Nha Trang, a hideous beachside town that could be anywhere in the world: The Gold Coast, Frankston (Melbourne), Honolulu or some other over hyped beach town with too many people, too many cars, too many touts and manicured topiary as far as the eye can see. I immediatly hated this little city that is inexplicably so firmly routed on the backpacker trail. It didn't help that I had just arrived having explored some beautiful pristine and quiet beaches north of here. Yukky little town.
But Nha Trang does offer some fun activities and before we left to head 60 km north to Jungle Beach Resort, we made the most of what this ugly little coastal town could offer.
First stop was the mud baths 6 km north of town. We caught a taxi and the driver keen to get a fare but unable to understand our bad Vietnamese pronunciation misunderstood us and left us at an old pagoda which we soon realised was not a mud bath but before we had a chance to tell him he had already skedaddled leaving a trail of dust as he sped from the scene of the crime. But of course this is Vietnam and there is always someone near ready to part you with your money at a price that is 'good for you, good for me'. Our next taxi driver, Mr Mafia (I nicknamed him) seemed to be skilled in the art of stalking tourists and getting their fares was happy to take us to the right place. As we drove off he held his hand out the window showing four fingers to another driver, he was suitably impressed and we had obviously agreeed to a price so high that he was obliged to brag about it.
Oh shit, I will update this blog shortly. We have an issue with flight detail interpretation... will update shortly and try to upload my photos, they don't seem to work in any internet cafe yet.
Ok, A day later and crisis over, Steve had misread his flight details and was under te impression he was leaving a day after the actual flight. But all is good and he is now flying back to Melbourne.
Anyway, mudbaths are fun. You just slop around in the fairly runny mineral mud and splash each other and anyone else who dares to enter your tub. Mostly the Vietnamese stayed clear of us whities, though occasionally some older man would approach Steve and laugh at him. These actions are open to interpretation. But it is not all mud, there are hot springs to soak in, walk through power jets to massage away at your tender skin and finally a gigantic heated 38 degree swimming pool to lounge around in. We were lucky we went in the late afternoon as it is extremely hot here at the moment and there is no way I would have jumped in under the burning midday sun, I still complain that normal swimming pools and the ocean is just not cool enough.
The next day we took a snorkelling tour. It was a bargain at US$7, including lunch four island stopovers, snorkelling, a crazy little floating bar that served free mulberry wine that most people said tasted like vinegar but I quite liked it, the bartender even poured it down my throat from the bottle, all the while floating in the middle of the ocean on rings and, yes, most excitingly a boyband!
After lunch and before the fantastic floating bar where I got very drunk, the boy band set up. I wondered when this amazing boy band would arrive when I realised that the members of the group were the tour guide, the captain and another shipmate. Besides te guide they were all over 60. Sexy they were not. I since met a guy who went on a similar tour and he showed me the photos and his boy band was very hot indeed. But it didn't matter anyway because as soon as the lead guitarist started strumming he got a massive electric shock, followed by another as he perservered. The instruments were old and rusty and the floor of the boat was wet. It was like watching someone being turtured, many of us begged him to stop but he really wanted to play and what followed was an hilarious series of comedic attempts to play the guitar without being electrocuted: cotton gloves, plastic wrapped around the fingers, the passing of the guitar to braver members of the boyband. Eventually they gave up and we missed out on the singing talents of the crew. But then we got the floating bar and everything was better and drunker.
A great day. The following day we headed north again to Jungle Beach Resort where we spent four days or so (time disappeared) relaxing on an almost empty beach, being fed breakfast lunch and dinner in big family meals where we met a lot of lovely friendly people, ate amazing food and slept in open air bungalows, protected by 24 hour security and five dogs who protected us from anyone or thing who wasn't a guest. The bungalows didn't have doors so we needed this to protect our belongings. It was great to do nothing for days on end where the only thing that keeps you aware of the time is the call for lunch or dinner. I highly recommend Jungle Beach Resort near Nha Trang, it's a bit difficult to get to but that is what makes it so special.
