Day 51 - 54: Nha Trang

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Before I digress about our time in Nha Trang I must first tell you of our time in Saigon waiting for the overnight train. We left our bags in the travel place had a drink and I decided that I wanted to sit in the park for a while and watch the locals who gather in their hundreds some running, some just chatting and a few playing badminton. We'd only been sat for about a minute when a young lad came over and started chatting. I was obviously sceptical at this point he said all the stuff that sends alarm bells ringing! I'm a student studying English and where are you from etc etc. Then two other lads came and sat right in front of us and at this point I was clutching my bag tightly and wondering just how they would scam us....and to be ready for anything. Anyway slowly time passed and although still uneasy I began to relax a little. We chatted about so mnay things he and the two lads were very interested in everything about home and we compared stories of Christmas, dating and girls etc. We were slowly joined by more people and at this point some were chatting to Heidi and some to me....I think Heiid had a bigger group....which I was gutted about. We must have sat there for about two hours just being starred at and listened to it was truly a weird experience and one that I wish I hadn't been so sceptical of from the start. They were really nice and were just interested in improving their English and learning about home. Anyway we had to eat and get ourselves to the station so we said our goodbyes and got some dinner...jumped in a taxi and waited to board the train.

We had a little compartment of 4 beds....which we expected to share with two other people but two guys shared a bed so there were 5 of us. It's very basic but not awful....there was air conditioning but me and Heidi have decided that it always smells of pickled onions on trains. It was about 8pm but there really was nothing to do but sleep, especially as we had the top bunks with very little room. We would be arriving in Nha Trang at 7am so a long night ahead. We both got a few hours sleep and were woke up about an hour before the train pulled in for some reason. We jumped in a taxi and headed towards the tourist area by the beach. Jumped out on a corner and even though it was only about 7:30am we were quickly surrounded by hotel staff selling rooms.
We eventually ignored the first two guys but the third we gave a try. It was a hotel called 'Nice' and to be fair it was nice. At $10 it seemed reasonable...we were on the 9th floor with private bathroom, TV and air-con everything we wanted and nice views of the beach from a shared balcony.

We had a little sleep as we were both struggling and then headed to the beach. Nha Trang is nothing like I expected....it's quite built up and very Westernized I guess. Lots of the restaurants were Italain or Spanish....with only a handful of Vietnamese. The beach itself was nice with views of islands, clear blue seas and golden sand. We got settled and enjoyed the sun....again hundreds of people come by during the day selling everything from cigarettes, crisps, sunglasses, bracelets, fruit and fabrics but we're pros now at saying 'NO THANKS' politely. It's been nice just relaxing on the beach after doing an awful lot of travelling so I was feeling very lazy....and was enjoying just dozing. Heidi still wasn't quite feeling right something we've put down to the malaria pills 'Malarone' but we went out an ate in a really nice Italain place, then I watched Chelsea win the FA cup!!

The next day we had good intentions to do an Island trip or make our way South to a different beach but several excuses later we just decided to head back to the same beach. To cut a long story short we spent all 3 days at Nha Trang on the same beach....and don't regret it at all. We've done enough island trips and seen enough beaches now to know when we would rather just take it easy. I had some great meals here and we even found another great ice-cream place which quickly became Heidi's favourite hang out despite her feeling unwell. Nha Trang has a nice feel about it....particuarly the area we were staying in. Very relaxed and chilled out......could have easily stayed longer. Really enjoyed some of the banter with the women on the beach in the end as well....particuarly a young girl called 'Moon' who spoke great English and had a brilliant sense of homour. She was selling absolute crap but managed to do well just because she made everyone laugh. At 12 years old she must have a bright future ahead, shame she's not at school mind.

To anyone going, I'm sure you'll love Nha Trang. Really started to feel like home for me after only a couple of days. We were off to Hoi An next on another overnight bus....hopefully our last, fingers crossed!!!

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