We left Danang as the sun was setting, on a short one-hour Vietnam Airlines flight to Nha Trang.We arrived after dark, so all the photographer got to shoot was the inside of the Cam Ranh Airport terminal. Technically, Nha Trang doesn’t have an airport, but 45 minutes south and around a headland is Cam Ranh and its long strip of high-rise beach resorts. Nha Trang borrows their airport. We stayed at the Hyatt Regency, which had opened less than three months earlier. Our room faced south along the beach. In the distance, you can almost see the VinWonders cable car line running across Nha Trang Bay to Hon Tre Island.Diagonally across Tran Phu Street – the wide bay-front boulevard – is April 2nd Square. It commemorates Khanh Hoa Province Liberation Day, the day in 1975 when Nha Trang was freed during the American War’s spring offensive (known to us, of course, as the Vietnam War).Fronting the square is the People’s Committee of Khanh Hoa Province. Unlike the US, which has hundreds of governments from federal on down, socialist Vietnam has one. People’s Committees constitute the delegation of central administrative authority as it cascades from national to province, district, and commune.Our first order of business was to go exploring. So we walked south from the square along the long promenade that fronts the equally long beach, much of it lined with umbrellas and loungers.As one would expect, all the beach goers were white people. And it didn’t take us long to realize that all the white people were Russians. Turning inland, we walked back along the split four-lane boulevard.Even though tourists seem to be made up equally of South Koreans and Russians, Cyrillic signs and billboards were everywhere. Nha Trang is the first place we’ve visited where there were as many tourist signs in Russian as there were in English.Fruit stands competed with souvenir shops and hole-in-the-wall restaurants for rubles. Walking up Le Thanh Ton Street, away from the beaches, we followed a string of traffic circles through the city. The names of the street seemed to change at each traffic circle. At the corner of one sits the Mountain Church, a 1928 Catholic Cathedral. So named because it was built at the top of 40-foot Bong Mountain. Yes. A 40-foot mountain. We supposed they couldn’t have very well called it Bong Speed Bump.Our goal was Long Son Temple, overlooked by a giant Gautama Buddha, yet another “world’s largest Buddha” statue.The temple was built in the 1920s, after its predecessor was destroyed by a cyclone. It is the headquarters of the Buddhist Association in Khánh Hòa ProvinceOfferings of plastic bottles of water were front and center in the prayer hall, presumably to be later consumed by monks or distributed to those in need. At the entrance to the temple grounds is a restaurant with vegetarian offerings. A kind-of point-and-pick buffet. For the equivalent of a couple of dollars, we tried most everything. Not quite as varied or flavorful as the dharma buffet in Kuala Lumpur – our perennial favorite – but way better than the Po Lin Monastery’s vegetarian fare in Hong Kong.After being spoiled by the shaded beach loungers on our doorstep at the Boutique Hoi An, we wondered how things would work out at the more urban Hyatt Nha Trang. As it turned out, they have a pool area on the 30th floor. And it comes with a nice breeze. Since we are retired and committed to working no more than half-days, we happily spent at least some time each day in a lounge chair. And sometimes it coincided with lunchtime. One morning we used our go-to Vietnam ride-hailing service Xanh SM to go to the VinWonders cablecar station. Xanh XM is the mixed-language moniker for Green Mobility Service (translated). It’s an all-electric ride-hailing/delivery app that uses Vinfast cars. Like Grab, which is also available in Vietnam, but run on batteries. We bought tickets in advance and were happy to find the queue for the cable car was not as long as they are set up for.For the equivalent of $31 each, including a senior discount available even to tourists, you get a round-trip ride on the cable car and an all-day pass to VinWonders itself.Looking south over Nha Trang Bay to the South China Sea in the distance, the views from the cable car are nearly worth the price of admission. VinWonders is the theme park part of VinPearl’s development on Hon Tre Island, which includes hotels, shopping arcades, and who knows what else.On arrival, you are let out into the shopping district, where you can opt to fold yourself into a train to get to the park. Or not. We walked. Shopping is laid out in squares and streets, with many of them virtual ghost towns. Maybe waiting for stores to take up residence once hoped-for crowds materialize?One of the massive plazas, this one with the entrance to VinWonders park on the right.The park itself is like a plasticized version of Disneyland.The park is broken up into about a half-dozen zones, like Tropical Paradise …Which is mostly water park.And others, like Adventure Land, that feature rides and rollercoasters. They also had gardens that were mostly a zoo.We walked the park, much of which is on the slope of a hill. And took breaks. When it came time for lunch, the first restaurant we stopped at was out of too many things, so we