Em: We arrived in Quy Nhon after a rather chilly 5 hours on a bus as for once the air con was actually working properly and we were wearing t shirt and shorts. On the way we'd got chatting to a father and son from Slough and upon arrival decided to share a taxi to where they were going to stay in hope that they had a free room for us. But they didn't and so off we went to find the infamous 'Babara's Backpackers' which is run by an aussie lady. The place was not where our guide book indicated and after walking down a road for 20 minutes without success we were beginning to get frustrated. The fact that the Vietnamese don't seem to understand the concept of houses being in numerical order didn't help. The numbers went from 12 to 15 and then to 9?!?! After some enquiring we discovered that Babara had moved to the sea front and so we plodded. Eventually we saw the guys from Slough and they offered to carry our day sacks for us as they needed to go to Babaras to change money. We eventually found Kiwi Cafe, Babara's restaurant, and managed to get a room. Quy Nhon is not very touristy at all and we only ever seemed to see other travellers in the Kiwi Cafe, it was weird, it was like the unoffical hangout.

The next day we rented a couple of overpriced bicycles that were more like rust buckets and headed to the leperacy beach... why didn't we get a motorbike?! After good ten minutes flat riding we reached a hill which we took one look at and sighed. 10 minutes later and we hadn't made that much progress. Dean at least had a mountain bike and so had some chance of getting up the hill whereas I'd been given some little girl bike which was almost impossible to ride uphill in 35 degree heat. So after pushing it most of the way, we finally reached the top which came out on to a main road which apparently was an even steeper way. The road to the hospital was even steeper than the one we'd just climbed, fortunately downhill though... or at least it was on the way there. To make things worse the back brakes on both bikes were broken and the front ones on my 'barbie bike' made a noise like there was a family of mice trapped in the spokes. So you could hear me rolling down the hill for what must have been miles... how embarassing. When we finally got there we cycled around the hospital grounds. They have basically made a little village for the families of patients of the hospital and those who are well again are given jobs depending on the severity of the effects of the diesease. Some were left to tend the beach whilst others go out fishing. After cycling around for a while we pulled over to one house where they were selling freshly squeezed sugar cane which was extremely refreshing. The beach was then insight and so we headed off to do some sunbathing. We had the entire beach to ourselves which was really cool and it was a really nice beach too, with clear water, palm trees and white sand. The whole thing htough was shadowed by the knowledge that we had to get back up that hill again. So after a while chilling we decided it was time to head back as rain clouds were rolling over the hills. It just wasn't going to be possible to ride the 2.5km back to the top of the hill. We even tried swapping bikes but Dean couldn't muster the strength to get the girl bike up. So at 1.30 in the afternoon in baking heat, we pushed the bikes up the hill, much to the amusement of the Vietnamese who were passing us on their motorbikes. We were both praying that someone with a van or something would come and give us alift up but it never happened. Finally at the top we felt a sense of relief and pride that we'd actually ade it, albeit looking rather sweaty and knackered. We headed back to the main town, me squeaking all the way down the hill. The first place we went? A MASSIVE bakery to compensate for all hte burned calories!! We then cycled to some nearby benches and stuffed ourselves with cheese butties and cake. That evening we headed to a local restaurant where a group of men were in full celebratory swing. Masses of rice wine and beer were being consumed and theu were really rowdy but it was clear to see that they were having an awesome time. When the Vietnamese party they do it properly. Each table is brought an entire crate of beer to help yourself to and when they are done with the can they just throw it on the floor... the mess they create around themselves is just crazy, you'd get kicked out of the place in England!

The rest of our time in Quy Nhon involved good conversation with fellow travellers in Kiwi Cafe, cycling on the flat terrain... no more hills and then making trips to the bakery. It was awesome and as snobby as it sounds, it was nice to be somewhere that wasn't filled with loads of tourists again.

Dean: Next we went to nha trang and there was lots of tourists. we basically spent the whole time on the beach. on the first full day we were there (after spending the first half day on the beach) em decided she wanted to get a long tanning sesh in on the beach. so thats what we did. it was alright actually seein as i usually get bored doin that sort of thing and end up chewing my arm or something. that night after munching we went to a cool looking bar for a drink or two as it had a nice 2 for 1 offer going. neither of us can actuialty remember what it was called but it was ace! taking advantage of the face that we didnt spend anything all day this 2 for 1 offer was of great use to us (1 drink is about 50 p or sumet) so as you can immagine it was a bloody good night.

next day we were gona go to this hot mud bath place but as soon as we walked out the door n realised how rediculously hot it was that day we decided to sod it n just went to the beach instead as going to hot mud didnt sound as appealing. during the day after i went for a swim in the sea i came back and two 4 year old ish girls were lay in my deck chair....very quite all wrapped up n everything. after a few minuits the mother came over n moved her children to between mine n ems chair....as if we wanted them there....stuped woman. however it gets worse...i could deal with that. before leaving the mother helped the child in taking a piss right between the two of us.....what the f*#k?? and then she left. we laughed but really was that neccassary??

next morning we had to get up early to get on a boat. on the boat we stopped at an aquarium that had some massive fish which was pretty cool. later we stopped and went snorkelling around the coral which was really cool. about an hour after we had our huge feast on the boat which also included a lot of fun karaoke and dancing and drums and stuff we stopped again. the captain of the boat then just randomly jumped of the top of the boat. after going to inspect what he was doing we saw him floating around in the middle of the sea with a big chunk polyester that had a basket full of wine on it. he shouted to everyone to come get it. everyone seemed to be looking puzzled but i decided that if there was free booz to be had i wouldnt waste any time n dived right in after it swiftly followed by everyone else when they saw the captain pouring me a glass of his (in his own words) "f***ing mingin wine." im sure he had been drinking as he just started screaming and shouting "everyone come and get my cheap f***in mingin mine that i got from the garage for 5000 dong!!" it was amazing...best bar in the world.

:P