Tokyo/Vietnam July 2011 - Exploring Nha Trang

***This post is part 17 of a full trip report. The index can be found here***

We arrived in Nha Trang in the early afternoon, so we decided to ask the hotel concierge for restaurant recommendations in town since Nha Trang is famous for it's fresh seafood. She told us that the best and most well-known place was a quick 15-minute walk from the Sheraton, and is simply called (what else?) Nha Trang Seafood Restaurant. We followed her directions to a plain-looking 2-story building with rather drab decorations and a dimly-lit interior. Their menu was incredibly extensive, however, and it took us a while to settle on ordering fresh live garlic prawns, as well as a live steamed fish with rice paper and trimmings. Holy cow this was delicious... the shell of the prawns were fried to a crisp so you could literally eat every part of it, and the garlic and butter was just oozing with flavor. The dipping sauces were great, especially the citrus pepper sauce. The fish was seasoned perfectly and was extremely tender and soft. Needless to say, we devoured everything!

Some of the best prawns I've ever had

Doesn't look very appetizing, but it was delicious

Nha Trang is known less for its history and culture and more for being Vietnam's most famous seaside resort town, so my friend and I both decided fairly early on that we were just going to take it easy there. After about a week and a half of intense sightseeing and plenty of walking, we needed a bit of R&R, and what better place to do it than at a beach resort? So the rest of the afternoon was spent at the gym and lounging by the pool. In the evening we decided to have a late dinner inside the hotel.

The next morning, the weather was beautiful and all the overcast clouds had cleared, so we hit the beach early and got a bit of sun in. I'm pretty sure July is high season in Nha Trang, so it was interesting to note that the beach was fairly empty the whole time we were there. It struck me as a bit strange since the hotel itself seemed to be quite busy in contrast.

After lunch back at the hotel and some more lounging by the pool, I decided I wanted to at least take in some interesting sights around town. The walk along the main road hugging the beach is quite scenic, and you can see some nice French-inspired architecture at the Nha Trang City Hall, or visit the Tram Huong Tower across the same plaza. There is also an independence memorial inside the tower itself. Finally, I walked about 20 minutes inland to the Long Son Pagoda, where there is a famous 79 ft. tall statue of Buddha.

Nha Trang City Hall

Tram Huong Tower

Long Son Pagoda

Right when I was about to leave, the late afternoon rains started. I tried make a run for the hotel, but within 10 minutes the streets were flooding and the rain had turned into a downpour. I hid under some canopies to wait out the rain for a good half hour or so... but even then, by the time I reached the hotel, I was a completely soaked. Later that evening after dinner, we came across a lively street fair near city hall with lots of different stalls selling food, drinks, and games. There were plenty of other things to do and see in and around Nha Trang, but with only one full day there, I mainly just wanted to relax, and that I definitely did :)

Downpour

Evening street fair

Tokyo/Vietnam July 2011 - Sheraton Nha Trang Hotel And Spa

***This post is part 16 of a full trip report. The index can be found here***

So finally, almost a week and a half into my trip to Tokyo and Vietnam, I arrived at my first internationally branded hotel: the Sheraton Nha Trang Hotel and Spa. Not that I'm complaining really, since virtually all of the local accomodations I'd stayed at so far exceeded my expectations, and in some cases completely blew them out of the water (see Hanoi Elegance Diamond Hotel). Nevertheless, I admit I was a little excited to finally return to a sense of familiarity.

Stepping into the lobby of the Sheraton Nha Trang, I was quite impressed with how large and upscale it was compared to most Sheratons in the United States. To the right was a grand circular staircase leading up to the second floor restaurants and bar, and if you looked up, you would see a hundred or so hanging glass sculptures of birds in flight. All in all, it was a pretty spectacular entrance.

I went up to the check-in counter and was greeted by a pleasant gentleman probably in his late 20s. He saw my booking from the Starwood website and acknowledged my gold status, informing me that he had put us up on the 19th floor "SPG Level". I wasn't quite sure what exactly that meant, but I later found out it wasn't the club floor and didn't really come with any additional benefits besides being on one of the higher levels. Now here's the embarrassing part... it's definitely been a while since I stayed at an SPG hotel, and when I do, it's typically for work on a special corporate rate that includes internet. In any case, for some stupid reason, I thought having SPG gold provided complimentary internet, so I asked the gentleman about it, and he was apologetic and said that unfortunately, it doesn't. I challenged him a bit on it but he didn't budge, so I let it go and went up to my room. Later on, I went ahead and purchased internet access (~$15/day) and perused SPG's website for the specific benefits of gold status, and indeed I was wrong... oops! I really should read up on these details prior to checking in!

The standard room itself was very spacious and nicely decorated. I requested 2 beds and was glad they were able to accomodate us. Every room in the hotel has a balcony as well as an ocean view since they are all slanted at an angle towards the beach, but being on a higher floor does provide a nicer panorama of the surroundings. I also really liked the bathroom because the large bathtub and shower are sort of in an enclosed glass room by themselves, with the entire room being open to the shower.

