I am in Nha Trang and it is beautiful, the weather is glorious and although i havnt had a walk on the beach yet, from what i can see it looks lovely - I am going to take a shower and then have a wander along the beach but im so excited at the moment that i had to write blog first!

I went in to a travel agents and there was a trip called easy rider, where you hop on a motor bike and they take you pretty much where ever you want - It sounded interesting but the tour guide didnt sell it very well so i took the leaflet and then decided to keep on looking around for tours to do. When i was walking back to the hotel a man on a motorbike stopped me and asked if he could talk to me for a few minutes - as this is quite common here (you get a lot of people asking if you need to be taken somewhere on the motorbikes as these are the only form of transport around the town really) I told him no and kept walking but he was a persistant little b***** so i stopped and let him talk to me, He was telling me about the Easy Rider tour and saying how most of the town travel agents advertise Easy Rider tours but he was the original one (he even has a tattoo of a motorbike on his arm with 'Tony - Easy Rider' written on it - he told me about himself and how long he had been doing the tour, showed me a photo album of trips that he has done and went through the entire tour with me...and it sounds amazing! Basically he picks you up at 8.30 from your hotel and you and your luggage get on the back of his motorbike (its a big sturdy one, not one of the usualy little scooter things) and you have a choice of different tours to take ranging from 3days and 2 nights up to a maximum of 25 days and 24 nights! The tour he told me about is a 4 day 3 night tour - you leave Nha Trang and head to the central highlands stopping off at the Virgin Lady waterfalls, a shrimp farm, a traditional brick makers where you can watch them making bricks, pheonix pass where Tony (the tour guide) tells you all about its historical impact during the war in 1968, a coffee plantation and then we stay for the first night back at the Virgin Lady waterfalls near the jungle.

On the second day we head to wards a place called Laklake and take a small trek at a village called Jun where we see the M'nong people, then do an elephant ride (but that costs extra) then we spend a night at a home stay (Long House, but im not too sure what that is, i guess a traditional village home?)

On the third day we head towards a place called Dalat and we stop at some elephant waterfalls, a traditional silk centre and then we stay in a hotel in Dalat.

On the fourth day we visit a place called the crazy house, a chicken village, a mushroom farm, a tea planation and then we head to wards Mui Ne beach and visit the sand dunes and that is the end of the trip! It sounds fantastic doesnt it!

to begin with i was very interested but a little sceptical as to whether he was legit or not, but he handed me a 'guestbook' where previous goers had written their comments on the journey and the feedback was amazing! everyone who had taken the trip said how good it was a you got to see the real Vietnam, How nice, friendly and informative Tony was etc... The price was a little off putting - $200 for the whole trip, but that is including everything except food, drinks and the elephant trekking, but then i thought - what the hell, its only 100 pounds give or take and im here to have the experience of a life time, if i cant do this now then where else can i do it and maybe it means that i may have to cut back other things for a little while but what the hey! so i booked it all up and i am leaving on Thursday!

Tony was really lovely, he said that he fully understood why i wouldnt want to go as i had only just met him and i didnt know who he was so we went for a drink in his sisters cafe where we talked more about it - there was a westener sitting in the cafe so i asked him if he had done it and he said yes, but many years ago and it really was worth every penny!

Im so excited!!!

Right i am going to have a shower now as i probably stink! I fell over today by the way, i was walking along the road and slipped off of the curb - they are slanted! i cut my leg - I was hoping that it would bleed so i could put on one of the funky plasters that Father Christmas (aka Holly and Helen) bought me for Christmas but alas - it is only a scratch! il try harder next time!

xxxxxx