We're currently on the bus from Nha Trang to Hoi An (we think!), having spent the last three days in Nha Trang. We've fitted a lot in, so I'll try to remember everything!
After spending Tuesday morning on the beach, relaxing after our travels, we wandered into the town to find a bar. We found a nice rooftop terrace and were introduced to buckets - a plastic tub of local booze! Naturally we felt we should try one. As we drunk it, we were looking through the guidebook and read "be careful of drinks called buckets, they are cheap drinks often filled with dodgy alcohol and drugs"! We survived, and decided to stay for lunch!
After lunch, we walked around town and popped into the Far East Rock Cafe for a drink. As we headed back to the hotel, Paul noticed a sign that said Saigon Beer 7000 dong! That's 21p!! Needless to say, we went there for dinner!
After an afternoon of snoozing on the beach, followed by a much better shower, and a nice dinner, we felt pretty knackered. We had a look around the night market as we felt we had a better chance of staying awake if we were stood up! It didn't last long as we were in bed by 9!!
Yesterday morning we were up bright and early and went for a nice breakfast. On our way back to the hotel we decided to rent a scooter for 2 days so that we could have a good look around. We found a huge monument of a Buddha, that we'd seen in the guidebook, which was pretty amazing. We nearly got scammed by a couple of children, but Paul cottoned onto it early!
When we got back onto the scooter, we ventured inland into the jungle suburb. The locals seemed to be looking at us funny, probably wondering if we were lost! It was good to explore though!
We were running out of dong, so went back into town to find a cash machine! We tried all of our bank cards and soon realised that there was a problem! They weren't working! We had a quick panic, but after a call to the bank, all was sorted! Since then, we seem to have had about 33 calls from the bank double checking that its us spending the money! Sure it will cost us a small fortune in phone bills!!
We found a nice looking bar, where we stopped for a drink, but Sarah was quickly put off by the sight of a rat!! Urgh! We moved on, and stopped for lunch in a bar that didn't have a pond in it!
After lunch, we got back on the scooter and headed for the cable car, just to have a look. We found a new development of houses that was a bit surreal. They were like American mansions, which is a big contrast to the rest of the place.
On our way back along the bay, we stopped off at a couple of beaches, which literally had no one on them - very pretty, and nice to get away from the noise and crowds.
We ventured to the other end of the bay and beyond, stopping at a little locals bar, who didn't even sell coke!
We ventured a little further and came across some sort of derelict resort that reminded Paul of Jurassic Park. It looked very poor around, the kids were running in front of our bike, presumably wanting money, so we decided to turn around and head back.
We stopped at a lovely bar on the way back, right on the sea front! It was a lovely setting! Sarah asked for a tea with milk, and received a glass with hot tea in the bottom and milk with ice cubes in the top! Not quite what she wanted, but we took out the ice cubes and she drunk it all the same!
We got back to our hotel and got ready for dinner. Before eating we went into a travel agents to book a trip for when we're up in Hanoi. It looks amazing, and involves a very nice boat! We weren't sure about the money, but we'll be on it for sarahs Birthday, so we went for it! We had a few problems with the woman's card machine and weren't sure if we were getting conned, but it turns out that she was just a bit stupid!
We had a nice meal, and another bucket! And we managed to stay up until 10pm!!!
When we woke up this morning it was pouring with rain! We packed our bags and ventured out for breakfast with our rain macks on!
We had already booked a ticket for Vinpearl land, so weren't too sure what to do! The rain kept easing so we decided to go for it!
We got on the scooter and made our way to the cable car! We thought it was the longest cable car in the world, but hadn't read the caveat "above water"! It was still impressive, particularly for Vietnam!
When we got off at the island, it was still raining pretty hard, so we opted for the underwater world, which was like a sealife centre. We saw a diver punch a sting ray in the mouth, which seemed a little crazy!!
The rain eased off and eventually stopped, so we decided to brave the toboggan run, which was over a mile long, and a lot of fun! Great views from the top!
As the weather held, we decided to try the water slides! The first one was good, the second was practically death! We've never been on anything quite like it and had no idea what we were letting ourselves in for! It started as a fairly normal flume, and ended by chucking you into a round thing from quite a height at, what felt like, 100 mph! I was literally shaking when I came off! Both our backs are raw!!
We thought better of any more danger and opted for the lazy river to recover!! We went on a few more tamer rides, then stopped for lunch. Chicken nuggets and chips!!
After a few more water rides, we dried off and played on the indoor games. Sarah did a bucking bronco, that didn't really buck!
After a quick go on the pirate ship, we got back on the cable car and headed back for the mainland. We jumped back on the scooter, back to the hotel. We had a quick pizza before getting picked up for the night bus.