Back in the BKK

I got on the bus from Siem Reap headed for Bangkok for my final two weeks in SE Asia. I had no great plans for these two weeks but first on the list was a night out with a few familiar faces in BKK so maybe they could supply a few ideas on what to do with all my free time. There was a slight glitch in crossing the border into thailand which marred an otherwise uneventful journey. I arrived in the country a day early as my visa was only valid for 15 days which only covered me until the day before my flight out of the country. I didnt worry about it too much though as i figured it was a problem i could solve in BKK. I had spent a fair bit of time in Siem Reap mulling over where i would stay in BKK and since i was getting dropped off in Khao San Rd i decided to stay somewhere nearby at least for the one night. I wasnt meeting up with the gang till the following night and they would be going out in a completely different part of the city so i would probably have to move but so be it. So i picked a place in my Rough Guide which turned out to be really cheap but pretty eh basic. My mattress felt like it was made of wood it was that hard. I spent the night here determined to move in the morning.

The next day i rose early to check out and move to a different part of town closer to where the night out was planned. It was a tad more expensive but a hell of a lot nicer! Once i got that out of the way i went a'wandering to find someone or somewhere to fix my netbook. My camera also seemed to have taken its last picture so that needed replacing too. After a lot of looking i didnt have any joy on the former and was resigned to the latter. But i did discover that a few of my teacher friends were staying in the same hostel as me for the night out. It was great to see some of them again since it had been 8 months. There is also nothing like a room full of girls shouting your name at you :) So i hung out with them for a while, catching up before it was time to head out. We went to an area called Royal City Avenue which is the spot all the young thais go to. We met up with a gang of other teachers here, more friends two of whom tried to strangle me in their happiness to see me again! We had a great night of drinking, dancing and recounting stories of teaching experiences. It was also clear that the current semester was proving harder work to most people. Good thing i was off travelling so!!The following day i replaced my camera and decided to go to Ayuttaya which is a town just north of BKK which is home to some old temples. I got a train later that evening. I needed to get to somewhere a bit cheaper and more relaxed than BKK.

Angkor

It took pretty much the entire day to travel from Sihanoukville to Siem Reap. I had to change buses in Phnom Penh but arriving there in time to do this was thrown into doubt by the first bus breaking down. It was an odd one as well. Things seemed to be going fine until all of a sudden some people down the back of the bus started roaring at the driver to stop. So we pulled over and lots of people got off to stretch their legs and look at the guys trying to solve the problem. I paid it all no heed as I had been through breakdowns before and usually just let the guys get on with fixing the bus as I could do nothing bar get in the way. After around 20 mins though I was getting curious as nothing seemed to be happening. So off I get to find everyone crowded around the back of the bus. Here I find the driver and his cronies working on the back wheel. They attach a wrench to the bolts on the wheel then stick a pipe over it and two guys jump on this to turn the nuts on the wheel. So from this I assume the bloody wheel was coming off! Pretty soon we were back underway again though and I made my second bus in Phnom Penh if barely. I then got as far as Siem Reap with no further incident.

Once I arrived the first thing to do was find accommodation. I hadn’t looked into it before arriving so I relied on the ingenuity of the tuk-tuk driver to find me some decent place to stay. Normally I wouldn’t do this and I was relatively wary of it in the process but the honesty of Cambodians had encouraged me to be a bit more trusting. He brought me to one place which was nothing special and I tried to get a deal if I stayed for a decent period of time. Once I had gotten an idea of what kind of accommodation was available and at what price I asked the driver to take me to another place so I could compare quality and price. I had picked one out of my guidebook and he took me there. I took a look around and it proved to be fairly similar to the first one but at a higher price than I was willing to pay. So I determined to return to the first hostel but as I was leaving this one I heard a familiar voice and realized that John was here. John is a guy I met in Chiang Rai and then again in Vientiane in Laos. We were both a bit taken aback to meet again but it was a happy reunion. I arranged to meet up with him later on for dinner once I was settled in my other hostel. So once ive showered and changed I catch up with John and he brings me to his local haunts. We go for dinner in the place where his Cambodian girlfriend works. This kind of throws me but he goes on to explain that he has been living here in the town for the past 3 weeks, fallen for this girl and now doesn’t want to leave. We catch up over the rest of the evening and I retire early since I had a pretty long day.

