We left Saigon on Monday morning for Nha Trang. The bus trip was long and fairly uneventful. It took us around 10 hours in the end including swaps. However, fortunately after about half way the bus emptied quite drastically and we could have two seats each so that I could snooze the rest of the journey.
Nha Trang is a big fat touristy town, but for that its is really good. Our accommodation is well swish. For US$8 between us we have a large room with almost double beds each [large singles I’d say] with real mattresses!, Cable TV, ceiling fan, towels changed everyday with a maid to make our beds, and hot water in our en suite bathroom which even has a bath. Bargainiferous if you ask me.
Our first night we got some laundry done and sorted out our bus tickets [ooooh the chores of backpacking] but finally sat down for a really nice meal at a restaurant which displayed all its fresh catches out on the front on slabs of ice so you could choose your fish. They had red and white snapper, tuna steaks, crab [alive], squid, and lobster [alive]. In the end I went for one of their specials – steamed grouper in a spicy sweet sour sauce [but not like Chinese] with steamed rice and stir fried veg.
Yesterday we went on Mama Linh’s Boat tour – a bargain $6 +$2 entrance fees to places. We swam and snorkeled out by some islands and saw lots of fishies and lots of lovely coral as well. We had lunch, a fruit feast, there was live ‘entertainment’ [note use of quote marks], a visit to the beach and a visit to an aquarium. Fun for all the family.
Today we leave for Hoi An Up the coast. We will travel by night bus which will save us some money on a nights accommodation but is not likely to get us any sleep. So to kill the time until this evening I went on a dive leaving Tim to enjoy a lie in and the serious time a part from me in 3 weeks. I did a refresher dive day which included two dives on two separate sites. On the first dive I had to to go over my open water skills like taking your mask off underwater and removing your regulator which didn’t take too long so I got to enjoy a nice bit of a swim #under the sea# [L. Mermaid] and to see lots more fishies inc. Angel Fish, Parrot Fish and Clown Fish as well as some corals such as stag coral, plate coral and brain coral. The second dive was very much of the same.
We’re halfway through now on time but we’re not nearly halfway through on distance. We better get our skates on!
Ta ra