Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
We'd a Trang
made our way to Nha Trang from Hoi An by train. The train journey started around 10:00 and would take us about 10 hours to get there. The bus picked us up from our hotel and we made a short stop at My Khe (China Beach) for some happy snaps before heading to Nha Trang station. Fortunately we were booked in first class sleeper cabins for the journey rather than the lower class seats. As usual it was another hot day so we were all sweating it up during the short wait for the train to arrive. Relief was in sight as the train pulled in as we knew it was air conditioned however, while at the station, the A/C was turned off in the carriages. We had about 15-20 minutes of waiting at the station on the train with no A/C and the cabins were heating up quickly. There was little if any relief as the external windows in the corridor did not open so we just endured as best possible. Once the train got moving the A/C came on and we all looked to the tiny vent as if it were our saviour, sadly this was not to be the case. The tiny vent combined with the high heat of the day and sun beating down on the train caused the cabin to stay very warm until sun down. Everyone was feeling it. I tried my best to get some sleep but it was of no use. The heat was just too much.
Not long into the journey we'd had some comic relief in our cabin. Vicky was on the top bunk opposite me and had spotted a large cockroach, about 5cm long, crawling above her bunk. In her panic she'd knocked it down on to the floor while I managed to scamper out. Vicky and Annie were no far behind me. In case you didn't know, I hate cockroaches. They're evil. So it was left to Matt to save the day and catch or kill the filthy beast that was taunting us. The roach had skittered under the bottom bunks where the luggage was so we pulled that out and down Matt went to seek out the roach. Vicky, Annie and I were giggling like school girls as our knight in shining armour searched for a good 5 minutes and eventually found it, scooped it into a paper bag and threw it out the open window in the toilet. We felt an edgy relief that it was now gone but still worried by the possibility of more hiding in a crevice somewhere in the cabin. We found out later that there had been a roach in the cabin of other group members. It seems this was the roach train.
We arrived in Nha Trang late, around 21:30, and were picked up by a bus and taken to our hotel to check in. A quick freshen up before dinner just down the road. Everyone was very tired after the train journey. Some had managed to get some sleep while others had stayed up the whole journey but all were wearied by the heat. Dinner wasn't the usual talkfest this night. Khoa briefed us on our activities for the following day over dinner. We were going on a boat ride to a fishing village near the harbour and then out to an island for snorkelling over a reef.
It was a 09:00 start for our boat trip. Everyone had their swimmers on, sun cream lathered on and plenty of water. Khoa made sure we all had water as the boat didn't provide water, only beer and soft drink. Lunch was provided on the boat. We took the tour bus to the harbour and waited for a short while in the shade to avoid the baking heat of the sun. Khoa was looking for our local guide for the day. Up he popped amongst the mass of tour boat operators that filled the wharf we were at and off we went with him and on to his boat. Introductions and a brief rundown of the day. First stop was the fishing village. The village wasn't much to look at and seemed to be very much geared to the tourist market although it was a genuine fishing village. We meandered through the alleyways to the far side of the island where we were greeted by our next activity, a ride on a round basket boat out to our tour boat. Volunteers were asked for and no one seemed too keen to be first so I put my hand up. Monica decided to join me so in we jumped. We were perched on the lip of the boat. I was passed a paddle by the woman who owned this particular basket boat and instructed to help with the paddling. I was happy to oblige. With the boat being round it's not a simple case of paddling normally. There is a kind of circular motion that you have to use while also making corrections to your direction. To be honest I wasn't of much use but I did my best to help where I could, or at least looking like I was. We reached our tour boat which was tied up to a floating wharf which had nets in the middle with sea creatures in each of them. Some with fair sized fish, some with crabs and lobster and one with cuttlefish. The guys that owned this wharf were trying to catch some of the cuttlefish. They would pull one side of the net to move the cuttlefish to one side and reduce the size of their swimming area. They then threw in a medium sized crab and the cuttlefish all came to life and swam towards the crab. Some of the cuttlefish had an electric blue line illuminated as they swam and others squirted what looked to be ink. It was pretty cool to see.
We'd all managed to get back to the tour boat and we made the hour long cruise out to the snorkelling spot. The guide dumped a heap of snorkels and masks for us to sift through and use. I couldn't find one that fit or wasn't broken so I decided not to go snorkelling, just swimming instead. I wasn't enjoying it that much so I got out and chilled on the boat for a while. Once everyone was back on board, the crew began serving lunch, buffet style. It was nothing special but it hit the spot. After lunch we were all keen for another swim so in a few of us jumped. Someone asked about the possibility of jumping off the top of the boat. Turns out the crew were one step ahead of us and were preparing the ladder to allow us to climb to the roof for jumping. Matt and I were keen to give it a go so we climbed up first. The roof was quite hot under foot (no s***) so we scampered across to the edge and sat on the low railing to assess the height and who was ballsy enough to go first. We discussed diving off but thought we should try a pin drop first so off we went. The roof was about 3 metres above the water so not that far but from on top it looked higher. We climbed back up immediately after our first jump and discussed and assessed the possibility of diving. Both a little nervous while being egged on by the rest of the group to jump. I joked we should do a synchronised dive while holding hands to overcome our nerves. Matt dived first, it didn't look so bad. I waited and assessed the height a little more. Considered how my entry should look. Thought about possibly over egging the leap and belly flopping or back slamming. Stood up, and leapt out gracefully (well so I thought) and it was all over in about a second. Came to the surface and looked around with a big grin on my face. That was fun! I quickly swam back to the boat and climbed up for another go. I had a few more go's before a few other joined Matt and I up top. We'd managed to get a group of 6 on top for a couple of group jumps as well. During the group jumps the boat was listing a bit to the one side which was interesting but oh well. We were having fun. I should have some video posted of the jumps soon.
The cruise back to the harbour took us over an hour and took us past some amazing secluded resorts dotted on some of the islands. We also cruised under the cable car that goes out to Vin Pearl Island which is a resort island but also has a water park for anyone to visit. The rest of our time in Nha Trang was free time. We had one more night and we leaving late on the evening of our third day. I spent the rest of my time just doing my own thing. I found the city of Nha Trang itself to be quite dirty and a little sleazy too. It really wasn't my scene and didn't really enjoy it all that much. On the final day, the day we were due to depart, I decided to head down to the Louisiane Bar. It had a pool with sun lounges surrounding and a bar and restaurant also. I popped down late that morning with my book and togs and lay on a sun lounge under an umbrella. I ordered a pina colada and proceeded to read. It was pretty hot, even in the shade, so I jumped in the pool for a quick dip to cool down. Sadly, the water was warm and of little to no relief so I didn't stay in long. I drip dried and lay about for a little while longer before heading back to the hotel to change and get some lunch then spent the afternoon avoiding the heat in the hotel room.
We were due to catch the train at about 22:30 but we had some false starts due to delays with the train. We waited another half hour at the hotel then got to the station to find there was another half hour delay. The station was packed also so there was nowhere to sit, standing room only. We finally got on the train just before midnight and all of us were soon off to sleep. Next stop Ho Chi Minh City and were due to arrive at 06:00
- comments