen.
The sand is soft and the East Sea is the perfect temperature, around 28°C/82.°F. Beach loungers with umbrellas, and often towels, are available for rent along the 7km stretch of sand (between $6-11 CAD for two chairs et al depending on your negotiating skills) and during the scorching heat of the day, it is only a handful of crazy white tourists who fill them. Once the sun begins to set it becomes a completely different landscape. There is a city ordinance that requires all chair and umbrella services be cleared from the beach by 4 pm making way for people to play, and oh my do the people respond; by 5 pm the sand and the surf are packed with locals!
When we weren’t basking in the sun, we spent time finalizing some upcoming travel. On May 3rd we were supposed to be embarking on a 26-day cruise departing from Singapore with stops in Sri Lanka, India, Saudia Arabia, Jordan, Israel, and Egypt, then transiting the Suez Canal en route to Athens, Greece. When war erupted in the Gaza Strip in October 2023, cruise lines operating in the region began making alternate plans. Initially, they removed all ports of call in Israel, and then in fairly short order most opted to cancel or reroute their ships to avoid the Red Sea entirely. By the end of February our cruise line, Azamara, was the last ship floating, and according to their website was even still selling this 26-day cruise!!! While we firmly believed there was no way they could seriously be thinking of sailing past Yemen into the Red Sea, their lack of communication on an alternate plan (we had one email in January telling us they were “monitoring the situation”) was making it very difficult for us to make any solid plans, not to mention the fact they were holding a rather sizable portion of our money. At the beginning of March we decided to cancel the cruise ourselves, and to Azamara’s credit they gave us a full refund with no penalty for cancelling so close to the departure date. About ten days after we pulled the plug they formally cancelled this route and offered some attractive incentives to book another cruise with them, none of which would have worked for us so we were content with our decision. However, our plans from June forward have all been predicated on landing in Greece at the end of May. Flights from Vietnam into Europe aren’t cheap, nor very appealing – the most reasonably priced was a 38-hour travel day! So we decided to break the journey up into smaller chunks. First: Nha Trang to India with 7 hours of travel and then 10 days following the Golden Triangle (New Dehli, Jaipur, and Agra, where the Taj Mahal is located – yay). Then: New Dehli to Doha, Qatar (4-hour flight) for a 24-hour whirlwind tour of that city, before our final leg, a doable 6-hour flight to Vienna. That combination of flights was less expensive than the ugly 38-hour flight, and while we are extremely disappointed the cruise did not come to fruition, we’re still going to India and getting a taste of a Middle East country. Plus, we booked an Icelandic cruise out of Amsterdam for the last two weeks of May, an exciting substitute for part of the cancelled cruise. All told, these changes have cost us less than the Azamara cruise – truly, the best of a bad situation.
Our one and only cultural experience in Nha Trang was visiting the temples of Po Nagar, perched on a hill about a 30-minute walk from our Airbnb.
This is an ancient Hindu site, likely dating from the 2nd century. The temples themselves are slightly more recent, with construction and reconstruction occurring between the 7th and 12th centuries. The three-tiered design of the complex is unique in this region and although only four of the original six towers that once graced the top tier remain standing, historians have surmised they were all situated such that the breeze off the East Sea could whisper through their open doorways. A nominal entry fee of 30,000 VND/pp ($1.60 CAD) will gain you entry to the site, and as long as I didn’t enter any of the temple shrines it didn’t matter that my shorts exposed my knees.
Vietnam continues to hold the title of “Best Place to Get a Massage,” at least in my mind. For $28 CAD I let all my cares melt away for 90 minutes at the newly opened Art Spa – heavenly.
Us – We chose to spend some time in Nha Trang to compare it with Da Nang, another popular expat haven in Vietnam. We spent three weeks in and around Da Nang last year and quite liked it. There are similarities, both being coastal cities with good infrastructure and low cost-of-living but, in our opinion, there are some distinct differences. Nha Trang feels more modern, the beach is more inviting, the promenade is wonderful for walking, and while all Vietnamese streets have a degree of chaos, Nha Trang’s chaos is quieter. On the other hand, Da Nang has more character and culture, with the bonus of the utterly charming Hoi An just down the coast. If I had to choose between the two I would lean towards Da Nang; Howard would cast his vote for Nha Trang. Regardless of which city won out, for a return trip we would definitely want to make more of an effort to join some of the expat groups to expand our social horizons. Off to India!
Restaurants – We enjoyed several meals of Bún thịt nướng during our three weeks in Nha Trang and some Banh Mi, but for the most part, cooked at home.
We had a great grocery store (Lotte Mart) in the mall next to our apartment, and while it certainly is more expensive to buy Western ingredients for preparing some comfort foods, it is 100% worth it to us not having to forage for food every night. The Lotte Mart was well-stocked but oddly they seemed to be continually rearranging their products which frequently had us questioning our sanity. One of the items we could consistently locate was corn-on-the-cob. I don’t think of Vietnam as a corn-producing region, and sure enough the label on the corn said it was “100% American.” It was delicious; we just had to overcome a slight inconvenience when eating it. The vast majority of Vietnamese dishes are served in a bowl. While our Airbnb kitchen had good pots, pans, and bowls, there was not a single plate so we had to improvise with Tupperware lids – we are getting rather good at engineering creative solutions to kitchen deficiencies.
Speech – The English translation of signage in foreign countries is often a source of amusement. These might be my new favourite interpretations:
Given the number of expats in Nha Trang, English as a common denominator is widely spoken, and we rarely made use of these basic expressions:
- sin chow – Hello;
- tam biet – Goodbye;
- cho toy hoi – Excuse me/May I ask;
- dza/kong – Yes/No;
- lam on – Please;
- cam on – Thank you;
- toy kong hew – I don’t understand;
- sin cho toy mot – Can I get one ____ ?
- bao new tian – How much?
- toy muon ka the – I want to pay by card;
- sin loy – I’m sorry.
