Nha Trang

 A short and sweet break is always great especially when it means returning to my hometown to visit friends, family and eat amazing food. I never get tired of eating seafood and Nha Trang is famous for the stuff so it's the perfect place for me. Seafood is involved in most dishes for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

I have a kind of 'eating routine' when I go home. I start my morning with a bowl of fish noodles soup or Bún Bò Huế then drive to some random cafes to meet old friends. After that, I stop at a favorite place for a snack where they make crunchy rice crackers and steamed rice pancakes topped with stir fried spring onions and dried shrimps. I try to get some exercise in so I can eat more so I normally play tennis for a couple of hours at my old club. After that, I'm hungry again.

One of the other best things about going home is eating home cooked food, getting spoiled by my mum, my sisters and sister-in-law. I know there will always be lots of excellent food awaiting me. Sweet and sour fish broth, steamed squid, deep fried tuna with special dipping sauce (fish sauce, chilli, garlic, lime and sugar), salad and deep fried pork belly. I pretty much always have to have a nap when I eat at home. Normally I am encouraged to eat way too much. Nothing like the hospitality of home.

In the evenings, I catch up with my good friends for dinner. We go to the new part of the city for special seafood feasts;  barbequed prawn, squid and fish with salt and chilli, fresh jelly fish salad and steamed crabs.

And if that isn't enough, I always return to Hanoi with a polystyrene box full of snap frozen fish and squid which keeps me going until I'm in Nhatrang again

Nha Trang Dec 2014

A short and sweet break is always great especially when it's back to my hometown to visit friends, family and eat amazing food. I never get tired of eating seafood and Nha Trang is right on the coast and therefore offers plenty of options. Seafood is included in most dishes for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

I started my morning with a bowl of fish noodle soup or Bún Bò Huế then rode to some random cafes to meet old friends. After that, I stopped at my favorite place for a snack, where they make rice crackers and steamed rice pancakes topped with stir fried spring onions and tiny dried shrimp. It was so yummy. I had two hours break in between meals to play tennis at my old club where I used to play 13 years ago. It was fun to meet old friends at the club. We always laugh so much as tennis in Vietnam is completely different compared to western style tennis. Much louder. More like the atmosphere at a football match.

I followed tennis with lunch at home, prepared by my mother and sister in law. I know there's always lots of excellent food waiting for me. Dishes on this day were sweet and sour fish broth, steamed squid, deep fried tuna with special dipping sauce (fish sauce, chilli, garlic, lime and sugar), salad and deep fried pork belly. I'd never ever be able to finish this food even though I try. I was so stuffed that I couldn't breath. Thanks my family for the generous great spread of food.

The next day, I caught up with my good friends for dinner. We went to the new part of the city for a special seafood treat. We had way too much food to eat again. We ate BBQ prawns, BBQ squid and BBQ fish with salt and chilli and fresh jelly fish salad and steamed crabs. Surprisingly we finished them all then headed back to town for a drink at the Intercontinental hotel. It was a nice bar but unfortunately empty and drinks weren't the best!!!!

I spent more time over the next two days focused on eating and I tried all my favorite dishes in Nha Trang but I still didn't have enough time to eat Nem Nuong.

Good reason to come back in February for this dish.

Nha Trang Snack: Banh Khot

As a coastal city with a very long white sand beach, Nha Trang has so many advantages for tourists compared to other seaside cities such as Danang, Hai Phong or Qui Nhon. Unfortunately, Vietnam Airlines has a virtual monopoly on routes to Nha Trang which means it's not cheap to go there for a short vacation. Once you are there, however, it's very affordable. The city has excellent street food dishes alongside its famed seafood options.



Most street food vendors in Nha Trang are specialising in dishes and snacks related to seafood. An example of this is banh khot (grilled pancake). Most people from the south make this cake but they usually make it plain or with eggs. In Nha Trang, it is made with squid, shrimps and eggs as well. They serve banh khot with two sauces, mam nem and a special nuoc mam. Mam nem (fermented fish residue) has a powerful smell but great flavor which is the best for banh khot, and nuoc mam (plain fish sauce) is also a great option. Other ingredients in both sauces can include mango, pineapple, sugar, garlic, water and Nha Trang Sim chili. Nha Trang Sim chili is very famous in Vietnam because it's not very big, has a very hot taste and fragrant aroma.



