A cramped sleeper bus (four rows of three bunk beds) took us the 10-hour journey from Saigon to the beach resort of Nha Trang. We thought we were being clever in nabbing bottom bunks, but it turns out that top bunks are where you want to be - close to the air-conditioning vents, y'see? Jacqui prised open a window to stop us drowning in our own sweat, even if this did mean an occasional waft of silage as we drove past agricultural areas from time to time.
We arrived bleary-eyed and sleep deprived at 6am, and immediately went straight back to sleep as soon as our heads hit the pillows. Five hours later we emerged ready to face the day, resolving that our next overnighter would be by train.
After a chill-out day on the beach, we spent the afternoon and evening of our second day at Vinpearl Island - a resort that you reach by a 3km cable car, which is dominated by a big theme park where we spent all of our time. Imagine Alton Towers on a Southend-on-Sea budget and you'll be somewhere close. We enjoyed the kitschness of it all, and the pirate ship ride made me feel like I'd been kicked in the unmentionables. I knew there was a reason why I had avoided those kind of swingy-back-and-forth roller coasters as a kid. I just wish I'd remembered about two minutes earlier...
Despite my Southend comment though, the aquarium (included in what we felt was a pretty steep ticket price) turned out to be superb. Not just because it had sharks and a very nicely done 90-metre fibre-glass walk though zone, but because there was such a variety of interesting and unusual sea creatures. I lost count of the number of massive moray eels with their freaky mouths permanently open, giving them a facial expression resembling a sort of twisted glee. Oh, and Vinpearl has a big hillside sign ala Hollywood. Lights up a treat at night too.
The following day we went on a $6 boat trip, which took us to four islands for snorkelling (where some pesky little jellyfish gave Jacqui a couple of lashes which are thankfully fairly small and healing nicely), a 'floating bar', and general lazing around in the sunshine. Good fun, especially when the crew entertained us with a makeshift covers band (drumkit: one knackered bass drum, a cymbal that looked like it had been recovered from an archaeological dig, and some upside down plastic barrels). I especially enjoyed their version of Elton John's 'Sacrifice' where it seemed any sounds would do for vocals as long as the number of syllables was right. "Sass-a-ma-sife..." That sort of thing, bless 'em.
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