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We took the afternoon flight to Nha Trang.
It takes about an hour in a small turbo-prop airplane.
Walking off the airplane on the airfield on arrival to a
small and fifties-style airport building, it's lovely to see
many parts of Vietnam like this still retain the past in
working order.
We checked in at the 2-3* Vien Dong hotel.
A medium size hotel with 103 rooms runs and decorated in
Vietnamese style. It has a perfect location of 100m from the
beach and 5 minutes from the airport & railway station,
close to historical landscape sites & centre of the
city. The hotel has two very good outdoor swimming pools and
tennis courts. The restaurant is situated by the side of the
pools surrounded by lovely tropical plants in pots. The
local culture-show of music, song and dance are highly
entertaining at the evening dinner. The long stretch of
white sandy beach along the South China Sea at Nha Trang is
simply wonderful. Although there are a few restaurants, bars
and hotels situated along the beachfront the natural beauty
remains unspoiled by the still low-key commercialisation.
The best place to have a drink is the sailing club terrace
with seats and tables right at the beachfront, though the
price is more expensive.
There are daily boat trips to groups of
islands such as Tam island, Mot island, Mun island and Mieu
island for snorkelling and diving. These trips can be booked
at your hotel or by the waterfront. Other attractions in the
areas include Nui Cathedral, War Memorial, Dam Market and
numerous Pagodas.
Another one-hour flight takes you to
Danang. The scenery outside your window is fantastic as the
flight is approaching and descending into Danang. You can
see the long curving white coastline of Danang bay on the
edge of the South China Sea on one side and the green paddy
fields lined up in squares with mountains in the background
on the other side. Danang is the third largest city in
Vietnam after HCM & Hanoi.
The 2-3* Bamboo Green hotel is another
clean and comfortable Vietnamese run hotel with 150 rooms.
This is probably the best hotel in town. It is within a
short distance (10 minutes walk) to the Han River that lies
between Danang city and the Son Peninsula.
The Cham Museum is a must-see visit in
Danang. The museum itself is an impressive historic yellow
building in a lovely garden of trees. The exhibition
contains a display of terracotta and sandstone figures of
the Cham people that ruled Southern Vietnam for a thousand
years. There are four rooms exhibiting all the sculptures.
It is worth lingering in the courtyard for a rest under the
frangipani trees.
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