To the seaside!!

11th - 15th July


We arrived in Nha Trang at 6am off the night bus and were delighted to find our hotel right beside the bus stop, which was a 2min walk from the beach. Our plan was to spend a week here to chill by the beach, do some diving and just not be travelling constantly.

When we first arrived Ronan had to go to bed for a few hours having gotten barely any sleep on the bus! He got up eventually, me bored stiff waiting, and we hit the beach for the day! This was a real novelty as we hadn't been near a beach yet.  This was a total chill out day. After dinner we went for a few drinks but it was a real party town with big groups of English college students on break from university and just wasn't our scene!

The following day Thursday 12th we decided to go to the Thap Ba Hot Springs and Mudbaths. As taxi drivers totally fleece tourists trying to get out there and back we decided to rent bikes and cycle out. It was only 7km away and this city wasn't as hectic or dangerous as other places we have been.  Ronan had our day bag in the basket of his bike and I had the big camera in my basket. All was going great, very enjoyable cycle down by the coast in lovely hot sun, until we were 5mins from the mudbaths. I saw a scooter driving towards us and she was swerving in very close. In a split second as she was coming towards me, I saw the passenger on the back stick her hand out and realised they were about to snatch the bag from the basket on my bike! I swerved into the ditch just in nick of time and managed to avoid them as they sped away. I was fine but a little shaken up especially thinking of all 2,000 of our honeymoon photos going missing as they aren't backed up! Not to mention the camera. Very upset that our favourite country ever has tried to rob us twice!! But still love it!

So in we went to the mudbaths and spent a really fun couple of hours messing about! The first thing you do is get into a tub of mud but it's much more runny than you expect! After about 40mins of relaxing and messing around with photos we showered all the mud off - it gets everywhere!!

Had a mad power shower before settling into the mineral water baths at 40 degrees. It was fabulous! Not only was the whole experience relaxing but it has great properties for cleansing your skin and healing properties. There were also other facilities like swimming pool, waterfalls etc that we used also. So we definitely got value for money!

Afterwards we left to cycle back to the hotel as it was threatening rain. However we still decided to call into the main sight in town (Cham temple) on the way back to save having to get a taxi another day. Unluckily for us, the rain started while we were at the temple. It wasn't just a normal rain shower like we have at home, it's monsoon season so it's torrential, rivers flowing down the road torrential! We bought some really attractive plastic ponchos and waited. And waited. And waited.

After almost an hour we decided that we needed just to suck it up as the rain was just getting heavier and it was getting dark. So we took the plunge and cycled 6km in the monsoon. We literally could barely see as the rain was flying into our eyes so fast! I would say we were a right comical site, two eegits in the crappy plastic ponchos cycling as fast as our legs would carry us! Of course as soon as we reached the hotel it stopped!!

The next day was Friday 13th. Great day to learn to scuba dive we thought! Lucky it wasn't St. Swithin's  day or I'd have been in fierce trouble! The Irish girl , Kay, we met on the bus came with us as her partner wasn't well so couldn't make it but it was something she really wanted to do. We went with Angel Dive. Left the harbour and set sail for about an hour at 8.30am. During this sail time we got a lesson on how to use the equipment and details of the skills we would have to perform underwater, these were basically survival techniques so you wouldn't panic if something happened like losing the mouthpiece. This was something I really wanted to do but being honest I was scared shitless! The equipment is so heavy when you first put it on and a little intimidating! I was afraid to even jump into the water off the boat!! With some gentle encouragement from my instructor Kim I was in! Such a weird feeling falling underwater but being able to breath. We swam around for a few minutes to get used to the equipment and the feeling before doing the skills. I was still fairly nervous at this stage and the only thing keeping me calm was taking long, deep breaths so when the first 3 skills involved taking out the mouthpiece I made a big X with my arms and couldn't do it! Ronan and Kay managed them so fair play! The idea of doing them is because the mouthpiece can become dislodged with the pressure so it's to show you how to find it and put it back in without panicking. After the skills we had a bit of a swim before going back to deck for breakfast and set sail to the area for the fun dive. I had a bit of a chat with Kim so she said she would bring down on my own first before the fun dive if I wanted to do the skills. So we did that and I was feeling a lot more confident and got the skills completed. It was then time for Ronan and Kay to join us for the fun dive! This was brilliant, we got to see so much coral and different types of fish! Totally amazing experience and we both loved it! Can't wait to go again!

A bit of encouragement always helps!

At this stage we decided we had done nearly everything Nha Trang had to offer and we weren't interested in spending the next 4 days on the beach so we spent the afternoon chilling and planning our onward travel. I am loving the way we have no major plans so just able to go with the flow and change our plans as suit us. We have flights booked out of Bangkok on 3rd August and we are struggling with the concept of having to be somewhere at a certain date and it's still weeks away!

We decided that Saturday was our last day here so had a very relaxed day chilling by the beach and found a fab beach side cafe with a local fashion show, mojitos and Irish potato wedges - what more could you want?

So we checked out of Nha Trang on the morning of Sunday 15th July ready for the next adventure!