Heading up the coast of Vietnam

Our next destination after Mui Ne was Nha Trang, the main beach resort of Vietnam 5 hours up the coast. We had booked a standard bus for the journey, but luckily enough we ended up on a sleeper bus with long bunk beds which was cool.

After arriving at our guesthouse we headed out for some food and stayed out for drinks, mainly because we were staying in the main backpacker area so there were plenty of cheap bars and drinks-offers. We ended up in one place where they give you Connect4 and Jenga to play, which was fun as we were well on our way by this time! If you’re interested, Phil won Connect4 10-4 while Kayleigh won Jenga 2-0! :-)

The next day we went straight for the beach to check it out, and it was even nicer than the one at Mui Ne so we topped up our tans and cooled off in the sea. Check out Phil making the most of it…

We also did some exploring in the evening, checking out the local market street then heading to a tapas restaurant for some gorgeous food.

Our favourite day in Nha Trang was when we went to Vinpearl Land, an island just off the coast which we had read was Vietnam’s answer to Disney Land. We had to take a 15 minute cable car ride over the sea to reach the island, and arrived to find the place pretty much deserted but for a few people here and there (as it’s low season). This was brilliant news, as it meant we had full reins to go on whatever we liked.

The island had an amazing waterpark with slides and a wave pool, an underwater world with everything from sharks to turtles, a funfair, a shopping street, a completely free-to-use arcade, a food court and a 400m stretch of perfect beach.

In the evening we were treated to a special water / light show which was really cool, and it topped off a pretty perfect day, in fact, we think it’s one place we’d like to go back to for sure!

We were unfortunate to have some what of an uncomfortable 13 hour bus journey to Hoi An after leaving Nha Trang at 7pm on Friday 13th – typical. We were on the top bunks of a sleeper bus, at the very back near the engine and with limited air con – it really wasn’t very fun. The trip did not go fast to say the least and we managed to get no sleep, doh!

However, on arrival in Hoi An we were made up when we spotted a driver waving an A4 piece of paper with ‘PHILIP JOY’ on (spelt correctly too lol). Amongst all the chaos of getting bags and a multitude of moto taxis and cyclos, we were whisked away by our driver in a private, air conditioned bus to our hotel - Sunflower. When we got there in our groggy state we were greeted with smiles, cold towels and a welcome drink, a fantastic start to our stay in Hoi An.

For such a cheap price our hotel was amazing, with breakfast buffet included, swimming pool, free internet and….hot water! Woo. After making the most of the buffet breakfast we attempted to go exploring in the afternoon, but to be honest we didn’t get very far as the heat was exhausting and in truth we were more tired than we realised. We ended up relaxing in a bar for a while and then later that evening headed out to a local restaurant.

The next day we were up early and headed out to a recommended tailors called Peace, as Hoi An is famous for its tailored clothing. The girls there gave us the newest edition of the Next catalogue amongst many others and said "let us know what you want and we will make it". Kayleigh chose a two piece suit made from cashmere wool and a beautiful green dress, and Phil after choosing his material had two shirts made as well as two pairs of trainers made just a few doors down from Peace.

After taking all our measurements they asked us to come back for a fitting later that day, perfect. That afternoon we went to a local café bar called Before and After, had a few drinks and played pool (Kayleigh is not happy with her continued losing streak – Phil is thrilled), had lunch by the river, visited the Japanese covered bridge and browsed a number of art and craft shops and galleries. When we headed back for the fitting at half 7 Phil’s shirts were finished and looked great, and Kayleigh’s suit was almost there as it just needed a few minor alterations. Afterwards we had tea on the river and tried four of Hoi An’s speciality dishes including white rose, deep fried wontons, their version of sticky rice and a pork and noodle dish - most of them pretty good.

We picked up all of our tailored clothes the next day and were absolutely delighted, they are incredible. Phil saw his trainers for the first time and was over the moon…check them out. We paid under 360$ for all this....

We spent the rest of the day in the swimming pool. In the evening we were privileged to be able to join in the local lantern festival (or full moon festival) which Hoi An celebrate on the 14th of every lunar month. We joined the locals and other tourists and took a boat out onto the river with our lanterns and put them in the river for good luck. The atmosphere was almost magical. Before heading back to our hotel we joined Padraic, who we had met on the boat, for drinks. We swapped stories about what we had done so far and advice for our upcoming adventures, Padraic is travelling similar locations to us so we may cross paths again.

Nearly finished now everyone, we know this is a long one….

After checking out at Sunflower Hotel we rented a private taxi to take us to Danang, with a short diversion to the Marble Mountains, as they're 10km south of the city. Upon arriving the mountains were beautiful, albeit pretty tall and we had to climb a whole load of stairs to get to the top. There are five mountains altogether named after the elements – water, wood, metal, fire and earth – we know this as we eavesdropped on a school teacher explaining to her class.

We spent a number of hours exploring the tunnels, caves and pagodas until eventually we came across the very long, steap set of stone stairs that would take us to the peak of the tallest mountain, and made the decision that we couldn’t not do it. In the heat the steps to the top were gruelling, but the view as we continued to climb became even more spectacular. As we reached the top, drank some water and caught our breath we had a mini celebration and then took in the stunning sight.

Coming back down wasn’t nearly as tough, plus we had our sense of accomplishment to keep us going. A fantastic day.

From Danang we will be travelling up the coast to Hue, then Hanoi and Halong Bay, and hopefully Sapa if we can fit it in, we only have 8 days left on our visas. Wow time really is flying by!

Hope you have enjoyed this entry, there was quite a lot to fit in. We will try not to leave it as long next time! ;-)

Lot’s of love

Kayleigh and Phil

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