6am, we arrived in Nha Trang, all feeling groggy. No one managed to sleep much except me; thank you Valium. We trudged down the road in search of the hotel, turns out we can't check in until 2pm, annoying. We left our bags in reception and headed to the beach. The sun was out in Vietnam and shining away warmly even at 7am. Andy and the guys had previously recommended a place to chill called 'sailors club' so we went there to crash out. It was lush, big double beds, fountains, pool tables, hangin chairs and swings. Felt like I was in a cross between Miami and Ibiza! The food menu was gorge too but a little on the pricey side, I settled for a fruit salad. After many hours of laying there we went back to the hotel for a quick shower and change then went to the beach. Our hotel was in a great location, only a 5 minute walk from the beach. We spent the rest of the day swimming in the sea, reading our books and dosing under the sweet sun. Just what we needed. We had a late lunch which led to a late dinner. Once we were all ready for the night out, we had pre going out drinks on the top floor of the hotel and then headed onto the bars street. Strangely enough the bars were surprisingly empty, we couldn't work it out. We've come to the conclusion that people just don't come to Vietnam this time of year. Except the Russians, especially to Nha Trang, its like half of Russia has emigrated here. We often get given menus written in Russian at restaurants, I definitely think they're overrunning the town here. Anyway, after walking up and down the street we went back towards 'Why Not bar'. We couldn't decide what to drink and joked about getting a fish tank for us to share, I won't go into detail about what it contains but yes it was a cool box sized fish tank bucket. Once that got too sickly we decided to go back to the 'sailors club', they had a beach party on tonight it wasn't much of a party but it did the job. Apparently they don't take to kindly to people trying to sneak in with drinks though.
The next morning was more then a struggle, our heads were aching beyond believe. I needed breakfast so went upstairs to collect my free coupon. The service was ridiculously slow, they seemed to only serve one table at a time. And even when they did they got the order wrong. Luckily we was checking out that morning and moving hotels. Around midday we headed to the local mud pool and mineral springs resort in Nha Trang, it was our first experience of a Vietnamese day out. Basty didn't come because he was ill so we took Tom under our wing for the day. The tour guide man didn't explain anything to us before we arrived, he just shoved us through the barriers when we got there. It was a bit difficult to work out the steps we was meant to do the pools in but we tried to get it right. The first mud pool was an interesting experience, we all piled into this tank, full runny dirty mud water. It was pretty bizarre to wipe it all over myself and wash my face with it. Poor Tom was stuck in a pool with 5 girls, some would think this would be a bit of bliss but the conversation was a little off key so it wasn't to enjoyable for him. He was uncomfortable to say the least. Once our 15 minutes were up we had to go and sit in the sun for the mud to dry, the seats were in front of the communal showers. It meant people watching the Russians and the Vietnamese. We saw people sporting some interesting swimming costumes and having a strange humour about certain things. There were a few characters and faces we won't ever forget, even if we try. Our time to shower next, the mud had got everywhere, trying to shower it off from under my bikini was pretty hard and I definitely wasn't clean, we all looked a bit green actually. Next was the mineral water pool, but first we had to walk through this shower tunnel thing, water was diagonally hitting us from either sides, strange massage. We huddled into the mineral pool, which was lovely and warm albeit salting. It was like we was all sharing a bath, weird but fun. Once that was done, we headed to the swimming pool to chill out and spent the rest of the afternoon sunbathing. We were all pretty exhausted so headed back, stopping off at a restaurant on the way. We went in to make a reservation for later but ended up sitting down and eating then instead. It was an Indian restaurant chain, the same as we went to in Hoi An. Lovely food but ended in a lovely food comma afterwards. The plan for the night was easily decided, a night in was needed. We chilled in the rooms and I had a call with my Soozikins and a Skype session with my mum and brother for Mothers Day. First time since Christmas Day so it was overdue. It wasn't such an early night in the end.
