Thursday 26th – Tuesday 1st October 

Having been dropped off at my hotel after a lovely journey, I was a little early for check in so I left my luggage and set off to explore.

Naha Trang is big and built up, lots of hotels and lots of holiday makers! 

I walk to the beach, which is pretty close. The beach and the ocean look great! It is the South China Sea, a new one for me. 🌊💙

The beach doesn’t have lots of shade but you can rent a sun bed and umbrella pretty cheaply. 

I get stopped by a guy offering tours. He asks me how long I’ve been in Nha Trang and I say 1 hour, he proceeds to offer me a city tour that’ll last for around 1.5 hours, when I ask how much he says 800,000 vnd! 

I just laugh at him and tell him I’ve been in Vietnam for 2 weeks and that he’s taking the piss! I paid 350,000 for my full day tour in Dalat, including lunch!  He then starts lowering the price and I just say Bye 👋 

I understand that it’s low season and I wouldn’t mind paying a little extra, I just don’t like being ripped off. 

I head back to the hotel and check in. The hotel is in a good spot, close to the beach and all restaurants, but not too busy. 

My plan for Nha Trang is to just chill. There are no tours I want to do, there are lots of opportunities to go diving but as I still haven’t managed to open my eyes underwater, I don’t think it’s for me!! 😂

So, Nha Trang is a very popular destination for both Russians, flying in from Kazakhstan and for Koreans. There are lots of shops, restaurants and general holiday vibes. 

I did enjoy my stay, it was good to have a little relaxation, especially as I had 3 days of sunshine! Which was so lovely after having so many rainy days. 

I literally spent my time, lounging around on the beach, swimming or more accurately, bobbing around in the sea. 

I didn’t find a Vietnamese restaurant that served Vegetarian food, I found one that did a set meal but only for 2 or more people! 

The emphasis here is definitely on meat and seafood.  

I did however find a really lovely small Italian restaurant, run by a very dishy Italian man! The food was yummy, homemade pasta with tomato sauce and a delicious Limoncello Spritz! 🍋💛 it was so good I went back a couple of times! 

I’m not sure how I feel about Nha Trang, it felt like I could have been anywhere, it’s not a bad place at all, just not really my cup of tea. 

The staff in the hotel and the restaurants were all lovely and in one particularly fabulous chocolate shop, once they realised I was English they wanted to chat for ages as they liked my accent, then gave me a free box of amazing chocolates! ❤️😍

I was also treated to a wonderful video call from the lovely young lad I met in Ho Chi Minh City, Quan! We chatted for a bit, he showed me how to change the background on my iPad and add filters during our chat! He then played me some music on his piano 🎹 OMG he was so talented! It was so sweet to talk to him again. 

I am now ready for a little more exploring! So it’s just as well I’m off to Hoi An. I think it will be amazing. 

I found a lovely cab driver called Mr Eddie to take me to Nha Trang airport which is about a 45 min drive. Mr Eddie is very chatty and tells me how difficult things are in Nha Trang since COVID.  The lack of tourists has had a massive impact, they also now have quite a few Russians living in Nha Trang who don’t want to return to Russia and be conscripted into the army, they end up working for and in the Russian focused businesses adding to local difficulties. 

Mr Eddie also talked about the current situation in the North Vietnam and the damage done by Typoon Yagi. He believes that one of the biggest problems is over use of the land, clearing large areas of jungle for farming, this then makes the area much more prone to huge landslides as there are no longer deep roots holding the earth in place. Interestingly, they have a lot of Landslides in Dalat, where there is extensive farming. 

The recent landslides up in Sapa have been devastating.

He also talked about the lack of effective Government response to the economic situation and the devastation in the North. 

After a very interesting and informative taxi ride I arrived at Nha Trang ailrport, which felt weird. As we pull up to the terminal, there is barely any traffic and no people around, this is so odd. It’s very quiet inside as well. 

I had checked in online and been allocated seats at the back of the plane on both flights, Nha Trang to HCMC then HCMC to Da Nang. 

When I checked my bag in the lovely lady changed my seats to one’s right at the front!! 😍

As always, I was a tad early, but I don’t mind that, I just found a comfy seat and read my book. 

The flight ended up leaving around 20 minutes late, this was then cutting things a bit fine for my connecting flight. 

I had spoken to a steward about it so when we landed, after only 50 mins, I was told that I could disembark with the Business Class passengers, Fancy! (They are collected first and transported in their own fancy bus to the terminal) 

This would then hopefully get me to my next flight in time. 

One particular gentleman in Business Class seemed very put out when I appeared in a seat next to him, he asked the steward why I was there and then huffed about it! 😂 When we left the plane he made sure he was first off and the same from the airport bus, this wouldn’t have been so bad but in his haste to be first he left his poor wife trailing behind with the bags! What a total Cockwomble! 😂 

I’m so glad I had this extra time as I had to go back through security and I was stopped because I had omitted my middle name from my flight ticket. 

I was taken aside, phone calls were made, time was ticking, I was sweating! Eventually they decided that the missing ‘Louise’ didn’t actually constitute a security issue and I was allowed through!! 😳

I made it just in time to board. 👍🎉

Another short flight and I was in Da Nang, hopeful that my case had made it as well 🤞🤞 It did! 

Then I was picked up by the driver organised by the hotel and off I went on my way to Hoi An! 

Another interesting drive. We drove past so many humongous Resorts, Marriotts, Hilton’s, Sheratons, Hyatts! And they are so BIG! But again I can’t see many cars or people, how do they survive? 

There are Casinos in Da Nang, even though gambling is essentially illegal in Vietnam, so possibly the gambling brings in the high rollers. 🤷‍♀️

I arrived at my hotel, a lovely small boutique hotel and was greeted so warmly by the beautiful An. 

A good start to what should be a fabulous stay in Hoi An! 

That’s it for now guys. 

Have a good week. 

Sending lots of love. 

❤️🩷💙🩵💚💛

Books read:

The Story Collector. Evie Woods. I loved this book, a proper ‘Story’ set in Ireland. I enjoy this author, her books are lovely to read. 

The Book of Fire. Christy Lefteri. ❤️❤️ Wow! 

Another stunning book by the Author of The Bee Keeper of Aleppo. 

She writes so beautifully and so powerfully. 

If you haven’t read any of her books, then please do so!