left the park for a water-side cafe that offered a nice breeze. Too bad they weren’t out of food, too. The grilled chicken skewers and salad were tasteless.We decided to make up for the lame lunch with rolled ice cream, sometimes called Thai Rolled Ice Cream, for where it was invented in the 2000s …Rolled ice cream carts are everywhere, VinWonders not withstanding. Given the heat of the day, we figured is was the perfect time to give it a try. It was cold, and sweet, and creamy. It did the job. In the afternoon, we went looking for the cart racing track. We found it in another otherwise empty plaza, surrounded by vacant store fronts.The blogger belted in and went for a drive. The only other car on the track was a staffer. Eight minutes just wasn’t enough to get a decent lap in. Afterward, the blogger walked the course with the staff diver and discussed the lines and apexes. Should have done that first.The cable car ride back was remarkably like the ride over. We had the car to ourselves and came in for a landing at the sprawling mainland terminal. On a side note, the photographer’s collection of fans continued to grow. They are life savers in the heat. At VinWonders, she finally went electric.In the evenings, onshore breezes cooled the streets, and the Russian crowds moved from beach to brightly lit sidewalks …And open spaces turned into street food venues or drive-arounds for little kiddy cars. In these cases, “street food” is probably a misnomer. Probably more like “mall food,” but without the health permit. Similarly, drives next to newly built buildings hosted rather sterile versions of night markets, the vendors set up in shiny new steel booths.Not too far from the hotel, a street of such stalls had one that, among other things, offered a variety of sweet and sour plums. The vendor said they were apples, but we bought them anyway. Repeatedly.Our only real disappointment with Nha Trang, besides the whole touristy vibe, was the food. We didn’t have even one meal we’d recommend. At Mam Homestyle Vietnamese Restaurant, we had passable Glass Noodles with Vegetables and Mushrooms, but the Wok Fried Beef with Noodles was greasy and bland.At Madam Queen, we had Bun Cha (above) and Mem Lui (pork on lemongrass skewers, which the photographer didn’t bother to capture). The meat and vegetables were passable, but something was off with the noodles. If we had found them in our refrigerator, they would have gone down the disposal. One night we thought we’d try Thai food and found Tomyum, down a narrow street of restaurants …We ordered Pad Thai, a Larb-like Pork with Thai Sauce, and Stir Fried Morning Glory. All standards that should be hard to mess up. We only finished the morning glory.Ironically, our best meal out was off the conveyor belt at Mikado Sushi …It was exactly what you would expect from a motorized sushi bar, but no worse. That was a win.After one of our disappointing dinners, we thought we’d try the ice cream gambit again. Since Mixue recently replaced McDonald’s at the top of the fast-food food chain, we gave it a go …We split what amounted to a 40¢ cone. It was vanilla soft-serve, as advertised. With Mixue having opened their first stores in the US, a price comparison was called for. The same cone at a New York Mixue is $1.19. At four times the price, still a deal. Between complaining about the food and exploring, we had chores to do. Down the same alley as the Madam Queen restaurant mentioned above, are three laundry shops …We chose Blue for our wash-and-fold. Ready in five hours and 50¢ a pound, we need one in our neighborhood at home.Another important errand was shopping for the odd snack. Moonmilk, which we also shopped at in Hoi An, had apples from New Zealand and South Africa for the blogger and nutrition bars for the photographer.Every day but one was sunny. We didn’t find out about the rainy one, though, until we were on a morning walk on the beach.Eventually it got bad enough for us to seek shelter. A Starbucks was handy and did the job. It eventually let up and we returned to the beach. With few others out, we even found some shells in the surf.We enjoyed our time in Nha Trang. However, it should be noted that, except for a couple of temples and a bit of a museum, exposure to Vietnamese culture is limited. Nha Trang has to be enjoyed for the tourist-laden beach town that it is. That said, there are local happenings, like the one above in the square. They usually start about 5:30am with window-rattling, bassline techno music.We continue to find Vietnam fascinating. Socialist and run by the monopolist Communist Party, yet it is forward thinking. We saw these portable VinFast battery stations popping up everywhere. They are being rolled out country-wide in preparation for banning fossil-fuel motorbikes. For the equivalent of $8 a month, electric bike owners will be able to lease a battery and freely swap it out for a charged one as often as they like. They have a similar battery leasing program for cars. Meanwhile, back at home, Trump is trying to figure out how to burn more coal. Awesome. In any case, our week in Naha Trang was up and we were off to Saigon. It took some doing, but the photographer captured Cam Rhan Bay through the spiderweb crazing on the aircraft window as we climbed out.
