hello from Nha Trang!? Again i am writing this before we head off for another destination further up the coast!?

We got that bus i was telling you about and si is vowing not to do the bus again overnight for 10 hours solid although we can't really complain as it did only cost 2.50 pounds each!? it wasn't too bad but si thought it was pure hell, needless to say we are booked on a soft sleeper overnight train tonight to go to Da nang, it has cost us 20 english pounds, so it better be worth it!? we haven't spent that much in one go for ages!?

so we arrived in nha trang on saturday 12th at 6am and were instantly hassled the minute we got off to stay at the moto riders guesthouses, (at least i we weren't called ass holes like in phom penh!) and agreed to go to the one that spoke to us first.? so we got on the back on the motobikes with the backpacks balanced precariously in front of the driver (again sorry mums?and dads!)?to be whisked along nha trang beach to the hotel whih was a fiver a night, with cable tv, fridge, hot water, fr internet and 2 double beds and a stone throws away from the beach!? thought we were dreaming!!? we got our heads down and then later that day went out exporing nha trang.?

On our tour oid nha trang we bumped into Doyle one of the aussie lads and they were staying in the next raod to us so agreed to meet up later although the full moon party hd been called off for some reason.?

The weather, except for today has been awful since we got to Vietnam and we have been constantly soaked so the beach didn;t look as good as it could do.? we just lazed around on the beach for the rest of the day before going and meeting the aussies for another messy night.?

We should introduce the aussie lads since we are spending so much tiem with them.? They are a great bunch of lads from Perth and we are hoping to catch up with them when we head over to Oz.? The lads are Simon, (aka Doyle), Sam (aka Chopper), Richo (aka Barrel) and Pete (aka Knuckles).?

We went out for a meal then ending up in the Red Sun having cocktails out of what can only be best described as plastic jam jars for 60 pence each!? you can imagine the mess we were in when we left to go to the sailing club!? We only have few photos of a night time as it isn't safe of a night to go out with anything valuable.? It is highly recommended that you do not go out with any jewellery, cameras etc and only take the money you need for the night as the beach area is notorious for groups of girls and lady boys to pounce on you and pick pocket you.?

im afraid we will have to update this entry when we get to da nang as need to get another meal in before getting the train.... speka soon, love to you all, keep the messages and emails coming, the are greatly appreciated after a long bus journey with next to no sleep.? wish you could send us some home cooking too!?

continued.......

sorry about that god we have a lot to get you caught up with and doubt will be able to do it in one go.  back to nha trang and the pick pocketing.  pete left earlier than the rest of us and he got pounced on by a group of girls as he was on his own.  he didn't realise that they had managed to pickpocket him until they drove past him and threw his wallet at him further down the road, luckily he didn't have any cash in there and all his cards! nice of them to return the cards hey? 

anyway it was a pretty drunken night with us rolling in at 4am all promising to meet up at 9.30am, hire motobikes and explore nha trang.  si and me were there, but we couldn't wake the aussies so we decided to head off exploring on our own.  its great packing a day pack, your waterproof jacket, suncream, sunglasses, camera and guidebook and then just taking to the road. 

The first sight we came across was the Hon Chong Promontory which is just a few boulders and rocks jutting out into the sea but the story of how they got there is quite sweet.  There's a massive handprint on a huge boulder at the tip of the promontory.  According to local legend, a giant drunk fairy made it when he fell while spying on a female fairy bathing nude on the next beach.  they fell in love and began a life together but the gods intervened, punishing the fairy by sending him away.  the lovesick female fairy waited patiently for her husband to come back, but after a long time thinking he may never come back, she lay down in sorrow and turned into fairy mountain.  see the phtos they are quite good! 

after checking that out we headed into the mountains to try and find the salt lakes and the waterfall but half way up the mountains the weather was horrific and we were soaked through so we headed back to the hotel to find our room had flooded with the torrential rain soaking all of our stuff.  

About an hour later the rain had stopped and the aussies turned up after shaking their hangovers off with TJ our guide for the day, ready to go to the waterfall on out motos.  What a trek....we drove for about an hour and a half and to say my heart was in mouth would be a understatement as people drive manically here, they just beep which means they are coming whether they can get past you or not!  we got depp into the mountains and there were some severely flooded roads we had to drive through.  richo never came on the trip as he was still suffering so TJ our local vietnamese guide took his bike, and every time we went through a flooded road it broke down.  we were all soaked through as it didn't stop raining so we would all have top stop and TJ would get all the local village peope to come and help fix it while we all got out the pringles! 

the waterfall wasn't as good as it would have been if it hadn't been raining as it was flooded and the water a brown colour so we couldn't swim to the further falls. TJ siad normally you could drink this water as it is normally so pure and clean...not the day we went... but it had been raining solid for 5 days.  we managed to get back safe. 

will update again later sorry............     

back again...the following day was to be our last in nha trang as we didn't particularly like it there, too much like blackpool.  Nha Trang is renowned for its diving so simon, sam an richo went for a dive on our last day which he throughly enjoyed.  i took the opportunity to go and see Long Son Pagoda, which has a huge white budah sitting on a lotus blossom on a hill and you can see it from anywhere in nha trang.  simon is all buddahed out so i went on my own and got talking to a local who took me to see all parts of the pagoda that other tourists do not get to see including the monks quaters and the burial area for the monks!  it was quite impressive. 

We did go to a really cool barin nha trang called the crazy kim bar, run by kim herself,  she is Vietnamese-Canadian and the establishment is her vehicle for her commendable "hands off kids!" campaign, which works to thwart the growing problem of paedophilia in Nha Trang.  Part of the proceeds from the food, booze and t-shirt sales go towards the cause.  you can also volunteer here to teach english to local street kids in the class room held in the back of the bar.  it is a fantastic campaign and we ended up buying t-shirts from crazy kim! 

we were meant to leave that night on the over night sleeper trian but when we got to the train station and were about to book our tickets i happened to look at the tickets and we were not due to go the following day!  simon was fuming as he had specically asked to leave on monday night! so we went back to the aussies guesthouse, checked in and ended up back at the red sun drinking the jam jar cocktails again! 

but if we had left on time i wouldn't have had the opportunity to teach a sweet old vietnamese lady english on the beach! 

we eventually left safely the following night heading to da nang 15th May!