I rise a bit late the next day and arrange a tuk-tuk to take me around the temples. Angkor is a large collection of temples spread over a large area of which Angkor Wat is but one. It is impossible to see them all in one day due to the distances involved which is why I bought a 3 day pass to see them. My first day was to be spent on the ‘small circuit’ which contains a fair few temples and most of the important ones. I was to see the Angkor Wat itself (the one in all the pictures) first. On arriving there the first thing I notice is that it is being renovated and the green netting over the scaffolding stops me from capturing “that” picture. I spent the next hour walking around this temple, which is in pretty good condition for something so old. I was especially amazed by the bas-relief carvings that run all the way around the temple in corridors showing wars between humans and gods among other things. I had a good time walking around looking at all the various things but was a bit sad I couldn’t get a good picture of the main complex to take home. Oh well. Next up is Bayon which is well known as the temple with all the faces. It is a complex with lots of towers and on teach tower there are 4 faces of Buddha facing North, South East and West. Obviously not all of these are in great condition but there are enough to satisfy a tourist with a camera (aka me). It is an image that appears in a lot of pictures when you look up Angkor. After I finished here I wandered on to some other temples nearby which are of less importance and are less well known. Mostly they are ruins anyway so there is little to make them stand out. It was around this time I really started to feel the heat as well, it takes a toll when you are wandering around in it for long enough. You also notice it when you are climbing temples! After these I went to a place called Ta Prohm. You may remember it from such movies as Tomb Raider. It is the temple with the trees, which means that it was left to go to ruin for ages and the trees have overgrown in it. It was amazing to see these giant trees and their crazy roots growing all over the ruins of this temple. A veritable war between man and nature that nature is winning. This was one of the last temples on the list. There were a few other small ones that had little to capture my attention bar one thing. At each temple there are a heap of sellers offering you trinkets and drinks and this was no different at one of these temples. What was different was the fact that the little girls trying to sell me their stuff were asking me where I was from and upon hearing I was Irish they came out with “Conas ata tu?”. I nearly fell over when this was put to me. This was a 6/7 year old Cambodian girl in Siem Reap asking me how I was in my own language. We went on to have a brief conversation, learning each others names and such and she showed off that she could count to 10 in irish. There are kids in Ireland who cant do that so to hear it from this little girl was little short of stupendous. Later on I recounted my adventures to John over food and beers again. If you come to Cambodia you should try Amok by the way. A lovely curry.

The next day was odd. I had seen all the important temples the previous day so the ones I got taken to this day weren’t blowing me away. Also it is billed as the ‘big loop’ but it is only big if you haven’t done the small loop the previous day! There are less temples but a little bit further apart. So needing a way to fill the day I went to one that is a good hour’s drive from the bulk of the other temples called Bantey Srei. Here is a temple in amazing condition. It appears mostly as it might have done in its heyday which was hugely impressive. It was great to go to one where there was so much intact after a morning of seeing ruins and decay. Now by the time I have gotten here, seen the temple and travelled back to the main bulk it has eaten up a good part of the day. I was going to finish with a visit to one temple which is at the top of a big hill overlooking the Angkor Wat. This makes it the perfect place for sunrise or sunset. On this day the view was truly spectacular as well. The sunset wasn’t too visible due to the clouds but it was the thunderstorm over the town of Siem Reap that held my attention. Storms in Ireland are mere showers compared to storms in SE Asia and this one put on a great show. The lightning lit up the sky all around us, the thunder rumbled loudly and the sky over the town was dark with the amount of rain falling on it. Watching the spectacle of this storm unleashing its fury (from a distance!) on the town was great. Unfortunately it wasn’t the only storm in the area as there was one approaching from another direction. So I had the sun setting on one side and two monsoons approaching from different directions. It was a fabulous site until the storms crept closer and we got a spattering of rain. It was time to move then as the steps on these temples get dangerous when wet. So I descended from the hill top happy with my day and stunned by the scene I had just witnessed. The only bummer was that my camera had died at the top of the hill but it wouldn’t have been able to capture the moment anyway.

