Trapped in the Swimming Pool!

Looking over Nha Trang from the Po Ngar Cham Towers
see all photos »

I woke up early this morning to see the sunrise over the lake. Took some photos at the waters edge but then got attacked by a reed bush on the way back to the longhouse and had to spend most of breakfast pulling the reeds out of my trousers one by one.

A fairly uneventful day of travelling towards Nha Trang. As we were descending into the town we stopped at the Po Ngar Cham towers, which showed us how My Son would have looked had it not been obliterated during the war. Lots oftemples that were impressive from the outside, but stuffy and smoky inside. There were shrines inside the temples and locals praying at them – I said a small prayer from a safe distance.

Getting my pedicure on the fishing boat!
see all photos »

The site also gave us an impressive view over Nha Trang – very seasidey but also really nice to wander around. We dumped our bags at the hotel and then went back out for a walk around and to find a drink – found a truck drivers café with an unimpressed waitress; I think the sight of three women drinking on their own is offensive in Vietnam - ooer! Had a meal tonight at an open plan restaurant near to the pavement edge. During the meal we watched in horror as someone bought a live lobster from a tank on the street in front of the restaurant. Discovered just how good bananna chocolate pancakes could be!

The conical boats which took us to lunch - and in which I was almost kidnapped!
see all photos »

The next morning we drove a short way to the seaside and then boarded our boat for a cruise in the bay. Sailing away from the busy city was nice and I really enjoyed the boat ride. While on the boat I had a pedicure – finishing with multi-coloured nails! – and massage which was wonderful.

We stopped at a few rock islands to snorkel – I nearly choked the first time I tried it but soon got the hang. Snorkelling was brilliant; we got to see coral and loads of colourful fish swimming by under our feet. Later on we stopped a short way from a cluster of stilted restaurants and got in conical boats to take us to shore. It amazed me how they could stay afloat, especially when they were full of clumsy tourists, but we got to the restaurant unscathed. In all the confusion I found myself in conical boat on my own and being sailed away from the group and the restaurants - I thought that I was being kidnapped! However I arrived safely. I must have had an allergic reaction to the snorkel mask, because the skin around my eyes went red and stingy, much to the amusement of the rest of the group.

see all photos »

After lunch we sailed for a while and then stopped again for a swim at a little island amongst fag ends and floating bottles – no messages unfortunately! I had loads of fun swimming and the waves were really quite high. I discovered that my back was really sunburnt apart from a smudgy handprint! Back on the boat, I sat on the front of the boat at the side with my legs hanging over the edge – fantastic and I didn’t care that I got really wet…

This afternoon we went for a swim in the hotel pool which was really refreshing but there were no steps to get out so we had to lever ourselves out over the diving blocks! Later on we wandered around Nha Trang and I went crazy on foot adornments – bought ankle bracelets and very nearly bought a toe ring from an elderly lady with a pavement stall. I wanted to buy a necklace but it was too short so she told us to come back in a few minutes. When we came back, we found her threading beads onto the string by hand in the fading daylight. While we looked at the stall an entire pavement restaurant arrived on various motorbikes and set up in about 20mins!

While waiting for the sleeper train at the station this evening we initiated a game of 'Pigs' with the station attendants – immensely fun!!!

The sleeper train was much more uncomfortable than last time but much more fun. Rather than falling asleep straight away, we gathered and all squashed into a tiny cabin drinking wine out of cut-open water bottle glasses – a really fun night!