Nha Trang

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My plan was to head up to Nha Trang, and then back down to Saigon via Mui Ne, perhaps do a Mekong Delta trip, and the head to Phnom Penh to meet Paul. The overnight bus to Nha Trang was pants. For some reason they had put me on the cheapest bus that blatently wasn't a tourist bus, judging by the fact that I was the only foreigner on the bus. I asked as the travel agents whether they would be showing a film on the trip, because that can help to pass the time, she said 'yes'. What she neglected to mention was that the DVD on show would be some kind of Vietnamese comedy stage show that lasted about 4 hours, and was played at the loudest volume possible. There went my chance of getting any sleep. Half of the journey was spent sitting next to a middle aged woman who pretty much stared at me the whole time whilst her friends cracked jokes directed at her. probably about me, in Vietnamese. The second half of the journey was spent sitting next to a Vietnamese lad, probably about 16 years old, that was fascinated by my ipod, and wanted to listen to my music. I wouldn't have minded, but he kept moving so much in his seat that he'd pull my headphones out of my ears every 5 minutes. Still, I like to think I've educated an Asian in the music of Jamie T and the Fratellis.

I was so tired when I arrived in Nha Trang that I decided to stay at the first place I found. This was another 6 buck room with a TV. The room was not going to be ready for half an hour so I had to endure a barrage of questions from the receptionist, the owner, 2 trainee receptionists, and a cleaner (who I thought should have been helping to clean my room). When they weren't asking me questions, they just stared at me with big grins. I just wanted to get into my room, lock the door, and fall asleep. Finally my room was read and I managed about 5 hours kip before I decided to check out the beach.

I don't know whether it's because I've seen about a hundred since the start of my trip, or a boredom thing, but I find that I can't lie on a beach all day for days, so decided just to walk along it and then check out the town centre. As I was walking along, I randomly bumped into a lad from School, who it turns out had done basically the same route as me, but with south America added on at the start. We arranged to meet up for some beers a bit later that evening.

My untrusty Lonely Planet let me down again. I'd bought it in Bangkok, with a cellophane wrapper on it, for 450 baht, only to find out that it was a fake book, probably from Vietnam as they sell fake books all over the shop. In Ho Chi Minh the map was inaccurate (definitely not down to my poor map reading skills) and now the bloody bar that we had picked out of the book didn't exist. Luckily I found Andy much like me, walking along the pavement searching the shopfronts. We had a few beers and caught up before Andy had to go as he was getting up early for his Advanced PADI the next day.

The next day I decided to take a stroll to the Cham Towers just north of the river, and was again let down by my insufficiently detailed map. I ended up getting a moto over the river, and back to my guesthouse after seeing the temples.

That night Andy and I met up again and played a few games of pool with another couple of lads in between uni years at Portsmouth, and an Aussie girl. It was my turn to leave early as I was booked on a island tour the next day.

The Island tour involved a boat trip around 4 of the islands around Nha Trang, including some snorkelling, a live band on the boat, a floating bar, lunch, an aquarium, and a stop at a beach resort on the way home.

That night I caught a bus to Hoi An, because I'd anticipated staying in Nha Trang for a few more days, but it was very quiet, and I'd heard nothing but good things about Hoi An. I could then fly from Danang back to Saigon for about 20 quid, bargain.

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