Nha Trang, Vietnam

We flew into Nha Trang 3 days ago and met up with JB. After being bombarded with the Hanoi Annoy the last few days ("beep beep"), Jaime and I are thrilled to be at the beach. JB flew into town from Saigon, so he was also looking for some relaxation. The first 2 days were cloudy, rainy and overcast, so the 3 of us stayed near the main drag. The majority of our time has been spent hanging out, eating, drinking and getting our "troubles" massaged away. It's a tough life, but someone has to live it.

Nha Trang is an interesting little town. You can see the boom right around the corner. Although it's been quiet (this is their low season), the shops are a mix of the usual, tiny stands selling what you'd expect, and trendy, newer boutiques catering to the tourists with "hipper" apparel. The restaurants are the same: a mix of your little pho stands standing alongside western-style cafes with free wi-fi and happy hours playing "you gotta fight, for your right, to paaaaarty..." in the evenings. The hotels are also a mix of the $10 backpacker lodgings alongside five-star, high-rise, western-style resorts. This place is going to look like Cancun in less than 5 years, guaranteed.

JB, Jaime and I used our new group purchasing power to finally "win" an engagement with the locals! Having the power of booking 2 rooms with JB, we negotiated directly with the hotel manager and secured our rooms for ~25% off. We went Austin Powers style and convinced the lady that if she gave us 2 rooms at 250,000 Dong per night (vs. 300-400,000), after 4 days she would end up with "1 meeeellion" Dong from each of us! It worked, and we are now in what JB describes as the nicest hotel he's been in since he started his travels 2 months ago; you can't beat the prices at $15 USD per night.

Here's a pic of Jaime and I just relaxing at a beachside restaurant.

Here's what we did during our sunny beach days.