So that is the story of my trip to Angkor. I stayed another two nights to wind down before going back to Thailand and because I had a couple days to spare. I booked my bus to Bangkok and prepared myself to re-enter the country I lived in for 5 months. Cambodia was nice with Angkor obviously the stand out attraction. I do think that the Cambodian people are the nicest group out of the people of SE Asia. But my SE Asia travels are drawing to a close. In two weeks time I will have finished with it all and I will be in Australia with New Zealand to come as well

Its a holiday in cambodia - Sihanoukville

I arrived in this little beach town with no accommodation in mind. First stop was Utopia bar which has a free dorm (which is basically in the bar) and a $2 dorm which isnt a whole lot better. So the moto driver who took me here suggests going down the road to another place where i got my own bed with ensuite and a tv for $5. It then proceeded to thunder down for the night which left me trapped in the place for the night. This was fine since there was a nice restaurant attached so i got a decent meal and watched some movies on my tv. It had been a while since id had one and it even had english channels which was a real novelty. I woke up relatively early the following day and went for a wander into the town proper. Im a little bit outside it near the beaches but within walking distance. Of course not for asian people who dont like walking so i was hassled most of the way by moto taxis while im walking. Soon the rain rolls back in again and i duck into a conveniently placed cafe and have some lunch. I spotted something weird and unusual on the menu which i had to try: ginger, lime and garlic tea. Yes garlic in tea, i know. It was quite nice actually, the garlic wasnt too strong so it didnt overpower the other flavours. One the rain had ended (paused more like) i hit the road again and found the town's market. Here i went searching for the Cambodian football shirt. I had been looking in Phnom Penh but had no luck. So far i had the national jerseys for Thailand, Laos and Vietnam so i needed to add Cambodia to that collection. Pretty soon my wanderings were cut short by the rain again, only this time it was settled in for the long haul. I was in an Aussie bar talking to an English guy looking for a new life and an Irish guy who had managed to get himself banned from thailand for 100 years. It was an interesting way to spend an afternoon i can tell you.

Later that evening i went wandering in search of company and found it in a beach bar where they were having a "full moon party". I reckon whatever tourists were in the town ended up at that bar that night so it was the place to be for one night. I met a Polish war correspondent on holiday from work in Afghanistan and some English 'Gap Yah' students(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKFjWR7X5dU). A few drinks, some free shots and a bit of banter is a good way to spend a night! One of the guys i met was called Markus and bore a striking resemblance to my brother, Paul (didnt get a pic sorry). It turned out he was staying in the same place as me as well so we arranged to meet up the next day and do something. That something was to rent motorbikes and go on our own tour of the town and beaches. This was my first time driving a bike since my accident back in Thailand so i wasnt very confident getting back behind the wheel (?). The roads were quiet and the scenery nice though so i managed fine. I was also a bit preoccupied by my helmet which turned into a lump on my neck trying to choke me any time i got up to speed. It didnt fit very well. We drove around for a while and eventually ended up at a place called Otres Beach. It was an interesting drive to the beach as it meant going over sand and rocks, not the best terrain for a moped. Once on the beach i took a dip in the sea and we relaxed with some smoothies. Sunset soon approached so we had to make tracks as this terrain is not the kind you want to tackle in the dark, especially when i discovered my bike didnt have any lights!

