Vietnam TravelTravel Special FeaturesNha Trang - Down by the sea

Nha Trang - Down by the sea

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Nha Trang isn't just another beach town. Thu Ha discovers rare fish, deadly plants and hot mod.

From the windows of the plane Nha Trang seems to lie suspended between the blue of the sea and the green of the Truong Son Mountains, the town outlined by a thin strip of lace: the beach.

One story behind the towns name holds that "Nha Trang" is a Vietnamese version of a Cham word meaning "land of rushes". This theory is supported by an old folk poem:

Rain from the meadows
Wind in Tu Hoa
Tigers in Khanh Hoa
Ghosts in Binh ThuanCapital of Khanh Hoa
Anh tigers can only survive in low-lying fields of rushes.

Invariably the first thing visitors do upon arriving in Nha Trang is head for the beach. Stretching for five km, the main municipal beach is bordered by Trang Phu Street - longest and prettiest street in town.

Island hopping

While swimming at the main beach is fine, no visit to Nha Trang is complete without a boat trip to the islands that dot this dazzling blue bay. At 6 a.m., the city's port is crowded with hundreds of tourist boats, which charge VND 100,000 for a full day trip to offshore islands.

First stop was Tri Nguyen Island, where I peered into a manmade fishpond that holds hundreds of species of rare fish and stepped into the Water Palace - a somewhat lower-tech version of Singapore's underwater world aquarium complex. While the facilities weren't as modern as those in Singapore, the marine diversity was amazing. Vietnam's sea life is astonishingly rich. I saw a three-meter-long White Sea eel with a brocade-like pattern on its head and a sea dragon eel, its body rippling like silk ribbon.

From the Water Palace the boat carried us to Hon Tam (Silkworm Island), so named because of its long, wiggly shape. There was a good beach for bathing, plus water sports like parasailing, jet skiing, fishing and diving. While parasailing is offered in other places around Nha Trang, I recommend trying it here. The water is perfectly clear and from this distance Nha Trang resembles a white sailing ship. Because dock workers regularly throw fish food off the pier, the water in the harbor is teeming with so many fish that it feels as if you could reach in and grab one.

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Resort Hideaway in Nha Trang