'Nha Trang, No Fun'

When you've just been in Angkor City...
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It rained the whole time and im knackered from the 12hr overnight train ride...thats a quick summary.

22nd Nov

'Disappointing; this place could really be beautiful but this relies heavily on the good weather...without, there really isnt much point in being here...'

Slept ok, though am woken up by the inexplicably cheerful train conductor @ 4am. Brush my teeth in a manky toilet sink. Leaving the station with the town still in the cover of darkness, the tout takes me to a beachside hotel on request. They want 10 dollars for a double room with tv and aircon, but i get 8 after a mini-argument: luckily the hotel guy was also knackered at this unsavoury hour. Straight to bed until half 8 to see the weather has made a turn for the worse, feeling cold for the first time in months coupled with unfamiliar rain. The tour guides announce that due to the 10ft waves which id seen pounding the beach during my morning stroll, the main attraction of visiting the beautiful out-laying islands were sensibly cancelled. The second attraction are the long palm-fringed beaches, but again, the weather spoilt that and no swimming was gonna happen. So what to do?

I wonder how that look transfers to the dude behind me...?
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I decide to move on to my next destination a day early. i wanted another overnight train journey for 2moro evening to Hoi An, via Danang, but again, the this train was already fully booked even though i was trying the day before departure. So all was left was 2moro morning at 6am?!!! Man, had to do it. Thus, when i get on the 9hr train, ill have been here less than24 hrs. But nothing's keeping me here.

In the meantime, i let a friendly tout take me to the other main 'attractions' of the town itself, namely small scale Cham ruins, which were distinctly average after seeing the intimidatingly immense Angkor weeks earlier! To make up for this, he takes me to this excellent local restaurant for what he considers the best Pho in town, and it was delicious, extra tasty being 10000d (60p). Then we scooted over to a charming temple complex, saturated in incense, with a newly erected reclining buddha to complement a decent hill side sitting buddha. My appreciation, however, was hampered by some ruthless souvenir selling by apparent 'students' of the temple.

That sort of wake is only exciting to people named 'dude'.
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As i stroll the beach again in spitting rain, i can clearly see that this place would be completely different if the sun was out and the water calm. I reckon it's stunning in the summer. Regrettably, my memories wont be more than a wet day at a beach. The black out at the internet cafe, which i sat in as a result of some heavy evening showers, was the icing on the cake!

Gotta be up at 4am two days in a row...