Sun, sea, sand ... and lightning

Another night bus (this time on a newer model but still hopefully our last) and we were in Nha Trang. Our sole purpose for coming here was to lay on the beach - it might seem strange that in 10 weeks in SE Asia we've only spent the first 2 by the beach so this was long overdue.

Luckily we arrived early to bright (and extraordinarily hot) sunshine so we quickly checked in and headed to the beach where we would stay for the rest of the day (and most of the next come to that!). Nha Trang doesn't have the beauty of other beaches but you defiantely feel like you're 'on holiday' with a very long strip of sand, lots of watersports, big hotels and sun loungers. The best thing about this beach, in my opinion, is that rather than walking the streets looking for bargains the market comes to you. You barely have to lift your head from the sand and you're being offered snacks of fruit, doughnuts or popadums or sunglasses, books and jewelery. It goes withour saying that most of these things were bought over the 2 days.

We found a nice little restaurant with good, cheap food near our hotel and better still they gave you a free drink during happy hour so we never wandered far.

It wasn't until our last afternoon when the sun gave up (it had been so hot) and the sky turned black. The rain actually held off for a while but we sat on the beach and watched around 10 bolts of lightning come down over the mountains and sea - very spectacular.

After a couple of restful days we hopped back on the bus this morning to make our way to Dallat - this is inland in the central highlights and is where we'll be taking an 'Easyrider' tour from tomorrow (motorbike tour). We are really looking forward to our tour after seeing the scenery up here on the bus - there was plenty of time for this as the bus went painfully slowly (and bumpily) up the hills. It looks like motorbike will be the way to travel :)

Liz