From Hoi An to Nha Trang was a twelve hour overnight bus journey. Unlike the journey to Hue, this time I was travelling on the sleeper bus, which initially I was quite happy about. Unfortunately this turned out to be the worst experience I've had on a bus so far! What made it so bad was the fact that the beds had been specifically designed for the Vietnamese (therefore if you were over the height of 5'5" then it was a struggle to fit in the bed!). Basically I had to attempt to curl up as small as I could, but what made this near enough impossible was the fact that the beds were so narrow and as a result my knees were crushed against the bars (I was on the top bunk). What became annoying was that after about half an hour my leg would go numb so would have to turn over (which again was very awkward) and lie with my knees against the window. I did this for the entire trip down to Nha Trang which meant that I got no sleep whatsoever.

The bus arrived in Nha Trang at about 7am. I attempted to stay at the hostel in Nha Trang, but unfortunately it was fully booked. Consequentially, I had to find a hotel as there were no other hostels in the town. I spent about half an hour looking round hotels trying to find one that was pretty cheap and had half decent living conditions (not particularly that I wanted to be doing at 7:30 having spent the whole night pretty much awake!). After choosing my hotel I was told that would not be allowed to check in until 11am, so I had nothing to do for the next three and a half hours! I decided to get some breakfast so I went on a wander (though to be honest I pretty much went to the first place I found!).

Whilst having breakfast I was approached by a Vietnamese man who told me about the Easyriders motorcycle tour, whereby he would take me from Nha Trang to Dalat on a three day trip, costing $60. It was something that did actually sound quiet good and he even showed me an album of photos he had from previous trips. I would maybe have been more interested had not been for the fact that I had just arrived (something I had to explain to him three or four times before he left!). When I got back to the hotel I was finally allowed to check into my room (a little bit early), and I finally had the chance to catch up on some sleep. Unfortunately for me as I was so tired from the night before that I was asleep for the entire afternoon (not something that I'd intended to do). In fact I was asleep for so long that just after I woke up I got a phone call from the man at reception making sure that I was OK!

The next day I was quite intent on making more of my day than the one previously. However I was a little unsure about what to do though as Nha Trang is a bit of a party place, where the main focus is on the beach. There aren't many places to go sightseeing, and they are located quite far away. I had taken a little bit of an interest in going on the tour of the islands surrounding Nha Trang, though I had been a little put off by it after some people I spoke to the previous night told me that it was not really worth going on it. I came to the decision that as it was a really sunny day that I'll just spend it at the beach. It was early in the afternoon by the time I got to the beach. I was strolling down the beach looking for somewhere to set up when I heard someone call my name; it was Sarah (a girl whom I'd only very briefly met in Hue and Hoi An. I was actually quite surprised that she remembered my name!).

She and I were chatting when a couple of guys she had met - Greg and Nick - walked past. We were talking for a while and ended up coming with a plan to meet up later as it was her final day in Nha Trang. As Greg and Nick left, Sarah proposed that we find someone who will cook us seafood on the beach (there are lots of women walking up and down the beach with mini barbecues and freshly caught seafood), which, as a big fan of seafood, I was all for. After about five minutes of looking we found a woman who would cook for us. We were debating for a while about what shellfish to have, but in the end we chose to have a crab each and a lobster to share, which cost 150,000 VND each (about £5). After making our decision the woman told us that she would throw in another lobster for free as it was Tet! I think that this was the best and the freshest food I had eaten since I started travelling (even more that the food I'd eaten on the Junk in Halong Bay, which I didn't think was possible!). Sarah didn't want to spend the day in the sun as she had been savagely burnt, which I was too fussed about as I am still pretty much at the beginning of my trip so I will have plenty of other chances to go to the beach to get burnt! As a result of this we spent the entire afternoon propped up against a beach bar drinking cocktails!

The evening saw the four of us meet up at a small backpacker bar, where we met four other people that Sarah knew. Sarah was leaving for Ho Chi Minh City that evening and at about 9:30 she got a taxi to the station, only to come back about half an hour later saying that her train had been delayed by four hours! From there we moved to the Why Not? Bar as it was starting to pick up. When we got there, the eight of us all chipped in and ordered an evil concoction called 'The Fish Bowl' that was served to us in a bucket! It was so big that in the end we had to start playing drinking games in order to get rid of it quicker! I can't remember what was it consisted of, but the percentage of it that wasn't alcohol must have been minute! We ended up staying there for the rest of the night as there was a pretty decent atmosphere, and at 1:30am Sarah left for the train station (again) and about half an hour late she was back (again!). This time she stated that her train was only forty minutes late and not four hours!

At about 3am Nick and I decided to call it a night walked back to our respective hotels (which were right next to each other). As we were making our way back, a motorcycle pulled up beside us and a Vietnamese woman jumped off the back. She came up to us and started offering her 'services'! Of course both of just ignored her and continued walking. However, this did not put her off in the slightest, and she got a little bit more aggressive and started groping us! While all of this was happening, the guy driving the motorcycle (probably her pimp!) was stalking us! In the end both of us decided that we needed to make ourselves pretty scarce and got away as quickly as we could! I think we were a bit lucky, from what I've heard the women can get very aggressive and even the men get involved!

Like my first day in Nha Trang, my last was pretty much a waste! Having been out drinking the previous night I was in bed until the afternoon! Again I wasn't fussed about visiting the beach, plus I needed to get my journey to Dalat sorted out. After initially being intrigued by the Easyrider Tour, I checked it out at a travel agency (rather than approaching a motorcyclist at the side of the road). Here I was told that it would cost $60 for each day I was on the road. When I told him about the trip I had been told about on my first day in Nha Trang, he looked at me and said that the price he had given was for each day. This was too expensive for me and as a result, I would be going to Dalat by bus.