When I walked into the Red Apple backpacker bar late on Wednesday night, it appeared to confirm all the stereotypes I had heard about Nha Trang.
Two young women were dancing on their chairs as the DJ pumped out 'Down Under' by Men at Work into the streets. One English traveller was stumbling all over the place, and looked like he was about to be sick. Every drink at the bar came free with an obligatory free shot of apple schnapps.
Nha Trang has a reputation for being the party town on Vietnam's tourist trail. I was half expecting to find Asia's answer to San Antonio in Ibiza. In truth, it is not as bad as it might sound given what I just described. Although there were drunken travellers in that bar, it was the only venue in the area that had many people in it, so I would not wish to give the impression that this is a vomit drenched place beseiged by boistrous backpackers.
I got chatting to a group of Israeli and Italian travellers in the bar. One of the subjects they brought up was the relative absence of 'Britpackers' in Vietnam - something I had already noticed myself. I was told that a couple of years ago people would be spilling out of the bars late at night in places like Nha Trang. 'Europe is really hurting,' said one Italian, who put the absence of the young travelling hordes at the door of the recession. I'm still not so sure. I wouldn't mind betting there are quite a lot of them puking up on the floor of bars in places like Cairns at the moment.
Anyway, Nha Trang is a pleasant place with a fantastic beach. It is totally geared for mass tourism. The streets are immaculately clean. There are loads of hotels, and to be honest there isn't much about the place to indicate that it is in Vietnam. It's a resort. You really could be anywhere.
That all said, it is without question a beautiful city. Plus if it's sunny, 30 degrees and the beer is flowing, you won't hear too many words of complaint from me...
Two young women were dancing on their chairs as the DJ pumped out 'Down Under' by Men at Work into the streets. One English traveller was stumbling all over the place, and looked like he was about to be sick. Every drink at the bar came free with an obligatory free shot of apple schnapps.
Nha Trang has a reputation for being the party town on Vietnam's tourist trail. I was half expecting to find Asia's answer to San Antonio in Ibiza. In truth, it is not as bad as it might sound given what I just described. Although there were drunken travellers in that bar, it was the only venue in the area that had many people in it, so I would not wish to give the impression that this is a vomit drenched place beseiged by boistrous backpackers.
I got chatting to a group of Israeli and Italian travellers in the bar. One of the subjects they brought up was the relative absence of 'Britpackers' in Vietnam - something I had already noticed myself. I was told that a couple of years ago people would be spilling out of the bars late at night in places like Nha Trang. 'Europe is really hurting,' said one Italian, who put the absence of the young travelling hordes at the door of the recession. I'm still not so sure. I wouldn't mind betting there are quite a lot of them puking up on the floor of bars in places like Cairns at the moment.
Anyway, Nha Trang is a pleasant place with a fantastic beach. It is totally geared for mass tourism. The streets are immaculately clean. There are loads of hotels, and to be honest there isn't much about the place to indicate that it is in Vietnam. It's a resort. You really could be anywhere.
That all said, it is without question a beautiful city. Plus if it's sunny, 30 degrees and the beer is flowing, you won't hear too many words of complaint from me...
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