Nha Trang sucks
Trip Start
Mar 19, 2008
1
8
31
Trip End
Jun 05, 2008
Nha Trang,
Vietnam
Monday, April 14, 2008
Well so much for our grand plan to whizz through Nha Trang. The Gods and Vietnam Airlines conspired against us and we got lumped with a 8 hour flight delay at Danang (port town, north of Hoi An). 8 hours! Thankfully Vietnam airlines felt terribly guilty about this and gave us a hotel room for the day in Danang.
We had no problem skipping Danang, but seeing as we were trapped here, we took off to see the local Cham museum.Nice. Statues and the like - diverting. So when we trundled back on to our flight to Nha Trang, we knew that we were very unlikely to meet our connecting bus to our central highland stop in Dalat.
And that's what happened
Cham heads at the Danang museum
. We were stuck in Nha Trang. If Hoi An is the glittering smile of Vietnam, then Nha Trang is its festering sore. Nice beach, shame about everything, and I mean everything, else. It's overdeveloped, over priced - full of hawkers, chancers, robbers and worse. It's smelly, dirty, messy and unpleasant. Just like our hotel room for the night. But you've got to grin and bear it sometimes. At least we had a pool, even if it did make your eyes melt from all the chlorine.A rant about Vietnam
And so, as we eagerly await our bus out of this tourist hellhole, we've started to get a little sick of Vietnam - or at least its tourist industry. Mainly because of the constant attempts to rip you off. It seems to be a national past-time and is insulting and very very annoying. You never trust your bill here. And often we sit wondering in what new and wonderful way is the hotellier/restaurant owner/street seller/taxi man/anyone going to try and do us this time.
Like the airport shop owner who tried to charge Lisa 5 times the amount for a bottle of water - even though the price was clearly labelled on it. Or the taxi man who tried to charge us double for a short trip. Or the mysterious amounts that frequently appear on bills, only to be removed with indifference when you challenge it. We've also heard rumours from many other fed up travellers who've looked at a menu, sat down, ate food, only to be presented with a completely different and far more expensive menu at the end of the meal.
Of course, you never let them away with it, but they still try and then seem completely unapologetic when you catch them. It's like they feel they have a right to rip you off. It's quite a cynical tourist industry, treating their guests with little respect. And if it continues, less and less people will come here. Certainly we've met many many fed up travellers who are hurrying up through Vietnam to get to the genuinely friendly and nice countries of Laos and Cambodia.
I hope they sort this nasty trait out - cos it's a beautiful country and many many people are so friendly, smiley and genuine. We've heard the highlanders of Dalat are an altogether more friendly bunch. I really hope so.