Anyway the next day i was off to Siem Reap early so i had a low key night. We bumped into a few familiar faces from the night before and i tried my hand at pool again. Im getting a bit of practice so starting to get good again. Sihanoukville was a good laugh, pity about the weather but i made the most of it anyway. Next up on my travels is the world renowned temples of Angkor, cant wait!

Phnom Penh

The border crossing from Vietnam into Cambodia was a lot simpler than getting into Vietnam. On the bus I took there was a guy who told us in good english what was happening every time we stopped. At the border he took our passports and helped us with the visas. It was very refreshing to travel with a company so professional as its something that is a bit lacking in other places. Upon arriving in Pnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia, the bus was swarmed by tuk-tuk drivers all clamouring for business. I got talking to an englishman and a welshman who were going to the same area as I had in mind to scout out hostels so we three jumped in a tuk-tuk together. Our driver had impressive English so it was a nice start to Cambodia. We actually had a chat with him whenever we got stuck in traffic. He brought us to the 'backpacker area' which turned out to be a little shanty town jammed onto the side of a lake. It was a bit odd and looked really dodgy but there were tourists ambling about so we looked at a couple of hostels. We found one to our taste that wasnt too run down and arranged to go on a tour of the main spots the next day with our new friend, Lee the tuk-tuk driver. So pretty happy with our day's work so far the three of us went in search of some grub and a few beers. We didnt go too nuts though as tomorrow was going to be a long day.

After a quick brekkie the following morning I join the two boys and hop in Lee's tuk-tuk. A brief aside here: i'm always amazed at how different tuk-tuks are in different places. In each country they have been a bit different and not like the trikes I was used to in Chiang Mai and Bangkok. Anyway back to Pnom Penh and we swiftly arrive at Cheoung Ek, or the killing fields as they are commonly known. This is an area just outside the city where tens of thousands of people were brought to be killed and buried in mass graves by the Communist regime of the Khmer Rouge. They were in power for less than 4 years in the late 1970s but managed to kill (allegedly) up to a third of the country's population. This and more I learned on this day mostly through a video they showed at the museum at the killing fields. Walking around the area and looking at the mass graves where hundreds of people were simply thrown in on top of each other was a truly sobering experience. They have built a monument to all the people who died there which houses their bones. Its a pretty depressing trip to make. After seeing everything here we got back into our tuk-tuk and made our way to the prison where most of these people were kept before their execution. First of all though we got some lunch at a local place on the way where Lee helped by ordering as they didnt speak english. He joined us and told us a bit about himself. He was too young to have experienced the Khmer Rouge but his parents lived through it. He also told us he had been taking English lessons for only 3 years which was astonishing considering his ability to hold a conversation. Soon we were on our way again to the prison known as S-21. In this former school people were tortured and held before being sent on to the killing fields. Walking around this place was very harrowing and you got a feel for what these people were put through simply for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. To witness a place where some unspeakable acts of cruelty were perpetrated was scary. There were pictures on the walls which left you in no doubt as to the suffering that occurred there. There is an entire building filled with the pictures of people who were held in the prison and they do not account for every resident of the building. Visiting somewhere like that made me realise how lucky I am to have been born in a country that has not seen any significant war in almost 100 years. It continues to shock me the potential for such inhumane acts in some humans.

We tried to inject something less depressing into the day by visiting the market on our way back to the hostel. Later that night we got an “all you can eat” indian which turned out to be a platter of dishes on a school dinner tray as the lads called it. It was nice and quite filling but I dont think the owner understands just what he has written on his sign. After that we went across the road to a place called 'The Magic Sponge' and met a Mancunian called Tony who owned the place. We had a good laugh with him as he's all about the banter and he even got me to do dj for a while when we started requesting songs. He recommended a bar for us after we finished in his and called over a tuk-tuk. This bar turned out to be more of a brothel than a bar so we didnt hang about here. They didnt want to let me take my camera in with me either. The following day I was on a bus to Sihanoukville to sample the beaches of Cambodia for a few days while the other two were off to Siem Reap to see Angkor. It had been an interesting few days in Cambodia's capital.

Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon)

I landed in Saigon in the evening in the centre of the backpacker area. I figured in a city this big there would be plenty to choose from in the way of accommodation and dorms to boot. I had a look online before leaving Mui Ne that morning and nothing had jumped out at me though. I walked around for a bit anyway and soon found a place advertising a $6 dorm. For Vietnam and Saigon I thought this was a good deal but I soon found the reason for its cheapness. Firstly I had to climb 4 flights of stairs which is no mean feat when you have 20kg hanging off you. The dorm itself was a small room with 4 bunk bedss somehow crammed in along with a wardrobe, a tv and an aircon unit. Oh and it was en-suite as well. The mattresses were wafer thin and there was a sheet to cover that but no cover for you. The beds were so close together it was difficult to move. It was easily the worst room id stayed in and had me pining for the place I stayed in in Hanoi. But it did have aircon and was around the corner from the main area without being too noisy so it wasn't all bad. Plus I was tired when I arrived and I was only there for two nights so I could manage to live with it for that long. My first night in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) was also the night of the 2010 Champions League Final between Bayern Munich and Inter Milan. As soon as I had checked in I went looking for something to eat and began to suss out somewhere to watch the game later that night since it wouldn't begin until 2am HCMC time. I found one place that was pretty close that was going to show it so after dinner (Indian food in an Irish bar) I went back to the hostel to grab an hour or two's sleep since I would get precious little of it after the game. In the bar later on I was sat next to a Russian guy watching the game. He was there on business and was making the most of his company credit card through food and booze at this ridiculously overpriced bar (no 4000d beer here). Anyway the game was being shown on two tvs but there was dance music being blared instead of the commentary. This was annoying. The guy really wanted to chat to me but he was struggling with English so it wasn't easy to understand him most of the time. Once the game was over, after Inter won quite easily, I was pretty shattered from the late hour and trying my best to converse in broken English with this guy.

The next day I rose early enough so I could explore the city. I got some breakfast and went for a walk to see what there was to see in this huge city. There are a few museums which focus on the history of the American War in Vietnam as well as a Notre Dame Cathedral for some reason. So I spent the day learning about the war from the Vietnamese point of view. I visited the royal palace as well which played a role in the war, mostly as a command base. They did show a short movie about the war though which went through the main parts of it chronologically so I learned more about this part of history here than I had anywhere else. I think this is a poorly documented war in the west mostly because the Americans got their asses handed to them and they don't like to be reminded of things like that. Later that evening I arranged my ticket to Phnom Penh in Cambodia and had a `quiet night in with a movie. It was time to move on from Vietnam and see what Cambodia had to offer. I had some great times in Vietnam and I will remember fondly my trip to Ha Long Bay and my stay in Hoi An especially. Vietnam is a beautiful country and if the people are more aggressive sellers here than in other parts of SE Asia then that is the price to pay to visit here. I met a lot of nice Vietnamese people especially in the smaller towns in the centre of the country but I think they are outnumbered by the annoying hawkers. But I'm off to Cambodia next, a country I don't know too much about bar it is the home of the world renowned Angkor temples.

