23 Dec - Mui Ne to Nha Trang
Coach was very late so the 5 hours would mean arriving in the dark. It was a sleeper bus with a toilet as promised for £3 each. Sat/laid next to a non English speaking student who tried to teach me some Vietnamese language from our guidebook as well as writing in my journal. When she lost my pen she then moved away maybe out of embarrassment or to get some kip. The 5 hour journey consisted of a lot of pretty fishing villages and towns but it got boring after 5pm when it got dark. At least the neon Xmas lights amused us as well as the shiny, bacofoil-based Nativity scenes.
Nha Trang wasn't what we expected being a very developed urban city and some impressive hotels. Our tour rep, Long quoted we'd need a taxi for 2km but the booking tourist office said it was around the corner which it was so we could easily dismiss the moped taxi guys hassling us straight off the coach and walked the 300 metres to the hotel.
As we entered the hotel, the rest of the Exodus gang were there about to go to dinner, all very happy to see us. Shocked to see Canadian Alex with his arm and shoulder trussed up as he was driven off the road by a moped - his pedal got jammed into the exhaust pipe and the pair went into a storm drain head over heels. Alex and Pia joined us for a DIY BBQ restaurant. There were a lot of empty Heinekin beer cans at the policemens' table though we were served San Miguel, locally licensed and brewed. Our table had 2 miniature charcoal burning stoves and we were given pork, vegetable, shrimp, prawns and chicken. Paranoid about getting ill it wasn't the total success as I got the feeling everyone was shattered after the 100km ride we'd missed that day.
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