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Nha Trang, Vietnam

June 19, 2007
N 12°14.127
E 109°11.195

The flight from Hoi An to Nha Trang was uneventful, even on the small twin-prop plane. When our plane touched down in Nha Trang we planned to grab our packs and walk the ½ mile to our hotel for the night. Elise took the overnight bus and already scouted out a place for us.

We strapped our packs on our back and thought about the short walk. However, since we now had an extra bag full clothes from Hoi An (bought just for this purpose), we opted to take a cab. The plan is for me to carry back the goods for Bob, Teddy and I when I fly to San Diego next week, and we’ll be back down to our two backpacks and a single day pack again… oh, the sacrifices that must be made in the name of fashion.

As soon as we turned out of the airport we were pleased with our decision to take the cab. The road didn’t have any sidewalks and there were several cars and scooters zipping by. Shortly after making the right turn towards town I saw a sign that said Nha Trang 23 KM. “What the heck?” I said to the crew in the car. It was only supposed to be a half mile from the airport according to our Lonely Planet—it’s a good thing we didn’t try to walk. We would have looked like complete imbeciles stumbling down the remote road and most likely would have succumbed to the heat after 5-10 KM; I could imagine the CNN International News Story… “4 Americans Die in Vietnam, Bag of Tailor Made Clothes May Provide Answers.”

The ride took at least 40 minutes and we were at least 30 minutes late meeting Elise at our pre-determined destination. I quickly explained the situation to her and showed her our book. Elise opened her book, which was published a year after ours in 2006, and showed me where her map said “old Nha Trang Airport.”

Oh well, we made it to Nha Trang after all, not exactly the sleepy beach town we were looking for as thousands of locals sprawled out across the beach, but it was a really good thing we didn’t try to walk.