Days 156 to 160. Nha Trang

Vinpearland Resort with cable car in background

The bus arrived at about 1pm to take us on the 4 hour journey to Nha Trang on the coast. It was with this bus we first experienced the famous 'sleepers' that seem so common place in Vietnam. At first glance they look very comfy. What could be wrong in seats reclined far back, and the back seat a full size bed, better suited to a bedouin tent? It's actually quite uncomfortable to travel this way during the day. You watch the scenery go past in a lying down position, which is a bastard for travel sickness. This is furthermore a shame, as the scenery through the Highlands of winding roads and deep valleys filled with cloud, is pretty inspiring. Therefore, my necked cricked as I strove to see it go past in an upright position. The effort was worth it.

We arrived about 6pm into Nha Trang and haggled down a taxi driver, exploiting our freshness to the area. Our hotel was perfect and is called Pho Bien. A room can be as little as $10 or as much as $15 if you want what we had, a large penthouse balcony overlooking the sea and islands.  We were very spoilt and left wondering when the next shitty hotel will come from.

Nha Trang is a seaside town, but calling it a seaside town invites mental comparison with Skegness or Blackpool. In fact it is possibly more the French model of seaside town. While not fully achieving this aim, it maybe set out to be a Cannes in the Orient.  A long beach parallels the town, with a promenade permanently decorated. Sometimes with well sculptured shrubbery, and other times with a bit of socialist flag waving and concrete structures.

We noticed from our balcony letters spelling Vinpearl on a hill on an island, Hollywoodesque. We asked a Kiwi who we struck a conversation with, what it was. He said it was Vietnam's Disneyland, and those little lit up 'Eiffel Towers' are in fact cable cars to transport you there, should you wish. So that was the next day sorted.

We decided to walk to the start of the cable car which looked quite near at first, but after an hour walking and slowly running out of beach promenade, and wandering into a less attractive area, we suddenly were aware we bit off  more than we could chew. My foot wear choice of flip-flops became agony. In the end we found the cable car, and sweating like pigs in a sauna, we collapsed with a Pepsi, and in my case I stuck my head under a fountain. The cost was $21 for the 3km cable ride (the longest in the world we were told), and entry into Vinpearland Resort with its roller coasters and water parks. It was a splurge for our budget, but still we were mindful that something like this would cost twice as much back home.

As well as the waterpark type slides and stuff, there was a beach with added sand and equipped with every type of amenity in showers etc to counteract all about a real beach that is uncomfortable. As I said it was a waterpark and most of us know what that entails, so I'm not going to waste time describing ride by ride and slide by slide. However, to get in before Sarah does, the family slide using a double inner tube scared the shit out of me.  Looking down the lip of the slide looked way too low, and my fear of sliding off it and onto the ground far below was intense. To Sarahs constant mocking I can be quoted as saying, pretty much all the way down, "I don't like this, I really don't like this".  We finished with a quick visit to the aquarium, with an impressive line in sharks, manta rays and ladies dresses as mermaids. It was a good day out.

Saturday 8th September and day 158, we booked on a boat trip around the island. We were picked up about 8:45am and taken to the docks and the waiting boat. On the boat we saw we were the only non-Vietnamese passengers. We were concerned, as we had paid a good $7 and we would have hoped any guide would have been English. My grumpy nature came to its fullest in the boat as we were sat down patient and confused, then the boat filled with Vietnamese. Now I'm going to sail dangerously close to racism now, but Vietnamese on boat trips are like kids on a school trip. Maybe it's the shrill tone of voice, maybe its the inability to perform a single movement without it being on camera. They got excited about life jackets, the sea and everytime someone pulled out a camera. It was overwhelming.

