Sea View Hotel Nha Trang

So the end has come....the cycle trip is also over....and its been really good!! The last 5 days have been really tiring but thankfully it was only the really last day when my legs started to hurt...probably as a result of the 120 km on the previous day. This was the longest day and had quite a few hills too....actually almost every day had a few hills. But by the end they were just part of the cycle.

The ...

... as a good place in the lonely planet so not a bad choice after all.

After checking in, went for something to eat before going back to hotel and changing for the beach. Spent the rest of the afternoon swimming , catching some sun and generally chilling..

Thurs 23rd

Lazy day, up after 9am, breakfast and then spent re4st of day down on beach, swimming, drinking, eating.

Later that evening headed out for a meal –had some crocodile which was ...

... and hope that we met up some time in the next ten hours.

This was my first experience of the notorious "open tour bus" system in Vietnam - basically coaches with 'sleeper' seats that resemble dentists' chairs but are significantly less comfortable. Upon boarding the bus, the driver glared at me and shrieked "SHOES!", so at 6.30pm I lost my footwear and bedded down.

At around 2am we reached the open bus twilight zone - a cafe that seems to operate ...

... Our first stop was to drop off the locals at an Island because apparently none of them could swim, Required Question: Why were they on our snorkeling trip if they can’t swim??. Sarah and I then got to jump in the water and snorkel. My mask didn’t work and I got a healthy dose of salt water that gave me a sore throat for 3 days. Sarah did pretty well, but the snorkeling was not that impressive. From there the laughs began. We picked up the Vietnamese folks from the ...

So Nha Trang was defiantly the highlight of Vietnam so far- for the boys too I believe. Arriving at 5 in the morning after an overnight bus ride from the small beach town of Mui Ne we were so tired that for the first time actually got a cab instead of being cheap and lugging our stuff around looking for a hotel for hours. Clearly a good start. Staying at the Doung Phong hotel- perfect spot in the central city area- we spent the day sleeping and lazy on the ...

... good angle on this one little girl but I couldn't get a good shot because she wouldn't sit still. The reason for this was because as soon as I did this, the ALL swarmed me!!! It was like I was playing football and I was at the bottom of a fumble pile! No joke...I had like at least a dozen or more little kids just all huddled around me as close as they could get because they wanted to see the screen on the camera. So I kept taking pictures ...

... now literally rubble.

Those still standing, at least in part gave a tantalising suggestion of what might have been, or rather what was, once upon a time. I wonder how much more impressive Vietnam would look without the American intervention...



The rain was off & ...