Mui Ne

Its only a 5 hour journey from Nha Trang to Mui Ne but they are world's apart. From the big bustling town/city to a small seaside town. Mui Ne was almost devoid of life when i arrived but this is more to do with the layout of the place. The town is spread along the beach which stretches for miles so everything is really far apart rather than stuck in one area like most places. I had gone online previously to scout places as the town was only briefly mentioned in my guidebook. I found a place called 'Vietnam Austria House' which got some solid reviews and it is run by an Aussie guy. Usually if you can find a place run by westerners they are better than locals. It was pretty cheap and had the basics so it was perfect in that sense. It had a dorm and was literally on the beach so i couldnt complain. It only took me a few minutes to drop my gear and head for a dip and lounge about on the beach. Back in the room i meet a guy called Reynier (think Wolfcastle) who is Dutch and the two of us go in search of some grub and a few beers. We didnt find much in the way of nightlife but we did find a place called Joe's that claims to have been open 24/7 since it opened in 2008. Considering how quiet Mui Ne seems in low season it struck me as mad to have a 24 hour bar/cafe. But we had a few beers (happy hour) and were treated to some live music by a Filipino guy with a guitar. He mostly played Beatles stuff but he was quite good, bantering with the crowd and even sang a song in Hebrew for some Israelis who came in. After we got back to the hostel i sat on the beach and stared at the clear sky, first time in a long time i had seen stars properly and watched the boats as they crossed the bay. It was quite a beautiful scene.

The next morning myself and Reynier booked onto a tour of the sights of Mui Ne. This doesnt leave till the afternoon so i lounge about on the beach again. Then at around 3 we jump aboard a jeep with 3 english girls and head off on our tour. It starts off with a 'fairy stream' which is a small stream that runs red because of the rock it passes through. Next up is the fishing village which we take some quick pics and head off but the highlights are of course the sand dunes. The white sand dunes were good fun as you momentarily think you are in a small desert as you look around and all you can see for miles is white sand. You can also rent a 'sled' and slide down the steeper dunes. This is good fun but the 'sleds' are basically pieces of lino so not quite what we were expecting. Beside these dunes is a pretty lake with lots of lotus flowers on it where we tried to wash off some of the sand that we were all covered in from the sledding. Going in between all these stops we took a jeep that was quite bone rattling especially as we went over some rough terrain. We finished the day off at the red sand dunes for sunset. Sadly it was cloudy so we didnt quite get the view we had anticipated. By this stage my camera is in trouble as sand has gotten into the lens which meant i could no longer zoom. Pretty crap but i could still take some pics so it wasnt too bad.

My second and last night in Mui Ne was good craic. There was a group of about 8 of us who went from the hostel for food and beer. All guys and each of us from a different country. Ireland, France, Australia, Chile, Argentina, Spain, Poland and Holland. Our own little UN. We had a great laugh and a few drinks with some pool thrown in for good measure. Midway through the night a monsoon swept in and put the main street under a foot of water so we were "trapped" in the bar. A terrible fate im sure you'll agree. So Mui Ne was nice but quiet and i had already spent more time than anticipated in Vietnam so it was time to move on to Saigon or Ho Chi Minh City as it is now known.

Nha Trang

Nha Trang is a seaside town known among backpackers as the party town of Vietnam. I arrived on an overnight bus from Hoi An so I landed at 6am. I went looking for a hostel I knew Mitch (the aussie) was staying in that was good value. It took a bit of wandering and a lot of fending off moto drivers who were appalled at my insistence on walking but I managed to find it. I wasnt able to check in until after 12 though as there were no free beds in the dorm so I had nearly 6 hours to blow. So after dumping my luggage at the hostel I began walking around the area I was in. I was still a bit groggy from the bus and the lack of sleep so was a bit of a zombie. All I really did was scout the beach, eat some breakfast and go online, not much to show for 6 hours. Once I got into the room I showered and changed and went for some lunch. It was just as I was finishing this that I was collared by a local trying to sell me an 'easy rider' tour. This was a trip through the heartland of Vietnam on the back of his bike and supposedly is an ideal way to see the 'real vietnam'. They sound amazing but they are pretty pricey so I told him id sleep on it. I had made up my mind already not to do it though especially since he was going to bring me to the next place on my trip at the end of it and I already had a bus ticket for there. After this episode I decided to grab some beach gear and go laze about for the afternoon. On my way I got caught by another easy rider guy but I got rid of this guy pretty quickly. I also evaded the innumerable hawkers of sunglasses, photocopied books, zippo lighters and other crap. Oh they have two magic words that they assume will make every tourist stop and buy something: “happy hour”. If ive learned anything from Vietnam its that its always happy hour. When I finally made it to the beach it was getting on in the day and the locals are starting to show up. Nha Trang has a massive beach and it gets really busy around this time of day. This meant I got to witness one of the odder things that Vietnamese people do, namely get in the water fully clothed (like most asians) but also with a lifejacket or rubber ring or both. They must be really afraid of the water or something but this is a beach where the water comes up to your waist even if you walk out pretty far. Its very strange. Later that day I got a nice meal in a restaurant near my hostel and then went for my welcome drink in the hostel bar. I ended up playing pool for ages that night and was eventually beaten off the table (its winner stays on) by one of the bar staff.

