The locals were out in force at 5:30am, playing badminton, doing tai chi and swimming. Sarah said it was crazy watching them as the sun rose on the bus as we arrived into Nha Trang. After checking into a cheap hotel we went straight to the beach, it looked like a great idea as it was warming up already. The sea was beautiful - just what we needed after the bus journey. We then had breakfast with a fabulous view of the beach and just lazed about all day reading and taking the occasional dip, it was really relaxing. Sarah got pampered she had; a manicure, pedicure and her legs threaded without leaving the sanctuary and shade of her sunlounger, so much for being budget travellers!!!

Yesterday we went on a boat trip to tour 4 local islands and do a bit of snorkelling with Leila and Mick. En route to the first island we had the first beer of the day -Aussies do like to hit it hard, it ended up turning out to be a booze cruise!! Our guide was pretty funny, the rendition of the Titanic song will definitely stick in our minds for a while. The water was beautiful - 3m deep and crystal clear. It wasn't long before we were all jumping in off the boat, although the snorkels and masks we got given weren't up to much, the masks leaked and went cloudy very quickly. It was far more fun jumping the 3m off the top of the boat!

Back on the boat it was more beers as we carried onto the next island for lunch, an awesome platter, loads of fresh seafood it was delicious. We washed this down with a beer while watching the on-board entertainment, a band formed by some of the staff and the guide - they were surprisingly pretty good (or was my memory fogged by beer!) Then back into the water for the promised 'Happy Hour' - the guide floated out on rings with a floating bar full of Vietnamese Mulberry wine. After a good few glasses we were all quite merry floating about in the beautiful water!! Some local kids came past - diving dow to spear huge sea anenomes, they managed to get loads. The next few islands we swam and played about before getting an ice cream on the last one. On getting back we had an early dinner of curry before a beer induced early night!

We got up early this morning to go and see the sunrise, leaving the hostel at 5:20am took a lot of effort! It was worth it, again the hoardes of locals were out doping their thing before it gets too hot, the beach was packed. The sunrise was gorgeous, well worth getting up for. As it started warming up (about 7:30) most of the locals had left, we grabbedsome chairs and decided on another beach day - not many left now It has been a lovely relaxing day in front of books on the beach. We both like it here, it is a quite built up but the beach is really quiet, it's really beautiful. There are loads of really posh hotels being built so I don't think the beach will be this quiet for too much longer.

Tomorrow we get an early bus to a place called Dalat up in the mountains famous for waterfalls, vinyards and coffee plantations - We can't wait.

Love A&S xxxx