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23 June: Nha Trang

We're up, finishing off, we grab our bags and head to Sinh cafe, our bus should depart at 07h15, to be sure we're on it we arrive at 07h00. Checking in we wait for others to arrive, before the bus departs at 07h30. Today we head for Nha Trang, on the South coast of Vietnam. The drive there will take 6 hours or at least that's what we we're told. Heading out of Dalat, it's down hill for the first 2 hours, we drive along mountains with panoramic views of the valleys below. The farmers at work in the fields, rice paddies still laying fallow, others half submerged with few plants clearing the water and still others fully grown waiting to be harvested.

Our first stop is at a bus stop with an ancient temple in the distance. The Cham temple in a way resembles those we saw in Cambodia, but that wouldn't be to far fetched as the Cham were in fact the ancestors of the Cambodians who built Angkor Wat. The southern part of Vietnam for the majority of Vietnam's history actually belonged to Cambodia. Unfortunately here we need to pay to use the bathroom, seeing as its been 2 hours and knowing it'll be another 2h before we stop we have no real option. Back on the bus we head further, only to stop after another hours drive. Its now 11h30 and the driver wants us all to take lunch at this restaurant with whom they obviously have a little agreement.

Lunch was okay but nothing special, Leanne went off the the ladies bathrooms, this was to be an experience and a half. Apparently there were 6 cubicles, with cement walls only thigh high, where you are apparantly supposed to squat. When she entered her first sight was that of someone else's bottom, walking on thinking that this was only a squat toilet with limited privacy, she soon finds that there is no hole in the ground. Rather a small covered drain in the corner of the cubical on a tile floor, everything needs to flow across the floor into it. At least there was a shower next door where she could wash her feet and slip slops before leaving. She is not usually easily put of but this was a bit to much...

Arriving in Nha Trang we found accommodation and headed out to explore the town. Along the way there was a restaurant selling pizza for a special, not expecting much considering it was half the usual price, but deciding it would be nice for a taste of western food we sat down and ordered. It was big enough for the both of us and actually really tasty (though not as many toppings as we're used to). After dinner it was starting to become dark, so we headed down to the beach walking along the boardwalk. Everywhere there were Asians, most probably Vietnamese, shops and stalls filled the side streets trying to sell you everything from water, beer or shellfish. The one thing that was very evident was how dirty the beach was with plastic bags. Yet this didn't stop hordes of locals from splashing around in the shallows with their safety jackets on.

After our beer we walked back to the inner city streets, where we found a large retail store where we could buy some supplies. Just before the shop was a bar with a two for one happy hour special and some westerners enjoying a game of pool. We made the detour ordering a Tiger beer each and challenging them to a game, we ended up playing three. One of our adversaries, Chris, was an instructor at Octopus divers and he gave us tips on which dive sites to dive and other general information regarding our dives. There was currently a special, 4 dives for $60, not bad considering their usually $20 a dive at the cheapest.

Buying some of what we needed we headed home with some fruit which we wanted for dinner, just a mission to cut the dragon fruit and mango with a small pocket knife. The evening was really very hot and we wondered how we would be able to sleep, having showered twice already....