Vietnam's Little Russia

There's not much to say about the Vietnamese town of Nha Trang. It's a mediocre beach town with average food, a beach that's nice until the tide brings the trash in, and an above average crime rate. We stopped there for a few days because it's considered the best dive spot in Vietnam (and it was quite good - no big fish, but lots of colorful little fish, interesting nudibranchs, and different coral). For Russians, though, Nha Trang is a beach holiday hot spot.

This became obvious after walking just a block from our hotel. The shops, restaurants and tour operators all advertise in Russian. There are restaurants serving Russian food and we later learned that there's a direct flight from Moscow. 

Why? For almost thirty years the Russians operated a navy base out of the town, leading some Russians to settle in the area and creating a strong link between Moscow and this little beach town on the Vietnamese coast.

And so Nha Trang is Vietnam's "little Russia". Full of pale, somber Russian tourists, smiling Vietnamese who are trying to sell you things, and the remaining perplexed tourists.