Around the World (Again) Nha Trang and a day on the boats

Nha Trang and the islands

As I have already said, there are several Islands off shore some quite close in fact the largest is just across from the beaches and Port, this can be reached on a Gondelbahn (the sort of thing that takes you up mountains in the Alps). 

I had booked to go on a full day trip with guest house (VND 280,000), so I just had breakfast, fresh baguette, scrambled eggs and coffee and sat on the balcony and admiring the flowers and a monster black bubble bee going about its morning task of collecting nectar and waited to be picked up. At last it came, they had missed the opening to the alley. 

Once on board, it was doing the normal tour of hotels to pick up passengers. Eventually all on and off to the harbour.

This is the main port, that had been built for the Russian fleet, it was now a busy little commercial harbour and an even busier tourist one. The tourist part is chocker block with look-alike tourist pleasure craft.

I had read a bit about these islands, the Vietnamese Government with International aid has turned some of the Islands into Eco-islands and the waters surrounding them into marine parks. This is not a bad move as the waters surrounding this are heavily fished, as can be seen from the delicacies to be eaten at the restaurants ashore.

On getting off the bus you are met by your guide for the day, he will accompany your group, will make sure you do not go astray or miss your boat and gather the fees that you have to pay to get onto each island. Everyone was given a life vest, why? All the Vietnamese, Chinese and 3 Russians put them on, I and 2 German lasses didn’t, well you have to have confidence in the vessel and crew don’t you?

Motor on and off we go, manoeuvring between, around the ruck of other craft that are leaving for the same destinations, it really was organised chaos. 

But once out of the harbour, passing a few freighters waiting to enter the commercial port and the melee thinned until it was just 4 boats line astern , with us in the vanguard position. 

The others were heading off in various other directions, this is quite cleverly organised, so that you arrive at destination island at a given time, you get a slot to do your sunbathing, swimming (the Vietnamese still in their swim-vests), when you have had your quota of sun and sea at that island, you are herded back aboard and off you jolly well go to the next attraction.

Before reaching the first island there is a possibility to go scuba diving from a couple of dive school boats that operate out here, it is also possible to take your PADI dive certification, run by professional outfits. One of these outfits also runs a pub with accommodation, so you can Dive, Drink and Sleep all under one organisation. I didn’t see any don’t drink and dive signs though! The two German girls were doing this so were the first to be set down on the floating dive pontoon.

We then went to the small pier; the four boats in turn discharge their human cargoes and then move a little offshore and then tie up together, waiting for the 1 hour slot to pass. You pay your VDN 80,000 for the pleasure of setting foot on the Eco-Habitat (no way) I filled this hour by looking around the part of the island that you are allowed to wander about, it is a piece of shingle beach about 100mtr long a concrete foreshore and a small Eco-museum explaining the when, the what’s and the wherefores of these islands, I bought some food (fishballs on a skewer) from one of the stalls and had a coconut drink (straight from the shell), I sat on the foreshore and waited for the boat to return.

I thought to myself, this is mass tourism going mad, I honestly believe, that if this is the pearl of the Vietnamese holiday resorts then the Vietnamese are really kidding themselves, they have far better than this.

But the 1 hour passed and one by one the boats came alongside the boats name was called and you boarded for the next Island.

The next Island isn’t an island but floating restaurants, you pull alongside and you can either pick your living meal from fish pens (Shark, Cuttlefish, Rock Lobster) or you just have alook around for about 20 mins come back on-board and the seating has been converted into a massive table, this is filled with a very nice buffet, consisting of a great array of fish, salad, meat and rice dishes a very nice meal.

After the lunch, boats are tied up in pairs and the crews put on a bit of a show, they do a bit of singing and play guitars and drums. One got dressed up in skirt, wig and coconuts for Bra and done a transvestite sing and dance routine. 

This finished, each Nationality was requested to get up and sing a song, I being the only Brit on board, though keeping quiet in the background was requested to get up, the compare asked did I know Yellow Submarine, I said well it isn’t my favourite Beatles number in fact it was their worst, can I sing something else, well not really as it is the only one that the band knows. It seems that the whole of Asia knows it because they all sang along to the chorus, I think they knew the words better than I.   

That bit of embarrassment over, the boats pulled into  a square and formed a swimming pool, a life raft was thrown in and loads ring floats, a crew member climbed onto the raft with a basket full of bottles of booze and glasses, this was pushed to the centre, if wanted you could jump in and get a free drink or two, many did I didn’t, the participants in the fun and games were mostly young and of that age that this the type of thing they do everywhere in the world, I have seen it in Barbados, St Lucia, Antalya, Ibiza and Majorca, they enjoyed it so why not.

That over it was off to the next island, this was much the same as the first, but you didn’t have to pay for the privilege of sitting in a deck chair. This island didn’t even have a little museum, so I just sat in a deck chair and snoozed, went to the toilet in the middle of the banana plantation, I did not have any from here.

Time to go so it was off onto the boats for the final stop, the Aquarium Island, I had decided that this was not for me, as the guidebooks said it wasn’t all that good. Quite a few others also just sat on the Bollards  and waited for the punters to return, it was then a slow boat back into harbour with the setting sun. 

Well, you are asking, was it worth it? For the price I suppose so. Did you enjoy it? At times. Would you do it again? Never!  

It was then back on the buses, into town and a drop off at the corner of the street that led to the Blue House Hotel. Did you notice I hadn’t had my afternoon Siesta? Well I now had a belated one.

When I awoke I decided to go for a walk have a beer and pick up something to eat, so I walked few blocks had a beer and then went to my local same, same at once a Saigon beer was plonked in front of me and the menu, not a word was spoken, I like it when you become one of the regulars. I chose a chicken egg noodle soup and a sweet and sour pork with rice, nothing exotic, but nice and tasty and made extra spicy for me (they had gotten to know my taste, in food). 

I stayed a while and chatted to the owner, then popped across the road to book my bus for the day after tomorrow as I would be off to Hoi An.  It was then Good Night from Me as I had planned a full day for tomorrow, that turned out a bit fuller than I planned. But that is the next episode of Tricky Dicky’s RTWT