Vietnam’s Gold Coast – Nha Trang and Canada Bound!

We were looking forward to our coastal visit to Nha Trang with visions of prisitine beaches, good snorkelling and maybe some R+R at the end of a whirlwind trip. Like every good expectation, it never quite turns out to be exactly as you’d have hoped. We flew in from Hanoi mid-day and met up with our final guide of the trip – Bi. He was an affable fellow…almost too affable and had an annoying tendency of saying “Oh My God” a lot. Nha Trang is the ‘Gold Coast’ of Vietnam and big dollar tourist developments are popping up all over the place amidst areas of moderate to abject poverty. As you drive in from the airport a large Soviet-era like monument within a massive quadrangle states itself profoundly, indicative of the previous and current strong ties Vietnam has with Russia. One of the largest developments is actually (apparently) owned by a Russian Mafioso who is married to a Vietnamese woman. It adds the theme park to the ‘Gold Coast’ equation and sits on an island off Nha Trang connected by the largest land to land over sea Poma lift in the world. Nha Trang’s greatest claim to fame is its hosting of the Miss World Pageant in 2008 – an event that still holds strong in its marketing of itself with various large banners and signs on the outskirts of town announcing its feat.  We’d been booked into the Yasagaki Saigon Hotel along the main strip – a large pink building which was essentially holding onto its former glory as the host hotel to contestants of the Miss World pageant in 2008 but had since fell slowly into disrepair and the contours of age were getting the better of it. Keen on a swim we found the ground floor pool and jumped in, disregarding the fact that the water was generally cloudy. As I walked along the bottom I could feel the occasional wayward rock and then something a little different – something sharp. I reached down to explore my find and found the bottom of a broken glass. Fortunately it had simply grazed my foot and not done any major damage – needless to say we exited the pool fairly quickly and headed to the beach. Each hotel has its own private beach set up complete with bar and ‘adventure’ desk for para-sailing or jet-ski rentals. The beach was scattered with litter and water appeared more greenish brown than turquoise blue. Aidan and Cole were mixing it up with the locals seemingly roughing or getting roughed up while piling into the surf. Jen and I fought off the ‘z’s and after the boys had had enough, trekked up the beach in search of an ice cream shop. One wasn’t far away and in no time we were digging into our respective choices. Jen and I opted for an Affogato and shortly after the first bite realized we’d been scooped, literally and figuratively, as the ice cream within our treat was our evil friend Mr. ‘Onion’ flavour. Imagine a sort of putrid, sour and bitter taste sensation (especially with the coffee in the mix) which has a tendency to linger for hours after the first insult – such is the character of the Mr. Onion – one I hope never to encounter again. Disappointed with our ice cream tasting we ventured further up the beach and found a microbrewery restaurant in which to enjoy some repast. In a great turn of luck – the beer was the best I had tasted whilst travelling around ‘Nam – fresh, lacking in any chemically tasting overtones and very quaffable. We caught a cab back to the hotel and called it a day.

As has been our tendency, we woke early again and managed to get ourselves fed and ready for our 9 AM pick up to do some water-based sight-seeing and snorkelling. It is currently summer holidays in Vietnam so domestic tourists were everywhere clambouring to find a boat and take a day trip to some of the local sights. The boats were predominantly old beaten up wooden structures with row upon row of wooden seats. Like many transport-related activities in Vietnam, finding and embarking on a boat was chaotic, with other crafts essentially edging themselves to the pier to load up passengers then basically bumping and grinding their way out. It was like a smash up derby with boats. We had a full boat to ourselves for a private tour so didn’t have to grapple for seats which was nice. Our first stop was what our guide called the Vietnamese Titanic – a massive concrete model of a pirate ship complete with eerie looking jaws, skeletons and the appearance as though it had been lifted from the depths. Inside there were a number of smallish aquariums and an assortment of fish – mediocre as aquariums go but still appealing given the mass of intricately sculpted concrete. From here we headed to Mun Island for a snorkel around a small reef. The waters were pleasantly warm and reef surprisingly intact with little bleaching or damage from souvenir hunters. By noon our tour was essentially over so we elected to head to the theme park for a play. The mafia-owned establishment is known as Vinpearl Land and when we arrived was uncannily quiet – at first we were wondering if it was open at all. Piper had been complaining the past few days of being sick and at times did feel a bit warm but was acting her normal self so we didn’t pay much attention. As we reached Vinpearl Land though she was heating up again.  We had a bite to eat (the worst fast food ever – had to apologize to my temple profusely) and then ventured to the water park facility a little further on the path. Piper was still up for a couple slides albeit she was shivering every time I hoisted her up the stairs with her uttering “this will be wicked” – so maintaining her go-lucky gleeful self. It didn’t last long though, within an hour she was assuming the fetal position in Jen’s arms and shortly thereafter began to bring up our tasteless lunch. Needless to say our afternoon was cut a bit short but just in time as the rains just started as we jumped on the Poma Lift across the seaway. Back at the hotel we managed to get her medicated and settled so we could head out for dinner at the microbrewery we enjoyed so much the day before.

Our last day in‘Nam began with a lateish breakfast - Piper seemed a bit better but was still febrile. We spent the morning in the upper pools of the hotel as they seemed the clearest and were less likely to have broken glass cluttering their bottoms, then headed out to find a bakery for some lunch. By the time we had made it to the airport, Piper was heating up again but fortunately kept her cookies in check throughout the flight. Seems we’ve developed a penchant for kids vomiting at airports and Jen seems to be the chosen vomit manager. Piper went well up until our arrival in Saigon where we were in transit for a few hours before our flight to Tokyo. She was burning up so we attempted to dose her again with some Panadol which seemed to only make her gag and induce near projectile emesis. Naturally I wasn’t quick enough finding a suitable bag to catch it all and for the next fifteen minutes attempted to clean up the mess that decorated a couple of our bags and the floor of the departure terminal. She perked up though and was hungry for a spot of dinner a little later - overpriced Ramen noodles - which only lasted a few minutes in her gullet. We eventually did get her to Japan without any further event but as we entered the customs area felt we ought to concede to the signs and took her to the clinic for assessment. Surprise, surprise her temp was down so fortunately she didn’t meet the criteria for Quarantine and we hustled out, found a chemist for some more Panadol and then a hotel to bunk up at for the day. Jen had been pining for true Japanese Sushi – from the source –  but alas her wish was not to be fulfilled. Lunch at the Holiday Inn had nothing but Western and cooked Japanese foods and back at the airport, more of the same – it was tragic! We did find some interesting Japanese sweets though and bought a ‘hamper’ box to bring back to share with family. The final leg of our journey was only an 8 hour flight and had the benefit of personal televisions in the seat backs to enjoy any number of movies or games. Piper was on the up and up (finally!) and like myself, Cole and Aidan didn’t bat an eyelid for the whole flight while Jen attempted to find some respite as best she could given the economy-sized seating arrangements. Landing in Vancouver brought a sense of completeness to our 7 year journey – I actually felt like I was coming home and there was a sense of contentedness that overwhelmed me, ready to take on the new challenges which were about to erupt over the next month or so – finding work, getting settled, etc, etc…It was great to see the parents again and share the children – 6 months virtually unseparated from them has its definite ups and downs and some space was desperately needed on both sides of the fence. It was hard to believe we’d finally made it back to the Great White North – now all we had to do was make it across the country on yet the start of a new adventure – I’ll be sure to keep you posted!