30th September
Woke up this morning after a very pleasant night bus from HoiAn to the most beautiful sunrise over NhaTrang beach that we have ever seen. We were also extremely shocked to see the amount of people that were on the beach exercising at 5.30am! Crazy. The bus was one of our better journeys, made easier with the company, Rowan, a nomad from the USA, and Nick from England who kept us entertained with films and conversations. Arrived at our hotel at 6am- definitely didn't think we'd be seeing that time on this trip- but couldn't check in until 2pm. Excellent. After a quick nap in the common area we headed out for a wander then straight to the beach, which might be the nicest one yet. Typhoon? What typhoon...? This evening we had arranged to meet with two English girls, Megan and Marie who we had met on the bus last night, things may have gotten out of hand when we turned a simple game of connect four into a drinking game, yes it can be done, without a doubt tonight is going to end badly....
1st October
Nursing massive hangovers, today is definitely going to be a write off, we again met up with Megan and Marie and decided to go for a massage- we definitely deserved it... Tonight we decided to visit a night market that was just outside of Nha Trang, our chosen mode of transport was the cyclo, we had never done this before, now seems as good a time as any! Squeezing two people on each cyclo, apparently a plank of wood is all it takes, we gripped on and enjoyed the 10 minute (in reality 20minute) near death ride to the market using our best horn noises to alert the motorbikes that we were there. The market turned out to be shut down and the sea food eaterie that the cyclo driver had suggested tried to charge us massive dong for a fish so we headed back into town for street food, not before almost being assaulted by the cyclo driver who had got massively confused with the agreement we had made over cost. Not doing so well on the transport front after all...
2nd October
Today we, along with Rowan, Nick, the two guys from the sleeper bus , and Dave, the English guy that we can't seem to shake :p rented mopeds and headed towards some waterfalls (yes more waterfalls) that were nearby. 20km and a few petrol stops later we arrived at a rocky track leading to the waterfalls. We decided to leave our bikes there as we were doubtful that they would make it- Nick and Rowan were already complaining of the extra weight we were adding to their bikes as it was! A further 2km and lots of scrambling over rocks, we made it to another waterfall- not quite as beautiful as. Luang Prabang but equally as refreshing to jump into from the high rocks. Carly being braver than me, pushed the boundaries and jumped from the highest point (20m) but made to do it twice as I missed the first time on my camera... Whoops! The way home was not half as relaxing as the way there, it started raining as it so often does here in the afternoon, but this time I mean it RAINED. Driving back on the scooters being hit by the rain was like being shot at by paint ball pellets. We were all definitely fantasising of hot chocolates and duvets by the end of it!
3rd October
Today Carly's friends Charlotte and Lucy arrived in NhaTrang to begin the celebrations for Carly's birthday. It's taken me all my might not to allow Carly a whole birthday week, she is 25 now after all.... Weather is again a bit of a write off, it seems that it gets to about midday then it just starts to pour down... Rainy season is not good for our tans! I spent the day trying to shake off Carly so I could hit the shops to get her a birthday present, is a bottle of rum acceptable? Few drinks and games of connect four with the gang and we're headed back to the hotel... This travelling lark really takes it out of you....
4th October
Well as my newly received Facebook message from Tom says... Today is waterpark day! Very excited. Vinpearl, NhaTrangs very own answer to Alton towers is our destination for the day, alongside loads of people that we have met in various hostels and buses. The day was everything we had hoped it would be, filled with water slides and (very crap) roller coasters, health and safety would have them shut down in an instant. The only downside was the rain, again shoes were off, water up to our ankles, and ponchos were on. The only safe place was the free arcade and the aquarium which took you round on a travelator through glass tunnels filled with sharks. Ben was the first to sit down, clearly travelling was too much for him too, followed by the rest of us. We were joined on the travelator more and more Japanese tourists who I told had to sit down, as this was the rules... Clearly we are missing our prankster days back at school. By the end of the tour, we had at least 40 Japanese all sitting down taking photos of Their surroundings. Needless to say we were too busy laughing to take much notice of the fish...
5th October
Carly's birthday!
We are celebrating along with Charlotte and Lucy, by heading towards the mud baths. Clearly we have not done quite enough relaxation. Our experience began by dipping into our very own private bath filled with mud then sunbathing so the mud could really do it's work. Who knew you floated in mud by the way?! We then had to wash it off by walking through a mineral water car wash for humans. Next it was off to the mineral spa pool, again private for the four of us where after about 5 minutes the heat of the water, became too much and we had to vacate. The rest of the afternoon was spent enjoying the benefits of the spa, a pool with Water as warm as a bath, jacuzzi and a few cheeky birthday cocktails all for a grand total of 118000 dong ( £4)! Crazy!
To help Carly not feel too homesick on her birthday, I had arranged with the hostel a mini surprise party with everyone that we had met so far and that were still in NhaTrang, complete with birthday cake, balloons and a token traditional Vietnamese hat. In true Walton style, Carly drank far too much, egged on by Ashley and Ben and far too many buckets of free rum, and was in bed by 1.30am with a bottle of water. Definitely a good way to see out our time in NhaTrang.