Monday was, VINPEARL DAY! Vinpearl is an island just off of the coast of Nha Trang. It is home to a beach resort with a mini theme park, arcades and crazy waterpark. To get to the island you have to get on a cable car that goes over the water, it was cool to see the views but it was scary high, didn't help that Tom was rocking it either. As soon as we arrived we went on the first ride we saw, it was an error to not watch what it did first. It was bloody frightening, we basically got strapped in and spun around a few times then hung upside for 30 seconds, all the blood rushed to our heads, it was impossible to scream because it felt like our eyes were going to pop out. Not up for another ride just yet, we went to the arcade which was brills, all the games were free. We headed to the luge ride, got lifted to the top of the hill and went down the fast windy track, I went on one by myself so I got freaked and put the breaks on a few times, luckily I was second to last out the group so I didn't hold anyone up! I won't go on about the rest of the rides but it was great fun. I sat out of most of the water rides, I had a cold and was starting to feel weak and fluey. The whole place was crawling with Russians though, travel agents in Russia must offer some good deals because they're everywhere. After a spot of lunch we went on more water rides and then to the aquarium. Which was quite impressive actually, loads of big fish, small fish, shellfish, loads of fish. Unfortunately, in the traditional Asian way, there was no information about the fish so we didn't really know what we was looking at. They were beautiful all the same though. They had a tunnel tank that you could walk through too, it had stingrays, turtles, huuuuge fish and a baby shark. I was shattered at this point, the guys wanted to go on a few more rides but I needed to sit. I found a bench, laid down and got woken up by a security man an hour or so later and it was dark. We headed back home showered up and went to a restaurant called Olivia's for dinner, lovely Italian restaurant. The night ended in Why Not bar.
Another busy day in Nha Trang, today was our Vietnamese cooking class. We read in the lonely planet that Lanterns restaurant offers a well recommended cookery lesson so we booked with them and so glad we did. It was a 9am start, although Christa, Nelen and I were a bit late because we needed our coffee hit to try to banish our headaches. Our teacher was called 'Nam', she described it as Vietnam but without the Viet. Easy way to remember! Nam gave us an outline of the morning, first stop was the market. We each got our own princess carriage. Well a tuk tuk but we hadn't been in these types before so we were just as excited. Poor guys had to cycle us lumps 10 minutes down the road in the morning heat. I was a bit weary about the market because of my Sapa experience. We started off in the vegetable section, she explained the ways of how to check if it was ripe and showed us the different varieties. Next was the meats, it wasn't as bad as before though, I coped and luckily didn't throw up. We then spent a good while walking around the different stalls buying all the ingredients we needed. Nam was really great at explaining what everything was and why they use it - she even taught me something about tofu! After a tuk tuk back to Lanterns, we started to prepare our main course, I cooked tofu claypot. Will that was left to stand for 30 minutes, we got moving on our starters. I can now make rice paper spring rolls, they were lovely too, can't believe I made it. We were quite full actually but then our main was ready, which again tasted amazing. Next up was the desert, fruit flambé, I choose mango. It was an interesting desert to cook, they showed us how it's done, which involved putting banana rum into the boiling frying pan. Making a huge flame that we had to put out by swirling it around the pan. Slightly burning our hands as we did it. Again a lovely course. We were properly stuffed and wanted to lay down but the day wasn't over yet. I had previously spoken to the Lanterns manager about souvenirs they sell in the restaurant. They sell different stuff made by local kids with learning difficulties and disabilities, I was speaking to her about the school and she offered to take me to visit the children. I definitely wanted to so she took me on the back of her motorbike. Nelen and Christa wanted to come too so they got in a taxi and we met them there. We was introduced to the head teacher and she took us round the various class rooms and told us about the facilities they have. Children attend the school from aged 2 to 18. There were around 100 students at the school and I'm pretty sure we saw them all. One of the first classrooms we went to was for children aged 4-5. We were introduced to the kids and they showed us the toys in the classroom and we had a little mess around. We all sat in a circle while we played games together, a few of them even stood up at the end and sung us a little song. They sounded better then us, we tried to sing 'wheels on the bus' but it wasn't very impressive. We waved goodbye to this classroom and moved onto the others, I won't go through each class because some of them we just sat at the back. Although I think we did manage to disturb each one. Whether it be colouring in with the kids or having a class sing to us or to write their names on the black board. It was an amazing experience and I'm so glad I enquired about it. The lady from Lanterns said I was the first person to ask about the school and for her to take to visit it. At the end I asked if I could give a donation to the school, she said the money would go towards their next end of year party or day out for the children. I left feeling like I had done a good thing but I definitely got something out of too. That night Kate and I met up with Ash again (friend from home), we went out for dinner with her and her mum. Although I couldn't eat a bite I was so full from Lanterns still. It was lovely to spend some time with her and catch up on stuff from home. Later that night we went out for a few drinks, played Jenga in a bar, it was nice to chill and mess around after a hectic day.
