Lets just say our journey to Nha Trang on the nightbus was turbulent...we both managed to secure a top bunkbed thinking it would be a better seat - turns out this is where the Air con blows hardest(i was in shorts and a t-shirt!), the light shines brightest and it suddenly becomes very easy to fall out of bed on sharp corners (of which there were many!) This turbulent night was made worse by the toilet being locked, and the bus driver beeping constantly at whatever he could find to beep at...the plastic beds and the fact that my legs kept sticking to them didn't make things much better...neither did the huge cochroach scurrying along the ground...all in all we were pretty glad to get off the bus (which the hotel manager assured us was the best in town!)
We planned Nha Trang as a bit of a break from sightseeing and thats exactly what it was, we spent time relaxing on the beach, eating nice food (in a fabulous little restaurant called Same Same but Different - yum yum!)and generally chilling out. On our first night we met up with Michelle and Dan who had flown down (did they know something we didn't?!)and met them for some drinks...by 1am happy hour had subsided, the Rats and cochroaches came out to play and it was time to mosey on back to our hotel, which again was locked and we were again greeted by a boxershorted hotel guy! The thing about the Vietnamese is that they go to bed pretty early but get up pretty early too - I guess its just not what we're used to!
After our first night we decided to change hotels as we had seen a much nicer one (called the 'nice hotel'!)and stayed there for the remainder of our trip. Nha Trangwas a typical beach place, with Seafood BBQ's, beach shops and beach bars. On the beach we were pretty tortured by people coming up to sell us something -
"You buy something?"
"No thanks'
"Maybe Later?'
'No Thanks'
'Why you not buy?!'
And so the conversations went on...the only time we were really left alone was when the police arrived and suddenly in a flurry of activity everyone left as this selling obviously wasn't legal! I think the sad thing was that there were so many children selling us things, a thing you have to contend with quite a lot in Asia we have discovered, it was pretty heartbreaking watching these young kids come into the pub to sell us postcards on bare feet at 10pm,I just hope things change for these kids pretty soon...
We stayed in Nha Trang for around 4 nights before heading on to Saigon/Ho Chi Minh City (back to the hustle and bustle), Nha Trang was a wonderful place where we lazed on beachchairs, read, swam in the sea and ate fresh fruit on the beach...shortly before our departure to Ho Chi Minh city, a huge thunderstorm hit the town and we stood from the 7th floor of our hotel and watched the bright lightning and the downpour - on our way to the bus the whole street infront of our hotel was flooded and we had to wade through (what we think was sewage!) to get the bus! Because of this rain we didn't get a chance to eat before we got on the bus and the whole journey to Ho Chi Minh was spent thinking about chips and McDonalds, we were less than impressed when the bus decided to stop at a noodle soup place...not what we had in mind!
