Apparently the beaches around the Vietnamese coast are pretty awesome and after the craziness of Saigon we welcomed some beaches. Fortunately for us, despite it being rainy season in Saigon it is actually still summer in Nha Trang. Deal!

There are actually mega cheap and comfortable tourist sleeper buses that go up and down the country. You can buy an open bus ticket for about $35 and stop off at any of the main tourist destinations then just get back on when you're ready to leave. Very convenient. Except the roads here are treacherous and just a couple of weeks ago a sleeper bus crashed and killed most of the people on it. Apparently in the local news they hear about bus crashes every day and often the drivers fall asleep or are drunk. Despite this, most backpackers will take the buses, probably oblivious to the risks. We, however, decided to take the very safe and very expensive trains. It is quite likely we could blow our budget taking trains and I know I'm a cheapskate but not when it comes to risking my life. So we took a day train to Nha Trang after being reliably informed by our hotel that it takes about 6 hours to get there. In fact it took a bum numbing 9 hours with a couple of lizards who hitched a ride with us. On the plus side though, there was plenty of leg room, they played the movie Babe and it was in English (despite being the only tourists in the train) and there was a Vietnamese kid in front of me who decided to play peek-a-boo for most of the train journey! Cute at first but it gets a little repetitive! Although I'm not sure who was keeping who entertained!

As soon as we got off the train we noticed the difference in climate. Nha Trang is hot! The first day there we decided to walk to the train station to sort out our onward tickets as this would most likely be a sleeper train and needs to be booked in advance. We were literally dripping with sweat after walking the mile or so there and found all the information a little confusing. We managed to decipher the train timetables and prices and realised just quite how expensive it was going to be. We decided to find a cafe to cool down and work out what our plan of action would be. Since we have limited time in Vietnam we have had to cut out an awful lot of places due to time constraints. To speed things up we decided not to bother with the train and just fly straight to the north (avoiding a gruelling 24 hours train journey) and flying wasn't much more expensive.

I think Nha Trang was a little too hot for baking on the beach so we actually only went on the beach in the evenings. It seems to be mainly a holiday destination for locals and the beach was overcrowded with people. There is an island just across from Nha Trang with a resort on called Vin Pearl which has a water park. We decided to go here one day but first I would need a more stable swimsuit. I went into a shop selling bikinis and as is usually the way in Asia, the shop owner pounced on me straight away and wouldn't leave me alone to browse. She kept pulling out different bikinis until I found one I liked. I tried on a medium, too small, tried on a large, still too small, eventually the only one that would fit was XXL! As if I wasn't feeling bad enough about this, the shop keeper laughed and pointed at my bum saying, "you big girl, big girl!" Really quite depressing. I then proceeded to eat an enormous Indian meal for dinner although this was entirely Bryan's fault as he chose it.

So armed with my new bikini, we took the cable car across the sea to Vin Pearl resort. Along the way we had some nice views of the harbour and the beaches. I didn't realise quite how much there was to do at the resort and it was all included in the ticket price. Firstly we climbed up to the top to do the massive toboggan ride and even though I wasn't allowed to, I did take some sneaky pics. Then we went to the aquarium to get away from the heat. The highlight of this was a conveyor belt which takes you through glass tunnels where you can see sharks, massive turtles and all sorts of crazy looking fish. After this we went to get some food. Unfortunately the only cheap thing to eat was the worst burger and chips I've ever eaten but at least it filled our bellies. Next on to the water park. There was a good choice of rides here although one gave us mild concussion (a dark slide which chucks you into a bowl and spits you out in any direction into the water) and another gave me some sort of whiplash. I don't think they're as keen on health and safety here! The rest of them were pretty cool though. Oddly enough the wave pool was my favourite. Once our fingers were shrivelled to a crisp and the sun started setting we decided to move on. Next we found a place full of 3 floors of arcade machines, including rodeo bulls and 4D cinemas. All of this was also free so we stayed here late before heading off to see motorcycle stunt riders riding around inside a globe and going on the theme park rides. We didn't end up leaving until 9pm!

I'm afraid we're having problems uploading photos at the moment so hopefully we can sort this out once we get to Beijing on Saturday.