Annual trip to Nha Trang

It's that time of year when I haul 40 odd assorted kids to Nha Trang for a week. Mostly beach games, swimming and Vinpearl amusements. There's very little time to take the kind of pictures I like best but here's a selection of snaps from the seaside.

I was knackered after the week and it's taken another week to get these uploaded, I now understand why parents like amusement parks and all inclusive resorts.

Badly Dressed Tourists Part 1

The first part in a collection of pictures of tourists wearing ill chosen clothing. These were taking in Mui Ne where coincidentally there are a high proportion of Russians. I'll leave it up to you to decide whether these holiday makers are Russian but it's worth while knowing that they have access to fabrics and designs not seen in the rest of the world since the 1950s.



Mesh baseball cap - Check
Oversized medalion - Check
Ill concieved shorts - Check
String anklet - Check
Moobs - Check
Overhang -Check
A perfect street outfit for the young bleached man babe about town.

And for the gentleman of experience:



Ladies also put in a lot of effort to look suave and sophisticated on holiday:

A Fringed Fantasy, the front featured prancing horses and a nautical theme. It's one of those pictures I will always regret not capturing but my "stooge" refused to stand still so I could take a full frontal over his shoulder. Sometimes I think he doesn't support my art.

More later.

Mui Ne for Christmas

We escaped the city for a few days and couldn't get ourselves organised in time to go anywhere outside Vietnam so Mui Ne provided the perfect answer for a couple of days doing very little.

Saw a couple of sunrises:


Ate a couple of fish and fish friends:


Drank a couple of beers at the latest incarnation of Hoa Vien Brewhouse:



Found a couple of ruby slippers on a yellow brick road:



Good beach, good fish, good beer. The flip flops didn't fit.

Mui Ne

We had a quick weekend break in Mui Ne about five hours from HCMC by bus. The picture above was taken from Coco Beach resort where we didn't stay but did use the facilities. The following picture was taken from the same place.


Why tourists shouldn't wear traditional clothing

We stayed at the Full Moon Beach Resort and liked it. The rooms were quirky and cute, more bijou than luxurious but perfectly charming. The plumbing was a bit musical so if you stay there expect to wake up to other people's water music as it courses down the pipes. Nice staff, perfect positioning and a laid back atmosphere.



The pool is saline and the tiles are very nice, bourgainvillia drops into it from time to time but my photie-ography isn't up to capturing it yet.

The bar closes at 10.30.



There are lots of other places relatively close by where you can drink later.



Or you can time it right and get a bottle of wine as the bar closes and enjoy the sound of the waves a few meters from your table.

The view is stunning. Even at night.



But just in case you think it was all too idyllic .....











...here he is again

Nha Trang

It's been a few weeks since I updated this and my reader will be fed up with pictures of Laos by now so here's some pictures of our latest jaunt to Nha Trang.



It's a seaside town (can you tell?) about an hour away from Saigon by air and six by train. There are a few high end spa hotels and loads of very cheap and clean minihotels. Ours cost £3.50 per person and came with air conditioning, shower, clean sheets a well stocked minibar and safety advice.



I like to follow instructions in hotel rooms but was a little stumped by the trafficking one, however I kept my bling to a minimum and came to no harm.



Streetside and beachside the atmosphere is relaxed, the vendors are friendly without being too pushy and the usual Vietnamese habit of living life on the street prevails.



He was loud, she was having none of it.

Culturally and historically the Cham Towers are worth a visit.

The accoustics are incredible and the view over Nha Trang is worth seeing.


The man on the left of this photograph struck the bowl gong a few times and three minutes later the sound was still reverberating.

No holiday is complete without a dose of kitsch and I found plenty.

Topiary of course, always a welcome art form. Nothing nicer than taking a tree and making it look completely unnatural.


Vinpearl Island is kitsch central. Arrive by cable car or ferry and you can ...



Enter Exotica Discoteque under the oxter of a giant mermaid.



Feed the penguins. There are scores of these things all over the resort. I felt bad stubbing a cigarette out in it's gaping maw but there was sand there for the purpose.

I struck lucky though, in preparation for Tet I saw thirteen men in a tree.


Ripping off the real leaves and replacing them with Tet appropriate yellow blossoms.

They seemed happy in their work.



Vinpearl is an odd place, almost deserted, completely artificial, unnaturally clean and slightly unsettling. If ever they make a Vietnamese version of The Prisoner they should set it here.