Ocean view from the room balcony

City view from the room balcony

Along with the slight room upgrade for gold status, they also provided some complimentary fruit and water, as well as a 30% off certificate for one of their restaurants, Steam 'n Spice. We did end up trying 2 of the restaurants in the hotel since, to be perfectly honest, we got a little lazy in terms of actually exploring the city (I'll talk more about this later). Steam 'n Spice served up a diverse selection of Chinese dim sum fare as well as a mixture of traditional Vietnamese cuisine. I went with a simple pho noodle soup, which was just ok, and a couple of dim sum dishes, which were decent. I also ordered a passionfruit drink that was delicious. The next day for lunch, we tried out Feast, a typical hotel buffet restaurant. But instead of getting the buffet, we decided to try something else (since we had been eating nothing but Vietnamese food for the past week and a half). My friend ordered sushi and I got a nice juicy burger with fries - I had been craving some greasy American food that day ;)

Steam 'n Spice restaurant - pretty empty that night

Feast restaurant

Sheraton Nha Trang has it's own private section of the beach directly across the street. They provided towels, and I believe you could also order drinks there, but we didn't bother. I really enjoyed the infinity pool inside the hotel as well, and I ended up spending as much time there as I did at the beach. They also had a full gym and spa at the hotel... I tried out the gym on both days, and was happy they had a full range of new equipment. These are some of the things you most likely won't find at a locally-owned hotel, so there are always advantages and disadvantages to choosing one or the other.

Gym overlooking the pool

Overall, I was very happy with our stay at the Sheraton Nha Trang. It was definitely a nice change of pace from the string of local hotels we stayed at, and provided a more luxurious experience, despite being very reasonably priced.

Tokyo/Vietnam July 2011 - Vietnam Airlines 1943 Economy Class (DAD - CXR)

***This post is part 15 of a full trip report. The index can be found here***

The night before leaving Hoi An, I inquired the front desk at the Ha An Hotel about the cost of a private car to the international airport in Da Nang. I was told $25 USD, which seemed a bit steep, but since the airport was about 30-40 minutes away, I didn't bother looking for cheaper alternatives. Our flight departure time was 10:20 am, and we decided to leave the hotel by 8:00 am.

Da Nang International Airport is currently undergoing major construction to build a brand new $84 million terminal, and from the looks of things at the old terminal, it's badly needed. Despite being the 3rd busiest airport in Vietnam, the facilities were extremely outdated. Services airside were poor, with just a few gift shops and snack vendors, but surprisingly, there was free WiFi (or maybe we were just stealing WiFi from some unlocked router). The waiting area was crowded, and became almost completely full as more flights were preparing to depart.

Vietnam Airlines 1943

ATR 72-500
Da Nang (DAD) - Cam Ranh (CXR)
Wednesday July 13, 2011
Departure: 10:20 AM (scheduled)

Arrival: 11:45 AM (scheduled)

Duration: 1h 25m (scheduled)
Seat: 1B (Economy)

Boarding was via bus once again, but I was excited to be able to take some closer pictures of our ATR 72-500. Only the back door was used for boarding, as the forward door looked like it was only for cargo. I quickly realized that we had been assigned the bulkhead seats, which offered plenty of legroom. Take-off is always fun on an ATR, as the roar of the propellers hum in your ear and the climb just feels a little bumpier than the typical jet aircraft.

Taxiing to the runway, with new terminal under construction

The plane looked to be near 100% full in the economy-only arrangement. There were 3 flight attendants, and all of them were very friendly with smiles consistently throughout the flight. This was a noticeable improvement over the HAN-HUI flight a few days prior. Service was quick and efficient, as it should be since all they really needed to do was hand out a small bottle of water to each passenger. It's a shame no other food or drink choices are available for these short domestic Vietnam Airlines flights, as they could probably create some extra revenue from all the tourists that frequent these routes.

Soon, we landed at Cam Ranh International Airport, approximately 20 miles outside of Nha Trang. We disembarked on the tarmac and took a quick bus ride to the terminal. The airport itself was noticeably newer than Da Nang International (I'll have pictures for the CXR-SGN post), and it was very quick and easy to book the airport taxi in the arrivals hall for about $15 USD direct to our hotel.

 Cam Ranh International Airport

In Remembrance

SaverPass Reward Sale On Continental/United

For a limited time, Continental and United have reduced the amount of miles needed to book a SaverPass award flight by up to 20% for select markets. You must book your award flight by September 19, 2011 and your travel must occur between October 10, 2011 and December 15, 2011. A couple of blackout dates apply, including November 18, 23, and 26-28. In addition, a Saturday night stay is required and sale only applies to round-trip economy travel.

Other than those restrictions, there are actually quite a large number of popular select markets on sale. For example, departing from SFO, you would only need 20,000 miles to fly to EWR, DFW, and YVR. It's only 16,000 miles to fly to SAN, LAX, and PHX. And to fly to SJD, it will only cost 28,000 miles instead of the regular 35,000 miles. 

Some other interesting routes I found include IAD to EZE for 48,000 miles instead of 60,000 miles, and EWR to CUR, SJO, PVR, and MEX for only 28,000 miles instead of 35,000 miles. Typically for these mileage reward sales, only very few obscure markets are actually on sale, but it's surprising Continental and United have reduced their rewards on some of their most popular routes, and availability actually seems pretty good for a couple that I checked. See the full list here.

Book as soon as possible to take advantage of this sale!