Nha Trang

The journey to Nha Trang was via our old favourite, the overnight bus. This bus instead of having bunk beds had around 24 flat beds side by side in the same configuration as the seats would have been. Being no wider than the original seat it made it very cosy. As the bus loaded from pickups at the different hotels around the town, a number of westerns got on. First was a single female who (when she saw the setup she looked in horror) said out loud “That’s cosy, I wonder who I will be sharing a bed with tonight”. She did not have to wait long to find out as a Vietnamese gentlemen got on shortly after and was shown to the bed next to her. His little face lit up whilst she prepared herself for spoons! I am learning from this trip that there are many reasons why anyone should never complain about being in a couple!

With only one train line and one major road running the length of the country, basically joining the major cites, you could say the infrastructure was basic. Highway One (meaning the only one!) we had envisaged would be a motorway, but no, it was actually a single carriageway road in a very poor state of repair. The bus at times would be doing 5 miles an hour while it negotiated the unfinished road surface (or in some cases actually went off road to get round the road works!) or make an almighty bang as it hit very large pot holes at speed. Terror would also take hold as the bus would attempt to overtake the slower moving trucks with oncoming traffic clearly in view. One of the more interesting manoeuvres was where we were overtaking a truck and another bus was undertaking it on the slip lane whilst another truck was bearing down on us in the opposite direction! Never again will I moan about the state of the M1 or road works! With this constant terror and lurching we only managed minutes of sleep at a time.

We were due to arrive at Nha Trang bus station at 6:00am and would be ready to meet someone from our hostel who we had organised to pick us up. So as we arrived at a hotel somewhere in the town we sat waiting on the bus to be taken to the bus station and were surprised to see our luggage being off loaded. I quickly jumped of the bus to get them to put our bags back on only to be told that this is the bus stop. As I protested and explained we needed to go to the station he then (very conveniently) could no longer understand English! So we had no choice but to get off. It quickly became clear that the hotel was an affiliate of the bus company and they were trying to sell us rooms. There were also scores of motorcycle riders trying to take you to their hotel for a commission and didn’t seem to believe us when we said we already had accommodation booked. Luckily I had a map of where we needed to go to on the Iphone so we marched off in the direction of the beach to get our bearings. After a 30 minute walk the Iphone took us right to the door of our hostel much to the indignation of several motorcycle riders who had followed us still thinking a sale could be on the cards! Needless to say, after no sleep, being dropped at some random location, carrying our packs in an already a very hot temperature even though it is still early morning, both of us were ready to go postal if we were asked one more time “You want hotel?”

Nha Trang is one of Vietnams premier beach resorts, expensive high rise hotels on the front, cheaper accommodation, restaurants and tour operators in the back streets. Unless you were told you would think you were in Spain 20 years ago. We had booked to stay 4 days and planned to spend all of them on the beach doing nothing for the first time in 8 weeks, yes a proper holiday (I look forward to the hate mail).

We dropped our bags and went to get some breakfast and this is when it started. Every few minutes you would be asked if you wanted to buy sunglasses, books, cigarettes, all manor of rubbish. Some even just said “You want to buy something?” Some did take the first no as an answer and walked away, but most just kept asking. Even in restaurants, they would come in and stand next to the table. We were always polite but after this level of constant interruptions its was getting very difficult. We eventually made a rule that we would say no thank you 3 times but after that we would ignore them. This may seem harsh but with them standing inches from you while you try to eat it really does test your patience. Unfortunately, the beach was even worse for it so we both praised the Lord when we happened upon a restaurant/bar called the Louisiana Brewhouse that had a private pool and you could rent a sun bed for $1. Just to add to this heaven, it was also a micro brewery and served some of the best beers I have had since leaving home. Needless to say this became home for four days!!

Our stay in Nha Trang also coincided with another important date, our 1 year anniversary (everyone say arhhhhhhhhh) so as we had taken a shine to the Louisiana Brewhouse we decided to splash out on a slap up meal and decent bottle of wine, whilst sat overlooking the pool and beach. I know, I know, I am getting a bit good with the old romantic stuff!

The weather here has been great with no storms in the late afternoons, so our days have been spent in the sun. I am not a great fan of sun bathing so not wanting to get burnt I stayed under the parasol, read my book and listened to my Ipod. Emma on the other hand assumed the best position for a tan and began the hard work of turning like a chicken on a spit. Late afternoon came and it was time to return to our hostel, at which point Emma spotted that my arms, face and upper chest had burnt. After she had stopped laughing at my indignation of not going in the sun so how could I get burned, she came up with a new nickname for me…….Prawn boy - oh how WE laughed.

Next: Ho Chi Minh City and out last stop in Vietnam.