Nha Trang

The bus from Hoi An to Nha Trang (12 hours overnight) was absolutely terrible! Much worse than the train to and from Sapa. At least with the train the bumps and jolts were consistent, this ride was so bad. I probably got four hours of sleep the whole night. I would recommend any future Vietnam travelers to fly to Nha Trang, it's worth the extra ~$40.

Monday 13th

As an introduction, think of Nha Trang as the Gold Coast of Vietnam - all about the beach and water based activities.

Arrived in Nha Trang around 7am, went into the backpacker alley (64 Tran Phu st) and went to our hotel of choice to find a room would not be available til 9am, we were not going to wait, no way. In this alley there is about 6-8 different hotels, all of which had people out the front wanting our business. The other hotel there which was in the LP guide was the An Hoa, which had rooms and it was only $8 a night! (No brekky though). We stayed here, only downside was the 63 steps up to the room (yes i counted), not nice when i've got to carry two ~20kg bags up (and down).

We did absolutely nothing today. Slept til midday, went to lunch, walked along the beach (right across the road) and had dinner at a grillhouse. It was a good meal although the most expensive so far for us, ~$24. Although the mixed grill i got would cost $30 minimum at any Hog's Breath style place in Australia.

There was very heavy rain and thunder overnight, but didn't last more than an hour.

Tuesday 14th

Today was another lazy day, we got our laundry done (100 000VND for 6.5 kg, which they ironed as well) and went to several travel agencies to inquire about tours. There was one called a "boat tour" which took you to the islands that lie off Nha Trang, but we found out this was like a "party" sort of thing and often had upto 40 people on board, no wonder it was only $5 p.p.

We thought about doing some diving ($38 one day, $60 for two) but decided we'll do it in Cambodia. The weather was quite gloomy in Nha Trang so we settled for snorkeling, the best price we found was $12 each and no more than 15 in the group. We booked for Wednesday.

In the afternoon we went to the beach, lazed on some armchairs (30 000VND each) and had a swim. The water was really nice, although there was rubbish in the water close to shore. Waves were not big and the water got deep enough for my feet not to touch the bottom around 10m in. We left just before sunset and found a lobster lady which we had been looking for. We had a lobster and a crab for 300 000VND ($15) on the beach, we both hadn't tried it before so what better opportunity, eventhough it was still expensive for something that had so little meat inside, it was undoubtedly cheaper than in Sydney i'm sure. We also bought a whole pineapple, mango and 6 bananas for 50 000VND ($2.50) just before we left.

Wednesday 15th

Up early to be picked up at 8am, had the pineapple for breakfast, got on a boat, the ride lasted 40 minutes during which time i put my sunscreen on. It was an absolutely beautiful day, hadn't seen the sun out like this for weeks, probably mid 20s with a nice breeze. Got to our first spot called Mun Island where we first dived off the top of the boat then got our gear on. Snorkeling was hard to get used to at first, i felt like i was at the dentist with the mouthpiece in my mouth. Getting water in your breathing thing wasn't nice either. It was a very good experience, will definitely snorkel in the future. We saw lots of coral (although not colourful) and lots of small fish. The second spot was Mot Island, not as nice as Mun, couldn't see as much in the water. For some reason alot of people didn't go in this time. The tour guides went fishing for sea cucumbers but found none.

We had a seafood lunch, although i didn't eat any of the seafood. Having had mouthfuls and nosefuls of sea water, which was the most 'sea' tasting i've ever experienced for a few hours put me off seafood well and truly for the day. On the way back to Nha Trang we went to a fishing village and had a look at what they were farming.

Arrived back around 3pm and decided to hire a motorbike before the sun went down and go to the Cham Towers and Long Son Pagoda. We got so lost on the way to the pagoda, it was alot busier on the road than Hoi An and some of the round abouts were quite odd, i almost went into on coming traffic 'cause i wanted to go straight but we had to go right to go straight ???.

Finally got there, we were greeted by four 'tour guides' who told us all about the pagoda. They were orphans who lived at the pagoda, although they were all young adults. They were so friendly...until we didn't want to pay $10 for a pack of postcards (the going rate is $1). We were willing to donate money to their orphanage but they wouldn't have a bar of it. After 5 minutes of discussion and us still not accepting a pack for $5 they stormed off, swearing at us in English and Vietnamese (i picked up on a "Du Ma"). It was quite disgusting behaviour. Mind you the money was for them - to pay for English lessons. Not in fact for the orphanage. It left a very sour taste in our mouths.

We soldiered on and got to the Cham towers. Very bad time on the roads not, parents were picking up their kids from school and whenever you got to a school you could see the traffic jam from 50m away. The towers are very much like the ruins at My Son but it was fully in tact and the tallest by far, there was a great view of the city from here. Got back to the hotel safely. Went to Bar Oz (run by an Aussie) for dinner, cheap but not that good (or filling). We packed our bags for Dalat, would be leaving at 8am the next day.

To add to a new pair of Canterbury pants that i need to buy back in Oz, i dropped my electric toothbrush and broke half of the metal part that moves, it still works fine but i might as well get a new one when i get back home.

In Dalat now but i'll keep that for a separate post.