Raindrops keep falling on my head

Finally we went on our boat trip today.  It rained the whole way out to the island, which shouldn’t have been a surprise.  Once there it cleared for a while and some of us jumped in for a swim.  No snorkeling because the weather’s been rotten and there wouldn’t have been anything to see.  It was a good trip though and we were served a delicious lunch on board. 

Tonight we board our first overnight train.  Four to a small cabin it travels through the night, taking us further north.  It leaves just after 8pm and arrives in Da Nang about 5/6am.  From Da Nang we take a bus for another hour or so to reach our final destination Hoi An.  We’ve got two days in Hoi An and apparently the weather is rubbish there too.  Hopefully it will clear but we just have to wait and see.

Another day in (raining) paradise

So, no boat trip today.  it did clear up eventually but not enough to venture out on the open seas.  The boat trip is postponed till tomorrow now – weather still permitting.  So with a free day in Nha Trang a big group of us decided to head off to the local mud baths and hot springs (yes mud is a theme in this town).  We had a very relaxing few hours soaking in hot mineral springs and generally lazing around before heading back to town for a late lunch.  It’s dinner and drinks tonight at the local yacht club (we’ll see if it’s fancy).  Here’s hoping for clear skies tomorrow

From the misty mountains to the rainy coast

And we’re back online.  I had a great time in Da Lat, but was so busy enjoying my trip I didn’t make it to an internet cafe.  After our marathon bus trip up into the mountains (which took all day 8am til 5pm – breaks included) we finally arrived in Da Lat.  It is of course busier and bigger than the quiet little ethnic hamlet the guidebooks make it out to be.  We had a great time exploring though.  On our free day there our guide offered to organise us a motorbike tour of all the best sights around Da Lat. It was a great day – we visited a minority village where they speak very little Vietnamese, saw a very tacky waterfall (pictures to follow at some point), a summer residence of a former president, rode in cable cars to visit a pagoda and generally had a a lot of fun just motoring about.  Da Lat is a resort town in the mountains so comes equipped with a variety of kitsch and tacky outings, including paddle boats on the lake that are shaped like swans (there were some at the waterfall too – and a Vietnamese cowboy and a couple of elephants).  It has beautiful flower gardens but is much colder than Saigon, we all ended up wearing our hoodies and jumpers.

Today we hopped on a bus again, but this time it was a much shorter trip.  We arrived in Nha Trang which is a coastal resort early afternoon.  After so many bus trips with buses and drivers of varying quality (interpretive driving styles such as talking on mobile phones while manoeuvring down a thin, steep, windy mountain road with one hand) we decided to take the afternoon easy and six of us went a visited a local spa.  It was absolutely pouring with rain, so exploring our local surroundings wasn’t appealing.  The spa was fantastic, there were massages and mud wraps, which made for a very relaxing afternoon.

Tomorrow we will hopefully go on our planned boat trip but the weather will likely decide that for us.