Day Forty-Six

Sight Seeing in Nha Trang

Off the bus & not such an early start, we have finally arrived in Nha Trang after bus broke down twice through the night. The bus was having problems with the back wheel but I suppose ragging the bus at some crazy speeds over the bad roads of Vietnam was not such a good idea but the driver didn't seem to care. We actually arrive in Nha Trang at least 3 hours late. We had another pick up from our Hotel we were staying at which was good as we didn't have to trek around the streets with our big heavy bags. At the hotel we checked in & we were shown to our room. The room was a little dated but it was massive with lots of space.

We placed our bags in the room & the we had to sort out the bus for tomorrow as our plan was to only stay one night in Nha Trang as there wasn't that much apart from visiting the islands that we wanted to do. We went down to reception to see if we could get information about getting to see the islands. The lady on the desk advised that there was 2 options, we could go on a tour which was no good as the tour had already left or we could hire a private boat to take us. Hiring a boat was out of the question because it was really expensive & nobody wanted to pay the price. We decided that we should sort out the bus tickets & then discuss what the sight seeing options where for Nha Trang.

We had asked the lady if she could call & arrange the bus tickets like some of the other hotels had done for us but she was having none of it so we had to walk to the bus station office again. The lady on reception gave us a map & she marked the road which we needed to go to for the office. We left the hotel & started walking around the streets trying to find the bus office. We finally reached the address that the receptionist had marked on the map & it was a complete waste of time. It was the wrong address & she had sent us on a wild goose chase. Luckily we had our guide book with us & the correct address was on the bus tickets so we managed to find the correct bus office which was only around the corner from our frigging hotel...typical!

With the bus sorted to take us to Dalat we decided to head back to the hotel, sort ourselves out & then grab some food in a restaurant somewhere. Back in the room we had our Lonely Planet books out & was researching about things to do in Nha Trang. We knew that there was a beach & a pagoda to see so that was it, we had a plan.

We walked to take a look at the beach but the sky started to look cloudy. In order to get to the beach we had to cross over a big dual carriageway but luckily for us the traffice was no way as bad at the major cities so we crossed quite easily. We had finally made it on the beach. The air was warm but there wasn't any sun... we didn't care to be honest. It was lovely to actually get to a beach for a change of scenery. Along one of the entrances to the beach was women who were trying to sell fruit & handmade bracelets. They came rushing up to us trying to make a few quid but they weren't selling anything we hadn't seen before.

It did't take us long before we kicked off our flip flops & rubbed our feet in to the nice sand. We took a walk up to the water flowing backwards & forwards. I had to dip my feet in the sea to test it's warmth & it wasn't cold at all. The water wasn't the greatest of colours, it was more of a grey blue than a clear blue but I was still satisified. Well, it wasn't long before all the bottom of my pants were soaking wet with messing around.

We still hadn't had any food so we agreed to walk to a restaurant that we had passed on the way to the beach & check out what food they had. Once we had food we agreed to go back on to the beach & take a proper walk along it. In the restaurant we ordered our food & when the plates came I was shocked, where was the food? There was a tiny portion of rice & an even smaller portion of meat with sauce. The food was ok & I was slightly disappointed & I think we were walking away still hungry. Time to pay the bill & when I checked over it I have noticed that we had been charged for some random item we hadn't ordered. I shouted the waitress over to ask what the charge was on the bill & when we told me we all nearly fell off our seats in shock. The place was trying to charge us for the use of the napkins... are you having a laugh? Surely that can't be right! I argued the toss with her & she finally took it off the bill. Like I was going to pay for napkins - utter joke indeed!

With empty bellies we walked back over to the beach & we started to walk along it in the direction of the pagoda we were going to see. The beach was really nice & you could see the islands that we wanted to visit dotted about in the water. I was really gutted that we didn't get to see them but there is always next time. We carried on playing in & out of the water like children & messing about in the sand. Walking on the s& became too strenuous so we put our flip flops back on & walked along the pavement.

Whilst walking down the main road it was lined with beautiful palm trees which were swaying in the wind. As we reached a certain point we crossed over the road to take a look at the slum villages which was situated on the other side of the road. The houses where like shacks & most were made out of tin or wood. Looking around people had done their washing & it was hanging on their makeshift fences of their homes. We never entered the slum as people around was looking at us not too pleased for some reason.

Further ahead there was a lovely bridge which went over the sea so we walked in the that direction. Over the bridge you could see further in to the slum area. There were even more poorer looking houses & some where raised on sticks & situated in the water. It was quite a big area of poor houses & probably the biggest we have seen whilst travelling so far. We walked over the bridge & on the other side we looked at the map to see where abouts we where from the pagoda. We were miles away but we carried on walking. On the other side of the slum village we could see that there was lots of boats which were mainly used for fishing in the sea.

We had reached a main road & the weather had taken a turn for the worse & the sky became really grey. We decided that we would carry on walking to see if we could actually get to the pagoda. The further we walked the more stare we got because they were certainly not used to seeing Westerners. The weather became worse & the sky started to drizzle, we thought that it wouldn't last long but we were wrong once again. In fact it became worse & the rain was proper lashing it down now so we had to run for cover under a shop's front cover.

We stood there laughing & joking for about five minutes before we made the decision to jump in a taxi & head back to the hotel. Who wanted to see the pagoda anyway? We had seen enough of them! Back at the hotel & all dried off we decided that we would brave the rain once more but only to go to a little supermarket (if you can call it that) to buy some beer & goodies because if we were going to be stuck in the hotel room we might as well make the most of it.

In the shop & with a our beers on the counter & a couple of packets of biscuits & crisps the lady totalled the bill & it was more than the stickers on the items had totalled so I questioned her.... Her excuse was that the labels were all wrong & my reply was "What? On every packet?". Once again we couldn't argue the toss & we wanted the things so we had to pay. I gave her the money & waited for my change. My change came back in drips & draps along with a small sweet in a wrapper. I checked the change & it was wrong, she owed me money. I showed her the change she had given me & told her it was wrong. She was saying to me that she didn't have the right change in the till & the sweet was to make up for it.... Well, I weren't having any of it, I wanted my change - the right change! Andy made her open the till & she messed around inside for a while before pulling the rest of my change out - Crafty B*****d, but not as crafty as us!

Back in the hotel & drying off once again we relaxed on our kingsized beds with the tv blearing out sport whilst we drank our beers & further researched the South of Vietnam & other things we wanted to do & see whilst we where there. It wasn't long before hunger set in & we wanted to get some tea. It was dry outside so we thought we would make a run for it & see if we could get some food. There was a few street cafes about but as we had left it quite late they were all shutting. We walked around for a while before coming to a place we all like.

After food it was time to go back to the hotel, but who had the map? Not one of us had brought the map so we didn't have a clue were we where or how to get back. We walked around the streets for a while until I had the bright spark of asking someone to direct us to the bus office that we had been earlier as I certinaly knew the way back from there. We went in to a posh looking clothes shop to ask for directions & thats when they staff started to draw a big map of the area to direct us.

Hooray, back in the hotel once again. It wasn't long before I was tucked up in bed & ready to go to sleep. I was shattered by not really doing anything. Hopefully Dalat in the Morning will be so much better than the disappointing Nha Trang.................