When making banh khot, the batter is poured into lightly oiled griller cups over a coal brazier.  Once the batter starts to bubble, the squid or shrimp or egg (or all three!) is added on the top, taking a few minutes to cook through. To make this cake sounds very easy but it requires a lot of preparation, especially cleaning up the seafood, make the dipping sauces and the fuel up to the coal braziers. Banh khot is a popular street food snack in Nha Trang, with most people eating it as a late afternoon snack or after dinner for supper. It's actually quite filling and heavy if you have about 8 or 10 of them with egg.

In Nha Trang, the best vendors are along Le Thanh Ton Street and at the beginning of 2/4 street, opposite the Cham Towers on the way out of town.

Nha Trang Cake

Almost every year, I go back to my hometown, Nhatrang for Tet (Lunar New Year) for at least a week to meet old friends, family and also to eat and relax. This year was a bit different compared to the last couple years because I had to work in between. It was very interesting wandering around with my clients and proudly talking about my hometown's amazing food. And for sure, I showed my clients all of my favorite places. Now they have some of my secrets.


One of my favorite dishes is called Banh Can. I ate it many times during my 2 week holidays for both breakfast and dinner. I love the way they cook the cake with either egg or seafood or mixed together. There are a number of people who don't really like this dish very much but I think its kind of unique. The rice flour batter is poured into little clay cups over a hot brazier, a quail egg is broken onto the top, sometimes a whisked chicken egg. Also I have enjoyed the cake with squid or shrimp steamed on it for a little while. The dipping sauce can be a challenge for some people; but I love "Mam Nem" a fermented fish sauce with a milder flavor than "Mam Tom". Added to the sauce is shredded green mango, stir fried spring onion, chilli and minced pork balls are served on the side. I love the rich and spicy taste of the dipping sauce and the smokiness of the grilled cake in my mouth. It creates a great flavor combination. This dish is not available in Hanoi. Perhaps that's a good thing as I would probably eat far too much of it.

Nha Trang - Wedding

I went back to Nha Trang to attend my cousin Huyen's wedding. that was the main purpose and the other reason was to take my mother, sister and my niece on a short trip to visit Siem Riep. I'm always happy to be at home with my family and also to visit old friends.

I have been to so many weddings before, mostly in the north and they are celebrated differently compared to the south. Anyhow, I like to see the ceremony of gift giving between the parents to their children and their relatives as well. Everyone loves posing for photos and sometimes I had to be patient as it takes a little while just putting the earings or necklace on the bride.

In the evening, everyone went to the hotel reception centre for dinner and the main wedding celebration including opening champagne and cuting the 5 storey cake. There was entertainment on the stage while people were eating and the MC also asked if anyone would like to come up to the stage and sing a song to congratulate the young couple. My nephews from Lam Dong and Hanoi came up and sang 3 songs, even Huyen's father - Mr Hop came up and sang 2 songs. It was so funny !!!!

The wedding was very well organized by the reception centre though the entertainment was a bit over the top at times. They served very delicious food and the staff were really helpful. Everyone had a great time at the wedding and we finished at 9pm. While the other guests went home, my mother, my sister, my niece and I went to the railway station to catch a late night train to Saigon before the morning flight to Siem Riep. More on that later.
Congratulations to Huyen and Tuan, all the best for your future happiness.

Novotel Hotel

While I've been living in Hanoi, a hotel rennaissance has been occuring in Nha Trang, Vietnam's south central coast beach resort and, also, my hometown. The long and natural bay lends itself to this kind of development, with many of the big players in international hotels moving in to claim their plot of beach front. Tran Phu Street, the boulevard running parallel to the beach, is turning into Vietnam's Gold Coast.

I wanted to check out what all the fuss is about. Of course, normally when I'm home I stay with family and when I'm on holiday I stay at family run mini-hotels, so the four-star Hotel Novotel Nha Trang is a big deal for me. A recommendation had come from a friend in the trade and when I was offered a room upgrade as I checked in, I must say that this little experience of luxury was quite nice for a change.

The hotel boasts that every room has a seaview; in some hotels that could mean out of the bathroom window. Not so here. A blue panorama of sea and islands can be seen through full length windows from air-conditioned comfort or from each room's balcony, where Nha Trang's famous afternoon seabreeze takes the edge off the heat of the day. Sunrise in the morning is truly a spectacular sight which one need not get out of bed for. That's a bonus!