The next morning I have a lie in and get a late breakfast. I generally muck about for a while, catch up on my blogging and then bump into Mitch. He is in the process of doing a diving course over four days but today he only had stuff in the morning so we decide to head to the beach for the afternoon. I had been warned to be careful about bringing stuff to the beach as well as it has a reputation of thievery. If you leave stuff unattended it will get nicked. So we just brought the bare essentials for lazing on a beach: towel, sunblock, water, a book and a small bit of money. Its a hard life lying on a beautiful beach all day with occasional dips into the warm water of the sea. Later that day I book a trip to see some of the islands off the coast through my hostel as I had heard from people in the hostel that it was a good trip. So me and Mitch head for beers being a bit cautious as he is up early to do his course again while im up early to do this trip. In the morning I get up in time for the pickup (barely) to the harbour. A big gang gets on a small boat and off we go. Mostly the day seems about driving the boat to an area and we jump in and swim about for a bit. The first stop was for snorkelling at which I saw a fish or two and some coral. Oh by the way I did this while floating on a big ring, I havent suddenly learned how to swim. Again I am witness to Vietnamese people and their fear of water as they get into the water fully clothed and with lifejackets and rings, cant take too many chances! I also discover more irish people on this boat than ive met in months. There were two girls from Dublin, a guy from Meath and his girlfriend was from Kildare. It was bizarre to meet so many especially all at once. Next up on the tour was lunch which was cooked on the boat and was pretty good. We also got some after meal entertainment in the form of the house band “The Funky Monkeys”. It was just the crew but it was a great laugh. Then the floating bar was sent into the water and everyone jumped in to get a free shot of 'red wine' which tasted more like vinegar. It was more about the floating around in the water with a glass of wine in your hand than actually drinking it though. The next stop is an island where there is a tiny beach and a few watersports which some of the group try. Upon preparing to leave the island we learned that one of the guys that had gone parasailing and left some stuff on the beach had had it robbed. So he lost a bag with everything in it: phone, wallet and passport. Why he had his passport with him on a day trip is beyond me, especially since when you stay in a hostel they have to keep it behind the desk. Its a law or something in Vietnam. The last stop on the trip is at an island with an aquarium but I give it a miss and sit drinking coconut juice from ice cold coconuts with the others who didnt go in. Pretty soon we are on the boat again and on our way back to land. I arrange to meet up with the Irish gang later in a bar. Myself and Mitch get some food (he is now a qualified diver) and bear witness to a domestic outside the restaurant. Some guy was going nuts next door and trashed a little old lady's pot of noodles. The entire street stopped to watch but there was never any sign of police. This went of for over half an hour and we were amazed that nobody came along to break it up. It made for a good story when we met the Irish girls later on anyway.

Predictably I was hungover the next day so the only thing of note I managed to do was book my seat on the bus the following day. Most of the afternoon was spent on the beach. I took a night off the sauce to give my liver a break and got some much needed sleep. The next morning I was on the bus to Mui Ne which is a small, quiet beach town that is popular with surfers. Nha Trang was fun and it was nice to let loose but I was ready to move on and see the next town.

P.S. Blogs may be a bit slow over the next while. PC is acting up so typing is awkward but i'll do my best.