We arrived in Nha Trang at 6 in the morning. Gary had been on the sleeping pills so wasn't as groggy as usual, although got a bit tetchy when the tour operator got a bit too close! He greeted us with 'Good morning!' and 'Congratulations! The Typhoon is gone'. Good news as Nha Trang was primarily a beach town. Anyway, they dropped us off at the 'recommended' hotel and it was nice SO we signed up. It wasn't until later that we realised it was the other side of town and a thirty minute walk every time we wanted to get anywhere. But it was a nice walk along the beach so we weren't too upset.
Gary was hungry and requireed breakfast, we asked at the hotel for the nearest restaurant and were directed around the corner. They restauranteurs were very pleased to see us and sat us down with our free cups of Vietnamese tea. It tasted very good but later on we saw them scooping some out for another customer, it was kept in a big plastic tub in the corner. No one spoke much English at all and for the first and last time on our trip there was no English on the menu. Deena managed to explain that she was vegetarian and that eggs were ok. Gary said for the lady to decide for him on food and that he wanted a black coffee. Soon we got a plate of rice and eggs for Deena and a small cup of strong syrupy coffee in a bowl of hot water. We had encountered a similar coffee problem in Hanoi and had poured the coffee into the bowl to mix with the water, this time Gary tried a different method, pouring the hot water into the coffee cup. 'No no' the lady rushed over to us 'this no good, to make hot'. Ah ha, it became clear - the bowl of hot water was simply a heating device! Gary ordered some drinkable hot water to add to the coffee and waited for his food... and waited... and waited. 'Do you think we should ask where it is?' 'No, I'm sure it will be here soon'. Finally, we asked were it was. Apparently the lady had not understood Gary's request for her to choose a dish for him. This led to a lot of pointing, confusing and moments 'lost in translation'. 'What is this?' 'Chicken' 'How much?' she dissapeared for about 5 minutes '120,000 dong. 1 chicken. We go buy from market'. Well Gary did not need a whole chicken. In the end (about 20 minutes later) Deena pointed to a bowl of noodle soup a local man was eating at the next table, 'one'. After that and the overnight bus trip we felt shattered and went back to the hotel for a nap which lasted a few hours!
Later on that day we walked to Louisiane which was recommended for a treat, with good desserts and coffees. We ended up spending pretty much the next two days there. It all began with ice cream and moved on to freshly brewed beer for Gary and 'Betty Boops' for Deena. It was a really nice posh place and after two months of roughing it, it felt kinda good. Almost immediately we bumped into two travelers we knew from the Vientiane - Hanoi bus and much to Gary's delight there was a free pool table for customer use! Needless to say we stayed there all night, playing with various other travellers. We decided to come back the next day as there was a pool (as in swimming, not hitting balls with a cue) which was also free for customers and we hadn't actually done much swimming. Unfortuntely, the beach in Nha Trang was also a mess and covered in litter from the typhoon - people who knew it said that usually it was beautiful but that wasn't much use to us! The next day was spent in the pool, playing pool, reading and drinking. Truly relaxing, it was probably the only day of the trip that actually felt like a 'holiday'.
We didn't get to do any of the typical 'things to do in Nha Trang' - boat trip & mud baths - but we had a good time relaxing and treating ourselves! Finally, we got on our last overnight bus to Saigon. Deena was thinking that no matter how bad it was, it didn't matter as it was the last one - WRONG! It was the worst! A guy next to us was making horrible mouth noises the whole night long and we were both really grumpy, we experienced the worst toilets yet (lets put it this way, there wasn't even a squat toilet, just a kind of sink thing that Deena couldn't reach! OH NO!)AND Deena forgot the sleeping pills. It was a long journey.
