Nha Trang

Day 1: Met a nice couple from New Zealand on the nightbus (Bevan & Bridget). At the start of a 3 year trip. Bevan a city fan - assured me that he has been for a while! Arrived about 9am (everyone else on a different nightbus got in at 5am). Me and Alan checked into a place, which the owner reliably informed us was less than 1km to the main town centre. After dropping off our bags, we walked in to discover it was about 3km and therefore much further away from town than we wanted to be. Had come to Nha Trang to celebrate new year here so didn't really want to be walking miles to get to all the action.

After grabbing some breakfast and lining up an alternative guesthouse right in the heart of the city, we went on the long walk back to ours to try and check out after they had lied. Unfortunately, they weren't having it and said we could only checkout if we paid for that night. They refused to give us our passports back so we didn't have any choice than to just stay for that night. No amount of arguing was getting us anywhere, especially with the receptionist's deteriorating English. Funny how it seems to get worse when there's an argument or disagreement!

Anyway, no point letting it ruin our day. The sun was out (an extreme rarity on my trip so far) so the 2 of us hit the beach to be joined later on by Jakob, Miriam and Romona. A nice day chilling on the beach. You could tell I hadn't had much sun up to that point though as I'd obviously now forgotten how to put sun cream on and ended the day with various red patches on my chest, ribs and stomach. Not a good look. Funny though.

That evening, we went for dinner with an Isreali couple Alan knew and we then met all the others again for drinks. Also met an English guy called Tom (Wycombe) and a Dutch girl, whose name escapes me.

Day 2: A day of firsts for me. Alan and I went for breakfast, only to bump into Safiyah (amazing how often this happens). We then decided to hire a couple of Mopeds and explore the city. I've never ridden one before so was a little apprehensive. Then again, with the amount of 12 year old girls that are riding them out here, how hard could it be? Hmm. Bit of a shaky start - went faster setting off than I thought it would and was also heavier than I expected. Soon got the hang of it though and the 3 of us went to check out the National Oceanographic Museum, which was awesome, although I did feel a bit sorry for some of the animals, given the size of their containers.

We saw reef sharks, massive turtles (both firsts for me so I was made up), loads of different species of fish (stone fish were my favourite) and they also had a skeleton of a hump back whale, which was seriously massive. A lot more there to see than we were expecting so we were well pleased.

Next we went to check out the city's Giant Buddha - "giant" is the word. Pretty nice. Also a Pagoda nearby but I'm done with them now - gonna save my temple viewing until I get to Angkor Wat. There's only so many you can look at.

Finally, the 3 of us went to Thap Ba Hot Spring Centre for an afternoon of relaxation. Bit of a mission finding it - I left the directions to Alan & Safiyah while I just tried to control my own Moped. Was great when we got there though and well worth the search. A mud bath (another first), followed by this sidewards shower gauntlet, hot mineral water bath, waterfall and topped off with a swim in the hot pool. It was ace and so relaxing.

We didn't want to leave but had to get back to meet the others for our new year's eve celebrations. Getting back was fun! Pretty confident on the scooter by this point but nothing prepares you for south-east Asian traffic in a pretty big city on new year's eve. It was a bit of a challenge - the roads are organised chaos but we all made it back ok.

Met the others that evening and went out for an Indian, drinks and then down to the beach, where a big party was lined up. Hundreds of people there and we had some sort of Vietnamese popstar performance. The presenter's English wasn't great either - emphasised when she accidentally said "Happy Birthday to all". Pretty funny.

After that there was a decent firework display on the beach - seemed to last forever. We all went out for a few more drinks.

Day 3: Hangover not too bad but I still needed to have a walk around to clear my head a bit. Alan went to Mui Ne that morning and I booked my bus to go the following day.

Weather very unpredictable in Nha Trang so rather than risk a wash-out on the beach, I decided to take the 15min cable car ride over to Vinpearl island and spend the afternoon there. Was pretty good - a lot aimed at kids but there was a couple of decent rides and a really good waterpark, which I went to. Tried to get Jakob to come but he was too hungover and lazy. Got cold late afternoon so I headed back onto the mainland.

Met Jakob, Miriam and Ramona for a meal - not the best. I had my meal about 10 minutes after they had all finished. All had a laugh about it though. Off to Mui Ne in the morning.