24 AUGUST 2017 / TRAVELANDLEISUREASIA.COM
/ here&now/
so I’m psyched to practice cutting
and swerving at increasingly high
speeds through these mini
whitecaps on water that is clear to at
least a meter. There’s the occasional
fishing boat bobbing to my east; on
the dunes of the mostly empty
shoreline to my west are a couple of
local hotels and a few beach-shack
eateries; and above...? Right above
me is a plane heading in the same
direction, surprisingly close. It’s
coming in for a landing and I
remember that Cam Ranh Airport
lies just 11 kilometers—as the crow
flies, car drives or, if you were
ambitious, Jet Ski cruises—from
where I started.
That’s the amazing thing about
The Anam. The newest entry into
Vietnam’s ultra-high-end market
feels a like a fairy-land fusion of the
remote purity of Koh Rong,
Cambodia, with the playful, lawn-
party luxury of the Florida Keys. But
it is a straight 12-minute shot to a
little airport in the center of the East
Sea coastline and 35 minutes to Nha
Trang—a bustling beach city better
suited for a diving or drinking
daytrip than a relaxing vacation
terminus. Sheltered on a long empty
shore south of Cu Hin Mountain
with the requisite private-pool
villas, a palatial Thémaé-product
spa (plus two spa-centric guest villas
with their own treatment rooms), a
3-D movie theater, three photogenic
pools, and the best private-dining
set-up I’ve ever experienced, The
Anam has all of the elements of
exclusive-resort style, none of the
far-flung-hideaway inconvenience.
Thanks to the spare-no-expenses
dedication to landscaping of founder
Pham Van Hien, it looks like no other
property in the country. Two long,
Kelly green fairways run from the
main pool down towards the shore
where they join at a central lawn
dotted with towering palms (3,000
were responsibly transplanted from
a nearby grove). Volleyball nets and a
couple of soaring kites overlook a
sweep of sand the color of unbrushed
silk and the bright azure ocean
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP
LEFT: The Anam’s
Saigon bar; the villa-
lined Lagoon Pool;
lunch at the Beach
Club; take to the seas
with the resort’s Jet
Skis, kayaks,
surfboards, bravo
sailboats or
snorkeling gear; a
guest room cocoon;
the private-dining
gazebo. BOTTOM
RIGHT: A traditional
basket boat for fishing
excursions.