Nha Trang

So after the stress of all that shopping in Hoi An we decided to skip off the beaten track and head straight for the beach - Nha Trang here we come. Another long overnight bus journey (we're pretty good at them now!) and we were there. Found some accommodation and had barely put our bags down before we were out the door to the beach. It's a really nice one in Nha Trang, it stretches on for a good distance, the water was a nice bluey green colour and totally spotless. There are lots of sun umbrellas and sun loungers scattered along it. We got 3 and chilled with our books and music for the day. We also all treated ourselves to a manicure and pedicure and seeing as it was Niamh's graduation day back in London she had a massage too! It was such a nice relaxing day. That night, after a few drinks on our balcony and on the recommendation of a local woman, we made our way to a Vietnamese restaurant and had the best seafood hotpot! It was delicious! To continue the celebration of Niamh's graduation we went for a few more beers in some other pubs but eventually ended up in a place called the sailors club. It's a really cool bar on the beach and we drank and danced the night away there. When we left, the whole 5 minute walk to our room seemed just too much like hard work so we flagged down a couple of cyclos and true to form for them they brought us round the world for sport before dropping us back to our guesthouse - over half an hour later. It wasn't funny at the time but the cyclo drivers got a bit demanding because even though we'd agreed a price with them before getting in they then demanded we pay more because we'd got the scenic route home! Next day hangovers were the main topic of conversation. We were all pretty bad. Lou opted to stay in bed and chill. Niamh and Caz decided a spot of sightseeing would help them sweat the alcohol out and went to have a look at the Cham towers on the outskirts of the city. It was a bit of a walk to the towers but really interesting as on one side of the road was this pristine beach, beautiful clean water and on the other was the river where lots of the fishing boats dock and also where lots of people live on stilt houses over the river. Rubbish was everywhere and the place smelled really bad. But the contrast on the two sides of the road was so striking. The Cham towers were good to see and there was an ok view over the city from the hill they were on. Just had an ealry night that night. On our third day we went on a boat trip to some of the islands off the coast of Nha Trang for a spot of snorkelling and swimming. The boat was big enough but still pretty crowded with people -there must have been about 50 people in all. After about and hours journey on the boat the first stop was for some snorkelling. It was nice and we all managed to see some big colourful fish. Only downside was the masks were a bit crap and kept filling up with water! Lunch was had on the top deck, then there was some onboard live music entertainment and karaoke - we kid you not, they whipped out the drum kit and guitars and the main guy sang his heart out before dragging some other people on the trip to get up and join him for a song (and distubingly he also dragged a middle aged hairy Aussie bloke in Speedos up for a dance too!). Quite a surreal experience. Next we docked off another island for the 'floating bar' experience. Basicaslly it's a huge chunk of polystyrene which the host guy swam with on which there were a few bottles of wine and plastic cups. We all got rubber sings and swam around drinking the said wine - it was pretty cheesy but really good fun! Last stop of the day was at a fishing village. We didn't get to do much here as one of the guys on the trip slipped and cracked a rib as he was getting out of the boat (probably after too much cheap wine from the floating bar!). Poor guy though, he as in agony and we left to get him back to the mainland. It was a funny day and we finished it off with another fish hotpot! We'd also decided to hang around Nha Trang for another few days as Vietnams equivalent of the Full Moon Party was happening the next day. Woke the next morning to the sound of torrential rain - sods law. We were so looking forward to a party on the beach but it really didn't look like it was going to happen. We kept looking at the sky hoping the rain would stop but there wasn't any sign of it breaking. Went off out to the internet shop two minutes away and got saturated. At one point the road outsode the internet shop totally flooded and the water was up to out claves when we were leaving. It was quite a sight! We headed to the Irish bar where your guy moved the sofas for us and let us pick a movie to watch - nothing else to do in that weather. Found out later that the party had been postponed until Paddy's Day. It would have been fun to stay but we just didn't have the time so next morning we left for Dalat in search of some Easy Riders!