The next day, the girls including Ashley went to the beach. I stayed back with Helen to help her with sorting her Indian visa out, she's going out before us but she might stay with us for a little while extra too. Yay! After about 3 hours of flapping around with visa forms, print shops, moody receptionists and Vietnamese photographers; we finally got it sorted and ready for her to submit it in Saigon. We joined the girls at the beach for a short time before our stomachs were rumbling. We headed to a small Greek restaurant that was tucked away down a small street in town. I spotted it the other day so said we should try it. Turned out to be owned by a Greek couple that had moved over here since the recession. They were lovely people and the food was quite cheap, not to mention amazing!! And bless them they didn't have many veggie options so they altered their menu for me. This was the first of many visits. Later that night we waved goodbye to Ash and her mum as they went back up to North Vietnam. We had a gorgeous meal in Lanterns, said hi to the manager and Nam. Tofu curry and sticky rice. Delish!
Kate and Liv had an early bus to catch the next morning, they were heading to Dalat but I was staying in Nha Trang to meet up with my mate Steph from home. Think it was a 6am start or something silly for them, I just remember grumbling goodbye in my dazed state. I managed to sleep in until 11am, lazy! Christa and Helen waited in Nha Trang for me, so we headed back the Greek place for brunch then spent the day on the beach. Omars Indian restaurant for dinner but it didn't beat Ganesh, then the night in why not bar.
Friday we basically did the same thing, back to the Greek place for food, twice for Christa and Helen. We did go to the shopping centre but it was pretty awful, the clothes lines was specifically designed for Russians, think we even saw a Kappa store. We soon left. That night Steph arrived. It was so lovely to see her and her boyfriend Marcus. We had a good catch up, a few buckets and a dance. Reminiscing about Ibiza and the fun we have. We only ever see each other in Ibiza, Creamfields or if I make it up to Liverpool, so it was wicked to see her in Nam.
We next morning we headed straight to the beach, the hangover needed to be healed under the suns rays and in the cold water. Steph was due to meet us at the beach early on but no word, it got to 5.30pm and I was starting to get worried. We walked to their hotel and banged down the door. Turns out they were just being lazy wotsits and had been in bed all day while Steph was poorly from the horrible Vietnam 'alcohol'. I ordered her to get up and sort herself out and said we'd meet up after dinner. Another visit to Lanterns for the same order. We had an early bus the next day so we had to pack up our bags then met Steph on bar street, her and Marcus wasn't drinking due to the continuation of their hangovers. We gave them hassle for it but not enough to make them. The left us around midnight so we was left to carry on the night without them. We randomly got talking to these two guys and turns out they're friends with Andy, Bryony, Charlotte and Tash. They travelled through Cambodia together, so funny that we had heard all their stories before they had told them. I went back to the room at around 3am to FaceTime all the girls back home. Most of them was there but had a few missing, so good to see their faces and talk to them, got quite teary afterwards. They say everything's the same at home and there's nothing to miss but I miss them.
After 2 hours sleep we were up and out ready for the next mental disturbance of Asian buses. We were heading to Mui Ne to meet up with the other girls again. We got the back row to ourselves so it was like a big bed. We dosed on and off, but the air con had broken and it was warming to 32 degrees outside. Plus the driver was just as crazy as they all are, swerving in the lane, honking like mad, even when other buses/bikes weren't there! Oh and smoking while drinking red bull. The journey was as they all are. After 6 hours we had arrived but poor Nelen had to stay on as she was going straight to Saigon to go to the visa office. See you soon Nelly! Hello Mui Ne!