We are in the coastal town of Nha Trang, Vietnam. We took an overnight bus for the journey from Hoi An, and arrived in town at about 6.30am Tuesday. We found a reasonable guesthouse room, and then went back to sleep! Later on we forced ourselves out of bed, and as a treat Katie had sausage and mash and I had chicken curry and chips, both English style! So, stomachs suitably weighed down, we headed for the beach. It's very nice, 6km long crescent, and we passed the day cooking ourselves and relaxing.

The following day we had booked to go on a snorkelling trip. It was actually for scuba divers, but we just paid a reduced rate to come along and snorkel. Our destination was the coral reefs around Mun Island, 45 mins boat ride from the mainland. The time passed quickly, we had a nice group of people on the trip. When we anchored, we sorted out our equipment. There were wet suits available if we wanted them, but it seemed like too much hassle, so in we jumped. Well, it was bloody freezing, and quite choppy too, but we swam off for the reefs anyway. My mask was rubbish though, leaking water, so I had to come up every minute or two to empty it. We kept feeling painful stinging sensations too, similar to those we had in Thailand, and eventually we spotted the culprits... jellyfish! Now this is not something that you want to see when you are 100 metres from the boat, particularly when your mask doesn't work so you can't look out for 'em, and especially not when jellyfish are your closest thing to a phobia! But that was the situation we were in. We seemed to be in the middle of a shoal of them, there were so many! We just swam very quickly back to the boat, and didn't get stung too badly. They aren't really horrible stings; worse than a nettle but not as bad as a wasp sting, but we got quite a few, Katie especially. The visibility was particularly poor at this sight as well, so we were beginning to wonder if it had been a waste of time coming on the trip.

Shortly afterwards, we headed off to the second dive site on the other side of the island. This time we were ready for the jellyfish! We had donned wetsuits and I had a better mask. And this time when we got in the visibility was great, far better than before. And there were loads of jellyfish, more than before even, but this time we knew we were safe, so instead of panicking I could actually take the time to look at them. They were small, the largest about the size of a mans' fist, and there were 5 or 6 different types, and in their own way I guess they were quite pretty. Katie decided that this was just to mundane for her though, and got herself stung on the lip (it's possible that she was trying to kiss it, but this is currently unconfirmed.) The underwater views were amazing here, a beautiful reef and we saw lots of types of fish. Afterwards we had lunch on board, and then when we got back to the hotel slept for the afternoon as we were so exhausted! As I said, the guys on our trip were really nice, and we arranged to meet up with them for a few drinks later. So after an Indian, we went to a bar and met up with Dave and Kristen from Canada, an ozzie guy called Tim, another English guy called Keith and a lovely old (but very active) australian called Marcia. We'd been planning to go to a spa the next day with the Canadians. Unfortunately they couldn't make it, but it was still a good night.

Today we headed out of town for Thap Ba Hot Springs and Mud Baths. Here, for the equivalent of 2 pounds we got the following: We went in a big mud bath for half an hour, which we had all to ourselves. Yes, it was as much fun as it sounds - although the mud wasn't too hot - but it was so relaxing and, well, dirty! But definitely recommended. Next we were shown to a huge stone hot tub, which was filled with 40 degree C mineral water from 100 m underground. We stayed in here for about 45 minutes, and then went for some lunch. Afterwards, we went to check out their swimming pools, expecting the usual cold outdoor pool, but this too was filled with the mineral water at 38 degrees C! It was like a hot bath, so nice but impossible to swim in, all you wanted to do was just lay back and relax. I even tried to swim a length, and just couldn't bring myself to do it!

We left the spa feeling completely relaxed and refreshed, ready to take on the hassles of Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) which is our next destination. Somehow, I think it might take more than that though!