Sat 18th Nov 2006 - Saigon to Nha Trang

Up early for our mammouth 12 hour bus trip to Nha Trang. Although it was soon apparant that the woman who had booked our tickets at TNK had actually forgotten to give us our bus tickets! But we managed to get away with it.

We declined the free hamburger and coffee that was offered on the bus as we were already full from our air bread. At toilet stop number one Cathryn discovered the Vietnamese equivalent of Werther's Original sweets. It was going to be a saviour on the killer journey. We slept on the bus until we reached Mui Ne where we spent an hour having lunch and getting to see the beach. Another box ticked and for added bonus we got to see cows on the beach.

Jen almost went into heart failure when she thought the bus was leaving without us. Not a lot Cathryn could do to help the distressed Jen though as she was otherwise engaged in the powder room! (ok we know that powder rooms don't exist in Vietnam but we can hope and dream) Jen then ran after the bus only to be told that the bus was just going to pick someone up before coming back for us. Panic over, but Jen was slightly red faced.

En-route to Nha Trang we had another delightful toilet stop. Except the toilets were just balack rooms with a drain in the corner. A girl's got to do what a girl's got to do! We avoided the out of date Pringles though and got on the bus for the final leg of the journey.

As usual our bus dumped us in Nha Trang at a hotel we didn't want to stay in. The man from the hotel then made his guests come and tell us how great his hotel was and that we should stay there. His guests were left a little embarrassed though when we explained that we had no intention of staying in the area no matter how good his hotel was.

We each got a moto with our rucsacks who took us to his mate's hotel rather than the one we wanted to go to. Do people think we're going to go against the advice of the LP in our quest for perfect beachside accommodation??? We were exhausted by all the hassle so we went next door to El-Coyote for a delicious mexican meal and where Cathryn beat Jen at pool, as Jen was now without male guidance on how to shoot!

Sun 19th Nov 2006 - Nha Trang

Got up early to get to the beach following the LP's recommendation that it gets wild and windy in Nha Trang in the afternoons. However, opening the curtains revealed a cloudy miserable day so we thought we'd be able to console ourselves with going to Same Same restaurant for museli and fruit. However, it wasn't a patch on Cambodian museli.

We looked around the shops and found the famous Bamboo Company shop - which allegedly sold really cool t-shirts etc. Cathryn thinks she can do better. Jen sees a new profession for Cathryn - business advisor/management by day and t-shirt designer by night! Then we went to a really cool place that did silk embroidery pictures - but no thanks to the poor directions of the LP. They were amazing but way out of our price range and we are homeless so have no wall to hang them on!

We went to Shorty's bar for lunch. Cathryn had her first proper salad in 2 months. Amazing!

After a walk on the beach we realised there was no hope of the sun making an appearance that day so we decided to be constructive and hired a taxi for some sightseeing. We visited Po Nagar Cham Towers and the Long Son Pagoda. At the pagoda we were attacked by women portraying themselves at "buddhist orphans" wanting money for postcards. We said we didn't want postcards but would be willing to make a donation to the orphanage if there was a donation box. All of a sudden they looked shifty and there was no donation box. Was there even an orphanage??

After escaping them we walked the 150 stone steps to the 14m high White Buddha.

Returning to the hotel, we glammed ourselves up for our night out in Nha Trang. We discovered an amazing restaurant and an amazing meal. Tofu with chilli lemongrass is amazing and was accompanied by outstanding spring rolls and sweet and sour veg with plenty of steamed rice. We were also given free cherry and strawberry wine which went straight to our heads. All for a bargain one pound fifty each. Bargain of the century!

The bar crawl then began at Crazy Kim's bar with buy one get one free cocktails. We enquired about attending the classes in the morning where volunteers can help teach English to the local street kids. We felt so guilty the next morning when we had over-slept and missed out on such an amazing opportunity.

Next we went to Why Not? bar where we decided against entering a pool comp. Instead Cathryn beat Jen both at playing s***head and our own game of pool!

We also noticed some familiar faces whilst enjoying our cocktails - the boys from Apache Bar in Phi Phi who Jen had vowed to virtually kill if she ever saw them again!! Luckily she was more amused by their antics this time around.

We finally found the place to go and moved on to the Sailing Club for some fun and dancing. The lethal drinks (ONK) were served in jam jars, which made a change from the buckets of Thailand and Cambodia. We met a man from Melbourne who to the dismay of Jen tried to persuade Cathryn that Neighbours was not all that and to not bother with the tour of Ramsay Street.

We were then joined on the dancefloor by the local Vietnamese ladies who danced the night away with us but then realised they couldn't keep up with our antics once the DJ started to play the dance version of the Killers' Mr. Brightside!

Good night had by all!