Blog update at last again!!

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We arrive in Nha Trang at 6.00am and encounter a most beautiful sunrise. As we drive along the coastline we are amazed by the amount of local people that are on the beach at this time doing their morning exercises - tai-chi, badminton, running, swimming, jogging, power walking..young and old especially the old all are involved and this continues for a fair distance along the coastline. Maybe we have our morning exercise planned now!!
A ten minute walk down the road and we find our guesthouse (Son and Daughter Guesthouse) Its weird as all the guesthouses and hotels that we have stayed in have been about the same price as hostels and of a much better standard...always given towels, toiletries and fresh linen too!! Its too early to check in to our room but they kindly let us use another room until ours is ready (oh my god if only we can stay in this room as its huge with a balcony!)
We manage to have a bit of a snooze, check into our room and then head out for a wander. The guesthouse is in a fantastic location with the beach a 5 min walk away and all shops and facilities nearby. Result after our last place which was a bit of a trek out from anything. The beach is lovely and we chill for a while before heading along it...and to our amazement find a man digging a hole on the edge of the beach...leave it to your imagination as to what he was doing in it!!!!
Find the Louisianne Brewhouse and stop for a few beers before grabbing something to eat. End the evening in the “And Why Not” bar where my vodka and cokes are so so strong that they can hardly be drunk at all!!(but I manage somehow) One of the waitresses may have been on the booze too as halfway through the night she starts throwing up outside (and then goes home soon after!) We eventually make it back to the guesthouse and find the shutter down outside..had to crawl underneath it to get inside!
The next day we decided to hire some bikes and head up to the ThapBa Hot Springs. Very very scenic as we went along the beachfront but we also noticed a number of big developments being built all along the coastline...things are definitely changing here.
The distance on the map to the springs was far shorter than actually cycling it as we found out to our horror as we went up and down the hills to get there! We were so glad to finally reach the springs and spent a very relaxing afternoon being covered in mineral mud then “baked” in the sun before being hosed off and left to relax in the spa....very very relaxing but a shame that we had to cycle back-this is when we wished we had got a taxi to take us as most people had done! This was made all the worse as it was rush hour traffic on the way back and as I tried to do a left turn I got caught in the middle of the road surrounded by mopeds and other bikes. John was in hysterics on the other side of the road as he waited for me to cross. In the end I think the bus driver took pity on me as he came to a virtual standstill to let me cross in front. Needless to say the rest of the journey was done in double quick time to make sure that we made it home in one piece.
After a few more days lying on the beach and chilling the weather decided to take a turn for the worse and so for us that was time to move on...Ho Chi Minh City (or Saigon as most still call it) here we come.

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Photos

Nha Trang
Sunrise over Nha Trang beach

Nha Trang
The beach

Comments

[Maureen]

Beer
Glad to hear you are enjoying yourself and having such a wonderful and experiencial time. Just a passing thought did occur - are you keeping a beer diary - cos you seem to be consuming a fair amount en route. You should be beer oficianados by the end!!!! lol