Nha Trang

Nha Trang is a beach resort which was a 12-hour ‘sleeper’ bus journey from Saigon (the term is used loosely as nobody does much sleeping, thanks in no small part to the sadistic honking of the driver). It has a spotless sandy beach which runs alongside a wide promenade. On the first day the waves were about 7 or 8 foot high! They would pick you up and toss you around like a rag doll before dumping you into the sand. Great fun, and we laughed hysterically through mouthfuls of sand!

The next day we went on a Booze Cruise, which has been a life-long ambition of Tom, one of our travelling companions for about 5 weeks now, and he wasn’t disappointed! We went snorkelling and diving in the South China Sea, sunbathed on a secluded island (obviously boozing all the time); they laid on a huge lunch before we swam to a floating bar (Amy even got in the sea for that!). But the best part of the day was the – unexpected – live music. We groaned when they wheeled out a makeshift drum kit of watering cans and old buckets, and two microphones, but they furnished an electric guitar from somewhere and turned out to be really good! Amy got dragged up on stage to sing ‘Yellow Submarine’. She looked mortified.

In order to recover, the next day we went to a nearby health spa for a mud bath and mineral soak. Just what we needed and we ended up staying the whole day.

We then booked a sleeper train to Hoi An to continue on our journey to the far North of Vietnam. Hopefully it is not as ambitiously titled as the bus.

Ho Chi Minh City (aka Saigon)

Ho Chi Minh City (or Saigon, it seems to be cool to call it Saigon) is a proper city. Much more frenetic and furtive than its Cambodian counterpart, and with almost enough neon fluorescence to rival Hong Kong (almost!). The French influence is more patent here too – pretty little art-deco apartments are stacked in narrow towers along wide boulevards, each one different from the next. Large Western-style electrical and clothes stores share shop space with Eastern-style markets, and each road is connected by networks of narrow criss-crossing alleyways.

We saw the Reunification Palace, the gates of which were smashed by the victorious North Vietnam army to signal the end of the war. We also visited the War Remnants Museum which gave us a good documentary history of the war along with horrific photographic and anecdotal evidence of the barbarities carried out by the Americans: the slaughter of innocent babies, women and children and the use of a devastating chemical called Agent Orange, the effects of which are still being felt in Vietnam today, being the main ones. Granted, they completely omitted any corresponding wrongdoings on the part of the North Vietnam army and the Viet Cong, but still inexcusable behaviour from a ‘civilised’ nation.

11 pence beer!

The number of scooters (known locally as motos) in Saigon is just phenomenal. Hordes of them buzz round the city like relentless swarms of angry wasps. The only rule they seem to follow is that they must honk their horn continuously, all others are ignored; traffic lights are optional as is which side of the road to drive on. In fact, even being on the road itself is optional – the pavements are just as dangerous!

After a few great days in this magnificent city we took the sleeper bus to Nha Trang…