NO-TAN NAH-TAN IN NAH TRANG

DAY 53: Nha Tran

Surprisingly managed to get a bit of proper sleep for about two or three hours on the bus throughout the night, but at 4am I was wide awake as we were coming down a steep cliff face in the pouring rain with loads of other heavy vehicles on the road. We kept stopping to either pick up or drop off people or packages of some sort. I'm not sure what, but it looked like they were running a 'special courier' service as well as a coach service.

Arrived very tired at 5.45am in an overcast, post-pour down, Nha Trang this morning. The main reason we've come here is for the beach and to top up the 'tan' - or at least get one in my case, so we were disappointed with the weather on offer. My bag must have been next to a leaking fish container on the bus as it was wet an stank of fish juice when I took it out of the baggage hold.

We found a budget hotel, Lan Phuong (another great value room at £2.75 per person), got showered and then I had to empty and scrub the bag clean - sorry Aust.

We then headed out for some breakfast, as dinner last night didn't really happen and we were starving. We found a bar/restaurant called Guava that served the full works, Western style, and whilst it felt like we were cheating having an English breakfast, it was very welcome.

Knackered by mid-morning we went back to the hotel for a sleep. The plan was to sleep on the beach in the sun, but the weather had other ideas. We finally awoke at about 1.30pm and didn't really move until the evening when we headed out to find the Sailing Club, a nice restaurant/bar that we'd read about and were recommended to try.

We thought that it was at the other end of the beach so we headed out and walked for about half an hour then realised it wasn't there, so walked back towards the hotel to find out it was opposite where we were staying. At least we'd earned dinner and a few drinks. It's set on the beach and has a lovely menu, but pricey by Vietnam prices. I highly recommend the Sailing Club, but make sure you check the map first. Nha Trang on the other hand doesn't have much to offer if the sun isn't shining.