Beach Again!

After Dalat we visited Nha Trang, a beach resort geared purely toward fun – all restaurants, bars, shops, amusement parks, jet skis, beach massages, you name it. It’s definitely more touristy than Mui Ne, but festive and enjoyable. The beach is very scenic – a large crescent of sand facing warm, calm, clear green-blue water, with nice views of the little islands in the bay. Unfortunately the water is a bit dirty, but the beachfront was developed nicely, with a boardwalk and a lot of palm trees, parks and playgrounds, and only a handful of restaurants on the beach side.

Our next stop was Doc Let, about a 45 minute drive from Nha Trang but a totally different scene. We stayed at a resort called Paradise Beach (next two photos), which was almost true to its name, except for the plastic bags and trash that floated in the otherwise beautifully warm and clear water in the afternoon (in the morning it was much cleaner). The resort consisted of fairly rustic bungalows leading down to a postcard-perfect beach.


The place is run by a 79-year-old Croatian man who has a 34-year-old Vietnamese wife and many children by current and previous spouses. That gives the place a fun, family-style mood. All meals are eaten communally and the food was very good, with lots of vegetables and fish. The other guests were mostly young Europeans and some other families with kids. On the last night, four Russians arrived - the men were muscular and thuggish and the women were impossibly beautiful. They were rude and demanding and drank non-stop, including at breakfast, which earned them a fatherly lecture and public humiliation from the Croat.

We took a day trip to a more distant (in fact, almost impossible to find) beach called Jungle Beach where there were very basic bungalows, with no electricity and common bathrooms, run by a Canadian guy. That beach was even more beautiful - totally clean and backed by mountains full of rare wild monkeys.

After relaxing in Paradise, we headed back to HCM City via Mui Ne, went straight to our new house and spent the night there. In the morning we had to drink coffee out of Maia's baby bottles since we didn't have any cups yet...then the next day the movers came and we've been working hard since to put everything in order. It will take a long, long time...but you’ll know more about it soon!