Day 18 – the big-chill

Okay, so we had to check out of that gross hotel, it was good for one night, as 4 hours driving in the pelting rain was just too much... We ate some dodgy dinner, and crashed for the night. Alarm rings at 7, and we decided we must press on regardless. So we hopped back into our soaking wet clothes from the day before, mounted our bikes and braved the never ending rain once again. We had about 80Km left to cover and it was not pleasant at all. Driving in a tropical thunderstorm, with little or no protection from the elements is the worst thing have had to do so far, and I'd rather not repeat it. But we had to reach our destination. The roads were filled with large trucks driving like nutters, and we passed numerous more than had tipped over at the side of the road. The rain was just never ending, actually getting heavier as we descended from the highlands down snaking mountain paths and approached the coast. It was painful. Our faces were red from the pins & needless sensation of the rain pummelling our faces. Eventually we arrived in Nha Trang, and after some more getting lost and head-scratching as to the direction of the beach and hotels, 3.5 hours since we departed that morning, we found a hotel and got off those damn bikes. SOAKED TO THE BONE! Literally not a single square centimetre of our bodies was dry, I'd gone completely wrinkly – like sitting in a bath for that amount of time, and I had half a pint of water in each boot. We checked in, clothes off, hot shower! Arghhhhhhhhh... We slipped into some dry clothes, handed over our laundry, got some food, necked some booze and snoozed for the afternoon.

A view from the (currently) stormy beach


This place is pretty cool. It's THE tourist destination to go to in Vietnam. Great beaches, loads of hotels, & Italian restaurants as far as the eye can see ;). People on every street corner trying to sell you something, or entice you into a restaurant - it's like being on holiday in some European destination. A surprisingly pleasant contrast to rest of our experiences so far. It would be great if it weren't for the weather. The storm has mostly passed, but it's been overcast and showery ever since, more like what you're experiencing back in the UK I guess, a far flung memory from the searing heat we'd experienced to date... So day 1 here (afternoon), we mostly crashed, recovering from our horrible journey. Watched a lot of TV in bed (American B-movies seem to be a recurring theme here), and read some... We really slept in this morning, and didn't get up for breakfast/brunch/lunch till close to midday :S.

We decided we had to go out, despite still being a little grim, and following some home-comfort food (I had a full-English, the lads had burgers - tacky, but good to eat it while it's available; rice & noodles does get tiring), we ventured by foot to see the local pagoda and giant Budah statue, then hit the local markets. Since we came here to hop online again, and then out for food and a few bars.

Budah inside the pagoda, many hands make light work


Big concrete Budah outside


Tomorrow we hope to take a boat tour and see some of the islands we can see from our balcony. But without the good weather, the beaches on the islands (the main reason to go) have little appeal. Without the good weather this place has little to offer, but if the sun shines there's a lot to see and do, so we're happy to relax a little until the weather improves. We like it here, and there are elements of the culture that give us a little tastes of home, that we find comforting while sitting out the rain. Better here than stranded in the middle of nowhere where options would be far more limited.

Hopefully next time we'll have something more interesting to write about.