We left Ho Chi Minh City in the early evening. Having wasted a few hours taking in a movie at a local cinema (an experience in itself) we headed for the train station. I had some difficulty with my tickets at the station as the woman behind the ticket counter spoke no English. Thankfully a local man translated for me and soon we were boarding the train.
This was our first sleeper train in Vietnam and were in a four birth together. We drank and played cards in our cabin for the start of the journey, joined by Ariane, a Canadian girl we had met in the station.
After eventually getting a few hours sleep we arrived in Nha Trang at six in the morning feeling more than shattered. We made a b-line for the beach and slept on the loungers for a few hours and had a breakfast of pho as we watched the sun slowly rise over the South China Sea and the local Vietnamese go for their early morning swims.
After checking in to our hostel we relaxed some more before walking back down to the coast for lunch and a look around. There aren't that many sights in Nha Trang (the most famous being the White Buddha) so we took a relaxed stroll around town. That evening we headed out for drinks and to a club, joined by some other backpackers we had met in a bar earlier that night.
The next day we drove a few hours up the coast line to the north of the Khanh Hoa province. The scenery was magnificent with the mountains pushing right up against the coastline and then as the mountains flattened out in areas sand dunes separated from
the sea by the highway. Halfway through our journey the heavens opened with a torrential thunderstorm and lightning display. The rain was blinding and only served the exacerbate the already nerve-wrecking driving on single lane roads.
The purpose of this short drive was to sail out to Hon Ong, a diving and watersport hotspot with wonderful coral reefs surrounding it. The island is only accessible from one point on the Hon Gom peninsular. However the rain did not let up and we boarded the boat in the storm but the crossing was relatively calm - though one family did want the boat to turn round (this did not happen). Even in the bad weather the island and the resort are beautiful and our beach huts had amazing views across the bay - especially during the lightning storm. That evening we opted for a quiet drink before dinner then a fee games of cards before a reasonably early night.
The next day we awoke to beautiful sunshine and a clear blue sky. Getting up early we had breakfast before taking a boat out for snorkelling. The fish in the area we were taken to were not as beautiful as those in Thailand but when the boat returned to our bay we went out for a swim there and the fish and other marine life were wonderful.
After lunch we hired kayaks and went out into the sea around our area of the island, stopping at a small secluded bay for rock climbing and jumping. We made our way back but John had a few problems (his kayak would only turn left!) but soon we were all back on shore. A small game of volleyball later and I boarded the boat back to the mainland. John and Hannah would stay for another night on Hon Ong but I wanted to get to Hoi An and have some extra time there, so I made my way back and then took the sleeper train north to the historic town.
