Nha Trang pronunciation is a coastal city and capital of Khanh Hoa province, Vietnam. It is well known for its pristine beaches and excellent scuba diving and is fast becoming a popular destination for international tourists, attracting large numbers of backpackers on the Southeast Asia circuit. It is already very popular with Vietnamese tourists. Nha Trang Bay is amongst the world's most beautiful bays. Tourists can participate in Sea Festival and August- Nha Trang Rendezvous Festival every 2 years. The next Miss Universe Pageant will be held in Nha Trang in July of 2008. Donald J. Trump and Phil Gurin will again serve as Executive Producers for MISS UNIVERSE® 2008 and are expected to be present in Nha Trang during the event.
The city has about 300,000 inhabitants and is projected to increase to 500,000 to 600,000 inhabitants in the year 2020 according to estimation of Nha Trang Administrative Board Statistics.
Historically, the city was known as Kauthara under the Champa. There's still Po Nagar Tower of Champa in Nha Trang now.
As a coastal city, Nha Trang's developed in marine science with Nha Trang Oceanography Institution. There's also Hon Mun marine protected area - one of four first marine protected area in the world admitted by IUCN. The famous French-Swiss bacteriologist Alexandre Émile John Yersin (who discovered the Yersinia pestis bacterium) identified himself with Nha Trang's life for 50 years (people called him Ông Năm- Mr Fifth in familiar way), established the Indochina Pasteur Institution (Nha Trang Pasteur Institution now) to research bubonic plague and then died on March 1, 1943 in Nha Trang. A street in the city is named after him, there is a shrine located next to his tomb, and his house has been converted into the Yersin Museum.
Lying off Nha Trang is Bamboo Island, operated by the Sofitel Vinpearl Group. There is now a motorized chair lift system, reportedly the longest in the world, linking the mainland to the five-star resort and theme park on Bamboo Island.
Commercial flights to Nha Trang no longer use the city's municipal airport, but fly into the larger and more modern Cam Ranh airport located about 35 kilometers or 22 miles south of Nha Trang (see the Transport section below for additional details.)
When Cam Ranh Bay used to be an important naval base, Nha Trang Airport was the main airport of the city. This airport was used by the United Stated Airforce and South Vietnam Airforce during Vietnam War. When part of Cam Ranh Bay was made economic development zone by the Vietnamese government, Cam Ranh Airport (also a military airport built be the United States during Vietnam War) was made new civilian airport of the city. This airport is located by Cam Ranh Bay, 45 km south of the city and is currently (as of 2007) the fifth busiest airports in terms of passengers traffic in Vietnam serving more than 500,000 passengers in 2006. The city is locate by National Road 1A, the backbone north-south road of the country. The Reunification Railway also crosses the city and stops at Nha Trang Railway Station. The construction work of Van Phong Port , north of the city, a deep-water project capable of handling ships up to 100,000 tones and with a capacity of 100 million tones of cargo per annum is under progress by a consortium of Japanese corporations. The estimated investment capital for this port-city complex project is expected to reach US$15 billion.
Nha Trang is one of the most important tourism hubs of Vietnam, thanks to its beautiful beaches with fine and clean sand, clear sea water with mild temperature all the year round. There are several resorts, amusement parks in this city and on islands off the coast. The most beautiful streets of the city is Tran Phu Street along the seaside. Nha Trang is a venue for annual sailing boat racing from Hong Kong. In recent years, the city has welcome many 5-star sea cruises. The city’s cuisine is famous for its fresh seafood. Bird's nest soup are one of the best in Vietnam. Bird’s nests are collected naturally and in bird’s farms in the islands off the city coast and in some houses in the inner city. As a seaside city, its cuisine is characterized by several seafood.
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Nha Trang.