9th February, 2017

No tour today, but instead we were booked on a cruise for the day with Emperor Cruises on a junk or at least what a passes for one. We were picked up by a nice Kazakh girl whose name now escapes me, which was a surprise (her being Kazakh, not me forgetting her name). There are so many Russians in Nha Trang that having a Russian speaker on your staff is useful. Interestingly she didn’t speak Vietnamese very much, so I am not sure how that worked.

Our fellow passengers did indeed seem to comprise mainly of Russians who all seemed nice enough, if a little uncommunicative, presumably due to a lack of English (and a lack of Russian on our part, of course!). We were all ferried out to our home for the day, which was a very nice and rather plush boat, though possibly not in the first flush of youth, but then nor are we. A welcome drink and then we were off for our first excursion of the day.

The first stop was one of the many floating fishing villages on this part of the coast. The boats go out and catch the fish and then deposit them into the ‘tanks’ at the floating village. Looking at how fit one of the occupants looked, it must be a fairly tough life, though everyone looked reasonably prosperous. I liked the fact that one of the little coracles was called Leicester City – I wonder if they will change the name if the football club is relegated this season! The fishing boats are fantastic colours, absolutely made for photography, so I indulged a bit.

We then cruised for a bit, enjoying the sunshine or staying in the cool of the cabin. I enjoyed the upper deck and the boats passing by with their catch.

Our next stop was for a bit of snorkelling. This is not Val’s forte, so it was up to me to keep the family amused by donning a life jacket and posing for the statutory photo before setting off for a bit of coral and fish watching. It was sadly a bit of murky due to rain earlier in the week it would seem, but still fun and I did see a few fish and some fairly colourful coral. Be warned , those of a nervous disposition may want to skip the next photos!

What a fine figure of two men! Anyway, after all that exercise it was time for lunch and what an excellent lunch it was. We remembered to take a few pics, though we did tuck in rather too quickly to record the whole meal.

Finally it was off to one of the islands for a bit of lounging (yes) and swimming if you so wished (no) and, for me, a climb up the hill to snap the view. Val made the most of the sun lounger to have a post-prandial snooze.

And after all this sunshine and sea air, there was just the journey home passing under the cable car which, at 3.3 kms is, my guidebook assures me, the longest such ride in the world. I admired the guy in his tiny coracle, but then if they are as good at sea as they are in the Vietnamese traffic, they can probably handle themselves!

Nothing else to report other than we had had a most enjoyable day and could even say goodbye in Russian by the end. We attempted some tennis in the late afternoon and both nearly died of overheating!

10th February, 2017

Another rest day, so guess what, we had another spa! We rested up and did our usual – blogging, reading and Yahtzee.

We did venture out in the evening armed with an umbrella as it did look distinctly threatening, though in the end we were spared. We enjoyed walking down the beachside esplanade through the public gardens, something we have been really bowled over by throughout Vietnam. They can certainly train their trees into some great shapes. One of them reminded me of the oversize round fur hats some of the ultra-orthodox Jews wear.

We crossed the street again. It really does take some courage and determination but you sort of get the hang of it. Lots of seaside lights and I enjoyed the colours of material in one of the shops.

I can’t remember where we ate, which just about summed up our rather poor experience of the culinary arts of Nha Trang. Somehow or other we seemed to have bad luck or bad judgement in our choices throughout our stay here. We did pass one impressive restaurant, but after we had eaten, of course. I am sure the crocodile was delicious and it would have afforded me the opportunity to order it and ask the witer to make it snappy!

And that was our last day in Nha Trang. We had had a nice time, but I would not go back (as I would to Hanoi, Hue and Hoi An). It did come across as just another overdeveloped seaside resort with few cultural experiences to explore and rather too much traffic and modern buildings. The beach and gardens were lovely and I am sure they are probably more inviting in the warmer months, but unless you want bars and restaurants and a spot of nightlife, it did not seem to offer a lot more. Maybe a bit harsh on my part, but that was my impression.

On to the hill station of Da Lat next…….