Nha Trang, the capital of Khanh Hoa province, 50 kilometers north of Cam Ranh Bay. In addition to its special feature as a site of the ancient Cham culture, Nha Trang has one of the most beautiful beaches in the country. The charming city itself is located on a 5 kilometers long crescent-shaped beach of fine white sand, here are there fringed with coconut trees.
Off the coast of Nha Trang are the rocky islands famous as a breeding area for sea swallow’s nests. Sea swallow’s nests soup is an excellent dish as well as a medicinal tonic. In the spring, the sea swallows built their nests in the hidden crevices and caves among these islands. Both the male and the female birds extrude a thread of gel-like substance to help them create a nest. Nest are commonly white, but the more precious ones are pink or red. The inside of the nest is soft and the rim smooth. Getting the nest is a very dangerous business. Nest harvesters have to use ropes for climbing down the sides of the cliffs, carrying with them bags for the nests. Nha Trang sea is now the shelter of species of swallows providing annual yield of abount 3.000 kg edible sea swallow’s nests. Khanh Hoa province is also the home to the sandalwood and cinnamon.
When in Nha Trang, we cannot ignore the name of its great man: Alexandre Yersin. Alexandre Yersin ( 1863 – 1943 ) was born in Lavaux, Switzerland, studied medicine in Paris, and worked under the wellknown French bacteriologist Louis Pasteur. After graduated, Yersin joined the Messageries Maritimes Company as a medical officer and set out for Vietnam. In one of his explorations, he came and fell in love with the mountainous region of the central Vietnam – what is now Dalat. His proposal to the French authority that a town for therapeutic vacations be founded there was approved.
In 1891, Yersin landed for the first time at NhaTrang. Impressed by this remote seaside resort, he cam back two years later and settled up there for life. In 1894, Yersin went to study a devastating plague in Hong Kong and discovered that rats carried the bacteria that caused the fatal disease.
In 1895, Yersin returned to NhaTrang and founded the NhaTrang Pasteur Institute. In 1902, he was requested to help establish the College of Medicine in Hanoi. He was later made inspector general of all the Pasteur Institutes in French Indochina. An expert on infectious diseases as he was, Yersin was also a horticulturist who introduced the first rubber and quinine trees to VietNam. He decided the the soil in Suoi Dau proved most suitable for the rubber tree.
Yersin, the great humanitarian , led a simple life and was well loved and admired by all those who knew him. He died at the age of 80 in his own "Mr Commodore’s villa” in Xom Con, Nhatrang.
When you travel to Nha Trang in Vietnam, don't forget to order Y54U, VietNam portable wifi, your travel companion. You can order online or at our shop at the Tan Son Nhat Airport in Hochiminh City. After clearing customs, pass through sliding doors, turn left & come to shop #3.
Unlimited 3G/4G Internet 
Share with your family and friends
Easy to use