Our fears were partly abated as the master of ceremonies spoke English also. Although I was suspicious that the speil in Vietnamese would always take 10 times longer than our speil in English.  Still we were told that our first stop would be an hour on this island where we could snorkel and take a glass bottom boat, all within an hour.  The glass bottom boat produced more shreiks of excitement. The coral is alway impressive, although it is much less colourful near Nha Trang than say The Red Sea or The Great Barrier Reef. Still our Vietnamese co-passengers would squeal at any fish, or even a piece of rope from the anchor. The snorkelling was just a snorkel and a climb over a very rocky beach. There seemed like nothing to see. Which was just as well, the masks were as watertight as a tea-bag.

lunch on a boat

We knew we had to be back at the boat for 11:30, so we waited there and tried to find our guide. He was eating. We got back on the boat for noon in the end and all the food was laid out. Where the chairs were, there was now a big table of rice, noodles, veg, soup, bananas, spring rolls. It looked very good. Also like kids the Vietnamese became quiet when food was there. As sure as my darling nephews and nieces will be angels in McDonalds, the Vietnamese were angelic guests. This is where I felt very well at home, and even missed the England I grew up in, because Vietnamese have such wonderful considerate table etiquette. Food was passed to us so much, and we gathered we should do the same. You never had to ask for the soy, as dinner guests they are so attentive to eachother, they pass it knowing you've looked that way. This is so different to other settings where Asians have less respect for queuing or personal space. You can be pushed past a lot, but at meal times it is heaven.

After lunch we stopped somewhere with the boat, and the meal table became a stage for music and dancing. The day was fast turning from annoying to amazing. The drum set was made out of plastic containers, only the cymbal and guitar were real. The MC, who by now had set himself as a ladies man came out with shorts and two coconuts as tits and sung some songs. I was distracted for a moment, but the next minute there he was reaching for my hand. He called me up and asked me to sing Yellow Submarine, which I did with gusto. Sarah was called up to sing two songs, the second of which was Celine Dions, My Heart Must Go On. She did it justice.

Then we were in the sea, everyone jumping off the side of the boat, even the top bit which was quite a height. In the water a floating bar was there offereing Sangria. I had a couple, while floating in the blue South China Sea. Bullied up with Sangria confidence, I climbed to the top deck of the boat and jumped in. Like a boss!!

That was pretty much the day and in the taxi on the way back I felt sorry (as I often do) for being such a grump in the beginning. I realised that had the boat been full of self conscious white people, there would have been less singing and dancing. For some reason, I felt less self conscious around the Vietnamese. It's just sometimes, if they could be a lot less excitable.

On Day 159 we had yet another day filler as we were catching the nightbus to Hoi An in the middle of Vietnam. As it happens it was an easy day to fill. After breakfast we got ourselves some chairs and a shade on the beach, for about $1.50 each for the whole day. Sipping Tiger Beer and occasionally dipping in the slightly choppy ocean, meant the day went very fast. The sea around Nha Trang becomes very murky towards the afternoon and polution puts you off swimming later. If not for that, I could have put Nha Trang as my favourite beach so far. As it stands my favourite beach remains Maenam on Koh Samui. Sarah's is Kuta in Bali.

We were on a sleeper-bus to take us the 12 hour journey up the coast to Hoi An. Here is another travel tip for Vietnam. If you have the budget or the time, don't use sleepers for day or night. I have yet to use a Vietnamese train so I may adjust this advice. The bed is small for me, and I'm wide but not incredibly tall. I saw a gentleman of the larger variety really struggling to climb into his bunk. Keeping your valuables safe is a chore and takes up more of the precious room. If you can get comfy, there is no getting around the fact that you are being driven by a Vietnamese driver. It is important to a Vietnamese driver to beep the horn if he is about to brake, sees a car, a person, thinks he saw a person. If you can find a way to sleep with a car beeping fest, in a bed which turning over gives you cramp each time and sends you personal effects hurtling to the ground on top of a very understanding young lady, then you are a better person than me.

So today, 10th September and day 160, we are in Hoi An. Our sleepless journey, has left us paralysed with fatigue, so I have nothing to report on the area as yet. We will be here for two nights at least, then to Hue, then another long journey to Hanoi. That journey will definately be done on the train.

maybe the last beach photograph of our 2012 travels.