Day 14: Mon 28th Feb (by AJ).

Nha Trang beach and monkey Island

We arrived into Nha Trang at 5am and so all slept for a bit at the hotel before a walking tour around the beach, town and backpackers area. The town looked very French - was so pretty!

That afternoon, we all had a much needed BEACH DAY!! The sea was a bit choppy but we attempted a swim, sunbathed and played lots of beach volley ball - which got very competitive, especially as the sea kept destroying the side lines! :) A few of us then decided to venture out to Monkey Island so got a taxi to the Harbour and the last boat out ... we were the only people on the boat ... this probably should have been an indication of the terror we were about to encounter!! But we continued anyway excited to see some monkeys! ... And wow did we see monkeys!! As soon as we got on the island we were being watched and stalked by the gangs of them - it was honestly the most bizzarre experience we have ever had! It was just like 'Planet of the Apes', with derelict cottages and strange statues and no humans! Just monkeys who were definitely planning our kidnap! Monkeys were literally dropping out of trees and our nervous laughter actually turned to screams as we were sprinting along random paths to get away! At one point the tide was covering the path, but as the gang was coming in quick behind us we all just jumped through the waves ... to find a dead end! It was honestly hilarious but so scary! We were so relieved to find the boat again, and feel we definitely need to find "I survived monkey Island" t.shirts!

Had tea along the market stalls that night with very odd shrimp/mint rolls! Then met everyone for drinks, although we didn't have a late one as the following day we were SCUBA DIVING!! :)

Day 15: Tues 1st March (by AJ).

SCUBA DIVING!

Breaki at 6am today then off to the Rainbow Divers pad to get our bus to the harbour. 6 of us from the group decided to Scuba Dive with 3 of us as first timers, but we didn't even have time to be nervous as we were straight on the boat and into the banter and laughs with all the instructors. The boat was really cool and we had to cheer all the diving team as they were introduced. Chris, Britta and I (the newbies) had 2 instructors - 1 absolute geezer from holland! We also had the most perfect weather = beautiful sun and great visibility up to 25 m underwater. The diving gear was so heavy so I had to be practically carried to the side of the boat to jump in ... but underwater it was amazing!! Was such a wierd relaxed feeling in a different world - and saw so much coral and fish! Chris saw an octopus too! We had 2 30min dives in total and went down to 6m with an instructor and have definitely got the bug for it! It was also only $50 each and we got certificates! YAY!

That afternoon, we chilled on the beach then had an amazing curry - well deserved after the days excitement! That evening we boarded another overnight train - complete with cockroaches and a fantastic damp stench (yum!) - to head to Du Dang.