Next installment of the trip, time for the beaches of Vietnam!!

First stop is Nha Trang and supposedly the beach capital of south-east asia...finally a bit of sun and sand. We arrived in town about 6 in the morning and in unbelievable heat. The city itself is well developed; lotsof bars, really nice restaurants and hotels wherever you look. As we had the whole day ahead of us we thought a snorkelling session was needed, the reefs around Nha Trang are supposedly quite good so we thought it was worth a go. So with a beer in one hand and a mask in the other we headed out on the boat. The verdict: it was ok, nothing special but it was nice to do a first snorkel of the trip. Managed to see an enormous jellyfish...was as good as it got to be honest. There isn't much else to write back about Nha Trang, it is as you would imagine. Pristine beaches and clear sea. There was a waterpark as well and of course we gave that a visit. There was even a dog and monkey show at the park...dogs riding a bicycle, only in Vietnam!! Only spent 3 days here because we wanted to move onto Mui Ne, another sea town but a lot less crowded and built around a fishing village, so onto the next bus.

Mui Ne....it seems we are getting closer to paradise as we get further into Vietnam. It was chill out time in Mui Ne, more beaches and more sun but this time we managed to root an apartment for all of us to stay in which opened out onto endless sea...can't complain. The apartment meant w had our own kitchen as well, so for 3 nights we lived off our own food. Pasta, noodles, mashed potatoes...granny you would be proud! We visited a few sand dunes but it was literally too hot to do anything else other than lie next to the sea and the pool. As you can imagine, with us three we soon got itchy feet and it wasn't long till we moved onto Saigon, now known as Ho Chi Minh city.

Saigon...the city of war and the hardest place in the world to cross the road! We visited the war museum on the first day, and it hit us pretty hard. You expect everything to be above board but some of the images that were shown wouldn't even be displayed back home. The museums have to be visited but you can't spend too long in them, just too much to take in. Saigon itself has reminders of war all around, but in such a Communist slant...you come away from eveything hating America...maybe not a bad thing! The same day we visited the chu chi tunnels and saw how the Vietnamese were the "invisible enemy". Tunnels you could hardly crawl through, I do not understand how they could fight in such small conditions....but then I looked at our tour guide and had a bit more of an understanding!! Saigon wasn't the best place we have visited, too expensive in the city so no nights out but we went there for the history in all seriousness. And in terms of history the city has it in abundance. It makes you realise the Vietnamese war was horrific but something which isn't really exposed to enough people.

Anyway moving onto Cambodia next, the killing fields and more history and then a bit more beach. Everyone who has visited has said it is unreal, so looking forward to it. Next blog soon!!

Jack
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