Nha Trang is a coastal city of 350.000 residents located 440 km northeast of Saigon (Ho-Chi-Minh-City) at the South China Sea. Tourism and fishing industry are the two most important branches of economy. For local tourists Nha Trang is one of the most famous but also expensive holiday spots in the whole country. The climate is the most time of the year tropical with an average temperature of 27° C (80, 6° F). For centuries Nha Trang was an important cultural centre of the Cham (Cham or Champa, nation / tribe with close relationship to the Khmer of Cambodia, settled in Central and South Vietnam). The area was occupied by the Viet (Viet people, today the dominating ethnic group in Vietnam) in 1653. In the following period Nha Trang was nothing more but a small harbour village. The newly rise of the town began under the rule of the French in the late 19th century. During the Vietnam War Nha Trang was an imported base for the US forces.
