Nha Trang - Party Town

Another beach town that is described in the Lonely Planet as being the place to party. With Page catching an onwards bus just an hour of arriving, me and Fay were travelling together for the first time since Phnom Penh. Nha Trang definately had a party vibe about it, but it wasn't as bad as we expected. The weather was cloudy and it rained a little while there so I guess tourists don't flock here in February. We had heard that Nha Trand had it's own mini weather system (whatever that meant). We knew the further north we travel the cooler and wetter it gets, and Nha Trang was the beginning of it.

The first night was a memorable one. As we booked into our accommodation we mentioned to an English guy from Aylesbury that we were going to go for a drink. When he asked if he could tag along I replied 'of course', knowing full well that Fay and myself wanted an evening out together. At first we thought it was going to be a disaster and when in our room we were even conjuring up stories and excuses to get out of it, as we could tell there was something odd about him.

It turned out we were right, he was odd. Stories that were quite personal were being told in the first 10mins of meeting. His girlfriend getting pregnant but having a miscarriage, he lives in Japan with his Japanese girlfriend but he can't find a job. At one bar he even pointed out a vietnamese bar worker and told us how he had slept with her the previous night (whether he paid or not we didn't ask, but probably as he was fat and middle aged). However, despite all this we still managed to have a good night out with him, although the fact that he bought us a couple of large/strong drinks might have had something to do with it! We never saw him the next morning or at all after that.

Feeling a bit worse for ware we decided to laze on the beach even though it was cloudy. We expected peace and rest but this was not granted as we were constantly pesterred for massages, buying jewellery, sunglasses/books/paintings/food and were handed about 10 flyers in a few hours for different shops and restaurants. We were happy to buy a couple of bracelets and a couple of asian style paintings on silk.

The following day we organised an island hopping tour for $6 each. There are several islands off the coast of Nha Trang, all close enough to see. An aquarium was our first visit followed by snorkelling and swimming, but unfortunately most of the day had heavy rain and a slight chill in the air. This didn't bother us too much as there was still plenty of entertainment to keep us happy. A lunch was included on the boat and there was lots of it. Bowls of noodles, rice, spring rolls, green beans, chilli sauce and veg soup scattered the table and it was help yourself. I was in my element! Shortly after lunch, out of nowhere staff brought out the most makeshift drum set I've ever seen (the symbol was stuck on a drumstick) and an electric guitar and amp. They sung Vietnamese songs for us and the tour guide loved pulling someone up for a dance. It then turned into a mini kareoke session (they love kareoke in Vietnam), they handed out music books and got every tourist to sing a song from their country. Me and Fay were dragged up and when we couldn't think of who to sing he suggested 'Stand by me' by the beatles. It was the worst we've ever sung as I was terribly out of tune and both completely out of time as we struggled to sing along with the small band behind us.

The highlight was definately the floating bar. When we were anchored up by another island and anyone who wanted to could jump into the water where you were given a floating ring. The guide had a floating basket which acted as his bar and he served the worst red wine we've ever had (free thankfully). It was like mulled wine with sugar and vinegar which the tour guide loved calling out loud, "f***ing minging wine". We wondered who had tought him the word 'minging'?

This town was a total contrast to the next place we visited....