Before getting to the train station I was nervous about who I would have to share a carriage with on the train. I knew that there would only be two others, but they could have been axe murderers or something - and I was supposed to sleep? On arrival my dorm buddies were present and I was relieved immediately. They introduced themselves politely (who's names I forgot immediately) in a slight Australian accent. I was carrying a bottle of water, they were carrying a bottle of Scotch, so I dashed out to the shops again before the train left to buy some more mixers - there was some drinking to be done (only to aid the sleep though!!). The couple (we'll call them Bruce and Sheila for arguments sake) were really nice and we swapped travel tips, discussed our homelands etc etc for about half an hour, until the train ground to an almighty halt throwing all our stuff everywhere. We waited for about 10 minutes wondering why we had stopped and then we noticed some commotion outside, with guards moving between carriages and locals coming out of their houses gawping. Bruce went to have a look what had gone on and came back 5 minutes later after piecing all the mystery together. Aparently we had hit a motorcyclist at the crossing, who's brakes didn't work and couldn't stop. The train was on top of him and we had to move forward a few meters so they could drag the body away!! All I can say is that if that had happened back home, the train would not move until an inquiry had taken place, leaving all the passengers stranded. However, we were not in England so we proceeded on our journey after about a 25 minute delay!! I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing, but I did feel like a bit of a fugitive leaving the crime scene! We all chatted into the night or until about 1:30 am before we decided to get our heads down for a couple of hours. I couldn't sleep a wink, so was kind of pleased when the guards came around to do the wake up call. We arrived just 25 minutes late and there was a car waiting for us to take us to the accommodation - how kind! Nha Trang was pretty much what I imagined and a bit more. The party scene was heavy, with lots of young people out every night dancing the night away. It has the best food of anywhere in Vietnam in my opinion and the seafood is to die for. By day we would frequent the beaches, if the hangover was not too severe and soak up some of the Vietnamese sun. the weather here is so much better than the cities and the air so much cleaner. I think it rained only once and that was through the night. I even managed to catch a sunrise one morning from the roof garden of a hotel, overlooking the town and ocean - very romantic, but without the romance unfortunately. I think I'm just having a love affair with my camera at the moment as we share all these romantic moments!! For those of you thinking I've suddenly become and early bird, I had actually stayed up all night following a party, rather than getting up bright-eyed and bushy-tailed to see the sunset. Glad I was there though. Nha Trang is the perfect little retreat from travelling around Vietnam as the weather is glorious, the night scene lively, the food delicious and the day times lazy. You don't even have to worry about getting mowed down by motorcycles as you cross the road, as there really aren't so many to worry about. One morning, Daniel, Fiona and myself took a cab down to the Thermal Spa's for a couple of hours relaxation. You start off with a mineral shower for 15 minutes, then you bathe in cool mineral mud for about 25 minutes, get out and let the mud dry on your skin in the sun, shower it all off and then go for a hot mineral water bath for 30 minutes before being pummeled by high power massage jets of water. Every bath you got into was fresh for you, as they drained and cleaned each one after use. It was an extremely relaxing experience in beautiful grounds, all for the ticket price of less than 2 GBPounds!! After 6 nights in paradise, it was time to leave. I met some lovely people here, who I vow to keep in touch with and hopefully see again. The problem with Nha Trang is that it can suck you in and use up too much of your visa, leaving you less time to visit other places. There were lots of people there who had stayed for much longer than they had intended to! Following a string of unsuccessful road and rail trips, it was time to splash out on a flight to Hanoi as it would have taken 2 days to get there by bus and 1.5 days on the train - there was no way!! The flight would take 1.5 hours and all for about 50 GBPounds - it was worth it to me. So next stop Hanoi for a couple of days so I had better gear myself up for the city life again! Much love to you all. Stephen xxx