Vietnam - Nha Trang

Whats up Bloggers...?

A word of warning from the outset, I am attempting this blog entry with a raging hangover so I may be abit more dyslexic than usual!

My first impressions of Nha Trang weren't that great, you could be anywhere really. It's your typical beach resort, lots of bars with neon lighting, a complete contrast from Dalat but it has really grown on me and we have ended up having a great time!

The night we arrived was the England match night and with me being a born again football hooligan we were straight to a bar with the Canadians for pre-match drinks. We had seen alot of people wearing these "Crazy Kim" bar T-Shirts so we decided to check it out.

Crazy Kim is an absolute star. The whole child sex industry continues to be a major problem in SE Asian contries such as Cambodia and Vietnam so she has taken upon herself to launch what she calls a "one woman war on Paedophiles" via a school and bar. She provides an environment for children who wouldn't normally be able to attend school get an education and makes them aware of the potential dangers. This is funded largely through the sales of her "Hands off the kids" T-Shirts which also helps to increase awareness as well as a percentage of takings from the drinks and food in her bar. So we had a few beers, bought our T-Shirts and felt good knowing that we had done our bit for the kids.We later went to go and watch the football at the Sailing Club as they had a massive screen on the beach. It was almost abit short lived as a rather drunk Mark stumbled across the sand to jion in with the half time entertainment and literally pulled the plug on the game. The screen went as blank as his facial expression as four of the bar staff battled to get it sorted in time for the secand half. I was preparing to do a runner just in case...

We visited the mud baths a few days ago which was great fun. When you arrive you have a hot mineral shower and then you sit in a massive tub which fills with mineral mud, soak in there for half an hour, let the mud dry in the sun, have another hot mineral shower and then soak in a hot mineral pool. We felt pretty healthy and detoxed afterwards - just what the doctor ordered!

Our diving debut since graduating Scuba School went without a hitch, it was really good to be back in the water. We did two dives yesterday and saw some really decent stuff. There is alot more coral here than in Egypt and some very tropical looking fish and sea life. On our secand dive the divemaster found this octopus hiding behind some rocks so he poked it with his stick and it squirted ink everywhere before speeding off (you kind of had to be there but it was pretty cool) We also went through some caves which we hadn't some before which was also pretty exciting. There were a load of people on our boat we had met in Cambodia so we all went out last night for a few drinks hence the bad head today, it was a very good night!

Later today me and Mark move further up the coast to Hoi An, it's a 12 hour bus ride so we have decided to take a night bus so not to waste a day. In theory it's a good idea if we get some sleep. We have only got 11 days left on our Vietnamese Visa's and alot of ground to cover so the Canadian's and the guys we met in Cambodia are going to meet us there in the next few days.

Our next stop - Hoi An