The room decor is purple on white and there is no hint of Vietnam in the design or the finish. They have avoided the cliched images of girls in ao dai and there is not a lacquer vessel in sight. Maybe there is a Novotel template of room design. The shiny chrome reading lamps are a classy touch by the bedside, which is a couple of steps up on a mezzanine of sorts. This creates a sense of spaciousness, with desk space for laptops, glasses for the main drinking occasions, sofa and the balcony and outdoor setting down below.

And don't forget the sea, which really is the star feature of the room!

Outside of the room, there is lots to enjoy, including a pool, fitness centre and massage service; all quite typical I guess for regular guests at the Novotel and other high-end hotels. My outside of the room experience was spent mostly with friends and family at the local eateries but I did enjoy a beer at the hotel's main restaurant, The Square, which almost feels as if it is located on the beach.

Indeed, the sea seems to be the recurring theme at the Novotel Nha Trang.
Novotel Nha Trang Hotel
50 Tran Phu Street
Telephone:(+84)58/6256900

Nha Trang, June 09

The Sea Festival is one of the biggest events in Nha Trang which happens every two years. It's a really big time and attracts a lot of visitors to Nha Trang. Most hotels put their prices up unbelievely high. That's not the only thing that's high. The weather is a bit too hot for me, hot enough to burn my feet as I walked along the beach. While I was there last week, it was about 37 degrees everyday but luckily there is a sea breeze so that it's not too bad.

My brother's family and I went to the evening fair one night to have a look. It is right on the beach with numerous stalls and activities. The noise are from all the different speakers around with different music, sale girls voices, together with the crowds made it a bit tiring for me. I lost interest after 30 minutes wandering around the fair. I don't think I'll go to these fairs anymore as it's so boring and most of the stuff on sale is old fashioned and ugly.

I missed trying a bowl from the biggest noodle soup show during the festival. This is the first time and a record for Viet Nam for a single shop making a huge pot of pho, enough to serve almost 700 people. Pho Hong is one of the popular noodle shops in Nha Trang. There were also plenty of exhibitions on the beach especially painting and photography shows. I spent over an hour looking at the paintings, which were indeed great stuff.

During the day, I went to the Lousiane Brewhouse for swimming and relaxing, drinking some house-brewed beer and reading a bit. I started trying to read more in English last month and it has opened up my mind heaps, a new world for me and for my imagination.

As usual, I went to eat all of my hometown's local specialties for breakfast, lunch, dinner and supper. I just love these dishes and am amazed that they are so cheap. The most expensive dish I had was only 25,000Vnd, which is the same as what I pay for a bowl of noodles in Hanoi or Saigon. I will write about these dishes in the next post. Hope everyone is having a great weekend !!!

Ugly Betty

This is one of the ugliest monument I've ever seen in my life. It's located in the best location in the beautiful city of Nha Trang. I wonder where all the best architects are? Tell me what do you think.

Nha Trang 2009

I went back to Nha Trang earlier than usual this year to escape the damn Hanoi cold and to greet the beautiful sunshine in Nha Trang.

I always enjoy the sun here at this time of the year as it's not very hot and quite dry. I can already feel the difference in my breathing and my hair even feels healthier. The quality of the air in Nha Trang is very clean compared to Hanoi and a welcome break from all of the traffic chaos and noise. I love coming back as I can visit my family, good friends and eat my favorite foods.

My good friends from Hanoi are coming down this weekend and they will stay for a week for Tet. For some of them it is the first time and the rest of them not. For my closest friend, it is his sixth time! The main reason they come is to relax, lay on the beach, read and enjoy the seafood and streetfood. At some beaches in Vietnam, the vendors can be quite annoying but in Nha Trang they can be avoided. Well, I am off now to the beach now.

It's a hard life!

Back Packing in Nha Trang

Nha Trang has long been a popular destination for both local and international tourists. Its long sandy beach lined with coconut palms is the stand out attraction of this large coastal city located on Vietnam’s south central coast. Entire days can quite easily be whiled away relaxing in the sun, chasing a tan, recovering from a hangover or simply de-stressing. In fact, a beach city like Nha Trang can be a very therapeutic place.

It is tourist friendly. In Hanoi, the tourist patch is the Old Quarter. In Saigon, it is district 1 and the strip along Pham Ngu Lao. In these areas, many of the local folk can speak English reasonably well. This makes information about tourist services, onward journeys and local places of interest easy to obtain. Nha Trang also has it’s traveler’s zone, where boat trips can be booked, motorbikes can be rented, flights and onward bus and train journeys arranged and all manner of western and international cuisine ordered and enjoyed. Located along and parallel to a few blocks of beachfront, the place to stay in Nha Trang is in the small district known as Biet Thu. Mini-hotels and guesthouses abound in this area and the beach is never more than a five minute walk away. More up-market accommodation in high rise hotels is available further up the beach road if you don’t mind a long walk or a taxi ride at the end of the night.

A night spent in one or more of Nha Trang’s great bars! The jewels in the crown of the bar scene here are the Nha Trang Sailing Club and the Louisiane Brew house, two long established watering holes right on the beach. The former is a stunning complex of restaurants, bar and nightclub, where drinks after a hard day on the beach can be followed by a meal and some jiving on the dance floor. For many, it is the last stop of the night. The latter is a beer lover’s paradise, open all day but not so late into the night. Four different beers are brewed on the premises and can be enjoyed on the brew house’s waterfront beach lounges or by the pool. Away from the beach, Crazy Kim’s, Guava, Shorty’s and the Why Not Bar all have their own unique atmospheres.

Eating options in Nha Trang are various. Indian, Italian, Japanese and other international cuisines are pretty well represented here. But, by the seaside, the choice is obvious. Prawns, squid, lobster and fish are on display outside restaurants throughout the tourist area. Customers can select exactly the creature they want to dine on and watch it flipped onto the barbeque. However, better seafood experiences can be had where the locals eat. One such place is Bien Tien Hai San, a restaurant about three kilometers along the main beach road north of town. In fact, there are many seafood eateries out this way which are worth a visit. Other local specialties, available away from the tourist strip in the streets around the main market, include fried rice-flour pancakes (banh xeo), fish noodle soup (bun ca) and fresh roll-your-own spring rolls (nem nuong). Going hungry in Nha Trang is not even remotely possible.

Apart from the above-mentioned sedentary activities of sunbathing, drinking and eating, Nha Trang does have a few more active pursuits on offer. Diving is big here, with a few operators competing for underwater business. All day boat trips to the surrounding islands, with frequent stops for swimming and snorkeling are also popular with the young backpacker crowd. The Cham Towers across the river are also worth a visit if history and architecture are of any interest.

Despite all of the possibilities, whenever I go back to Nha Trang I find myself gravitating toward the beach by day, the street food and seafood at meal times and the bars by night.

It’s a routine I thoroughly recommend!

Interviewing Mr Minh/ Ty

Craft and cottage industries receive quite a lot of attention in the media in Vietnam. Documentary programs and newspaper articles on the various artisans’ communities and villages around Hanoi are common. Artists who paint images of unisex beings suffering mental and physical torture do not get much press. For many years I had no idea that one of the guys I had been playing tennis with is an accomplished artist.

Born in 1960, Mai Hoang Minh, originally from Hue but currently living in Nha Trang, has produced over 500 paintings in the past 7 years. Minh is a self-taught painter who has not only studied his craft but also the theory and history of art. For 20 years, art has been his passion. A few years ago when I saw his paintings, I thought they were quite difficult to understand and confronting but life is complicated and as I get older I know that people experience all kinds of difficulties in their lives. I suppose Minh's paintings could represent that.

I met him again in Nha Trang recently.

How well-known are you in Vietnam?

My paintings are not as popular in Viet Nam but western people seem to enjoy collecting them. This is probably because I paint very abstractly and Vietnamese generally prefer realism in their art. In Vietnam, art is not emphasized in the education system unfortunately, and visiting art galleries here is mostly a pastime for foreigners.

What media do you work in?

Mostly oil on canvas.

When did you start to take a different direction with your work?

I started painting more abstractly in 2000 to set myself apart from other artists. I wanted to break away from the norm, to make my work stand out. I wasn’t sure how well it would be received as I know my abstract work can be confronting. When I first started painting this way, I knew it would take a while for people to take it seriously. Some people say it is depressing.

Some of the images are quite dark and disturbing. Do you set out to shock people?

No, not at all. I think it is more about awakening. The language of art makes people feel and perhaps face things from their pasts, to maybe realize what is missing. It is true that some people may be shocked and may look for a message or some meaning. I don’t paint with a message or cause in mind – that is more the realm of the people viewing the paintings. Their reactions are individual reactions, not collective ones.

You talked about art as a subject in Vietnam’s education system. What are your views on how art is taught here?

I think the teachers are very much holding onto old methodology and ideas. In art classes here, the teachers force students to follow old rules, to paint old concepts of beauty, like rural scenes and street scenes. But art and the world are things that are constantly evolving and changing. We all view the world in a different way, experience beauty in different things. Creativity needs to be encouraged and rewarded, regardless of traditional concepts of beauty.

What advice would you give to young students currently studying art?

My advice would be to embrace and learn all of the technical knowledge and skills that they can from school art classes but be bold enough to break the rules to follow their individual creative paths. It may take longer to succeed but persistence is necessary, particularly in the arts.

You mentioned that your work receives attention from foreign art lovers. Can you talk about that?

Well, I’ve been lucky enough to exhibit outside Vietnam on several occasions. I’ve had individual shows in California and Colorado. In France, too, in a town called Valenciennes in the north. At the moment I have several paintings in a show at the Fresno Discovery Museum in California.

Minh’s work can be viewed at his studio in Nha Trang (4 Nguyen Thien Thuat St).
Minh's website: www.typainter.com

Food In Nha Trang, Tet 2008 Part I

There is a variety of food in Nha Trang but seafood is most people's first choice as Nha Trang is a coastal city. I was really surprised about how many restaurants have opened in the last 6 months. There must be hundreds of them. Now almost every corner of the city seems to have one small shop or restaurant. Eating freshly cooked seafood on the beach is something special in Nha Trang. There are lots of vendors selling seafood on the beach . They generally buy their fresh seafood in the morning and start their business at 11am the same day. In the afternoon, there are also lots of seafood stalls along the main street, Tran Phu Street. They have lots of fresh lobster, big sea crabs, squid and many other seasnails and clams. I tried the food there once and absolutely fell in love with it. It wasn't expensive at all especially compared to Hanoi or Ha Long Bay.

Besides the seafood, other local specialties are also very famous. Spring rolls, chicken noodles and the most famous noodle soup with fish. I think in Nha Trang, whatever the locals cook that is related to seafood gives the city its reputation. Most Ho Chi Minh City residents who come to Nha Trang visit Nam Beo restaurant. The owner started her business over 10 years ago in a very tiny house but it was really good and the business has grown quickly. Her soup is still very good but don't go there early in the day especially during festivals because you have to wait for such a long time or stand right next to her for your self service. I was there during Tet and I was stuck there for half an hour and I was shouting at them to prepare my noodles. But actually, there were too many people and she only has a few staff to help her. Anyway, I love going back there to get a real fish noodle soup with fish cakes.

Banh Xeo-steamed rice pancakes with seafood is such a delicious dish cooked with prawns, squid and with egg if you like. Everyone knows Banh Xeo Mien Trung in Hong Bang Street as it is the most famous place for this dish in Nha Trang. This shop also has been open over 10 years and still doing really well. The difference between Banh Xeo in Nha Trang and other parts of Viet Nam is the cake is round but small with seafood, beanshoots and quite crispy. The dipping sauce is very simple with some chilli, pineapple, sugar, lemon, fish sauce and some water mixed up. They will serve you the pancakes with a big plate of fresh vegetables including different herbs, salad and some bitter veggies. It's my favourite dish!!!

To be continued

Nha Trang - Happy New Year 2008!!!

Chinese New Year in Viet Nam is called Tet. All over Vietnam, Tet is the family reunion time where everyone is supposed to return home for a few days. That includes me. I went back home for two weeks to be with my mother and my sisters and brother. Back in Nha Trang for two weeks isn't really enough as I couldn't try as much local food as I would like but at least I had such a great time with family and good friends.

My family and I chose the Sailing Club to welcome the new year. This is a really beautiful bar right on the beach BUT it is a bit of a rip off place as well for beer as it's almost double price compared to other places in town. They have really good music, a great location right on the beach and everyone seemed to come here on New Years Eve for a drink or two and to see the fireworks. They also charged a $4 entrance fee that you can exchange for a small bottle of beer, soft drink or an awful jar of cocktail. Anyway, we had a great new years eve and I was a bit drunk at the end.

My mother was preparing lots of food at home waiting for us to return home. In Vietnam, it's very important that the first person to enter the home after the new year is someone who will bring the family good luck for the coming year. It also depends on that person's year of birth and normally the family choose. With my family, I am usually the first person every year because I always come home earlier than other people but not this year as my brother came home first. I hope we will have the greatest year this year.

Happy New Year everyone and best wishes for the coming year. Welcome to 2008, the year of the Rat!!!

Nha Trang Oct 07

Recently in Nha Trang, we spent most of our time on the beach and visited some famous places in between. We went to Long Son pagoda where the most biggest Buddha is located on the hill. Our taxi driver drove us to the top instead of us climbing up the hill as before, a quick way that I didn't know before. You can see a really good view of Nha Trang from here, the ocean and the other parts of the city. Downstairs from the white Buddha is a beautiful reclining Buddha. I love this pagoda not just because of its beauty, but also because it reminds me alot of my childhood when my family used to come here every New Year's Eve to wish for a good new year.

After the beautiful white Buddha pagoda, we went to the Cham Towers, the most famous tourist stop in Nha Trang. We spent more than an hour looking around and took lots of photos and of course bought some stone statues and spoke to the lady who makes sand paintings. She makes really amazing pictures inside glasses, bottles and some tiny vases. I regret that I didn't buy one painting from her but I also think it'd be a dust collector as well.

We also visited the city Cathedral which is located right in the city centre. It was built by the French in 1928 and sports a grand clock on its face together with three giant bells. This is a popular stop for both tourists and locals. Most local couple come here for their wedding shots and pray for a happy marriage. Good idea, isn't it?

We ended our afternoon at the Hon Chong peninsula in the fresh ocean air looking back at the beautiful long white sand beach of Nha Trang. When we were there, we saw lots of young couples and kids hanging around, taking photos of each other and diving into the sea.

One day I hope to find a good job in Nha Trang then I can live there. Unfortunately, this trip was too short and I didn't have the chance o spend much time with my family or eat at my favourite local restaurants. My friends loved Nha Trang and said they will be back here again in the future for sure.

Nha Trang Oct 2007

My friends and I went to Nha Trang on a very early flight to make the most of only 2 days to lie on the beach and enjoy seafood. I love being in my hometown, because Nha Trang really is a great small beach city. Nha Trang people are generally friendly, the food and drink are reasonably priced, and the beach bars are great. We spent most of our time at Louisianne Cafe which has a private beach and swimming pool. The staff there are so sweet and they brew great cheap beer.

We had some grilled lobsters, crabs and sea snails from the lady on the beach, which were delicious. We had to sit outside of the cafe area because they do not allow customers to bring outside food in. Eating, swimming and drinking at the same time in such a beautiful setting with good friends around made me feel good and lucky.

We finished our day at Louisianne before my friends headed back to their hotel, the NewSky(Thien Tan) hotel and I went home to get changed and ready for a wild night ahead at the Sailing Club, another great establishment in Nha Trang.

To be continued

Travel

Hi everyone. I've been a bit busy travelling, firstly from Hanoi to Nha Trang for 2 nights then to Laos for a week. I'm also going back to Halong Bay in an hour for a night on the boat with my friends. I hope you guys forgive me for not updating my web blog much in the last two weeks.

Many good stories about my travels will appear from Friday. Holidays Rock!!!

Useful Or Worthless

On my trip back to Nha Trang for Tet, my most disappointing moment was when I saw the cable car which connects Vinpearl Resort and Nha Trang City. I wonder why the local government allowed this project. It's also created big trouble for tourism now which is the main income for the city because the cable is not high enough for those 5 star cruiseships to dock in the port. Nha Trang port is an international port which, along with tourism, provides loads of jobs for locals but it seems that these jobs might be lost.

It's difficult to compare 100,000 dong per person for a return trip from Nha Trang City to Vinpearl resort to the value of showing thousands of people from all over the world who travelled thousands of kms with star cruises to Viet Nam and willing to visit Nha Trang Bay. I am not talking about the money. I want to mention that Viet Nam now opens their doors to let people from over the world see how beautiful and friendly Vietnamese are. So, that cable car actually stops people who really want to see Nha Trang as it really is, how friendly people are and how great Nha Trang food is. I wonder why? I wonder where the cable car fees go?

I think they are ruining Nha Trang Bay which is one of the 29 best bays in the world, voted by World Heritage in 2003 and Nha Trang people are so proud of that. Nha Trang have tried so hard to make it beautiful and clean with a good atmosphere and maintain nature and beauty for those of us who love traveling, love to sit on white sandy beach and eat great fresh seafood and talk to nice friendly people. A lot of regular visitors to Nha Trang are very sad and upset about the appearance of the cable car which has ruined the whole bay's view. There are some local people who think that this new thing is modern, looks cool but this is just a really small percentage and I don't agree with them. Sorry!!! I wonder if the world heritage knows about this, about the ugliest and longest cable car. Please, please remove this ugly thing and give back Nha Trang as it used to be.