Da Nang to Nha Trang (518km)

For our journey from Da Nang to Nha Trang (about 9.5 hours) we decided to opt for the soft air-conditioned seats (similar to bus seats) instead of the soft sleeper cabin as the soft seats are much cheaper (about half the price) and because we would be travelling during the day.

We got on the train at Da Nang at about lunch time and quickly realised that we were the only foreigners in the carriage as all the other foreigners had gone for the soft sleepers. Even the train staff asked us "why you no sleeper"?

(Photos: Matt in Nha Trang; Nha Trang esplanade park; beachfront).

It took us a little while to get settled in, but once we did the journey was fine and we were actually surrounded by Vietnamese people whereas in the sleeper carriages it is mostly foreigners.
Matt did manage to befriend an American passenger named George who was also traveling on the soft seats in another carriage with his Vietnamese wife Mai-Lee.
George was really friendly and gave us some helpful tips and stories from his time traveling around and living in Vietnam.

We arrived in Nha Trang at about 9.30pm and George and Mai-Lee very kindly took us under their wing and took us in a taxi with them, which was excellent because we were basically mobbed by taxi drivers the moment we stepped out of the station and many of them are dodgy and speak little English.

With help from George and his Mai-Lee we made our way to our hotel, and then we met back up and had dinner together. Matt enjoyed the food at the restaurant (which served nothing but seafood so it was not great for me) and we drank glasses of beer with chunks of ice in it as this is the only way that they can get the beer really cold (due to unreliable electricity, poor quality refrigeration etc).
Things were going well until a large rat ran over my foot while we were eating.
It was time for bed.

George warned us about the number of Russians that we were likely to encounter in Nha Trang and he was not wrong. It seems like there are almost more Russians here than Vietnamese! Every restaurant we saw had two menus out the front - one in English and one in Russian.

(Photo: Cocktails and Shisha at a neon lit Russian bar).

The presence of the Russian culture gives Nha Trang a very different vibe to Hoi An where we just came from, and unfortunately it is also more dangerous.

Nha Trang is a beautiful coastal town with perfect beaches and clear skies, but at night the place beams with a thousand tacky neon signs and Russian techno and pop music blasts from every bar and restaurant. The beach is really stunning though with clean clear water and white sand, and they seem to make a big effort to keep the parks along the esplanade clean and inviting.

We spent 3 nights in Nha Trang and had 3 full days there. The first two days we spent on the beach,

swimming and lying in banana lounges, drinking cheap beer and reading.
Matt also took the opportunity to go for a bbq with George and Mai-Lee at one of Mai-Lee's friends' houses (Thien).
He enjoyed the opportunity to get to know a local Vietnamese person and the home cooked bbq (once again seafood).
(Photos: Matt, George, Mai-Lee and friends; Nha Trang street at night).

On the third and final day we checked out of our hotel at 12pm, but then had to wait until 10pm for our overnight train to Ho Chi Minh.
As such we arranged to spend the day at the I Resort which is about 20 minutes out of Nha Trang. I Resort is famous for its mud baths and mineral pools and we spent the day enjoying both.

As such by the time we arrived at Nha Trang train station for our overnight train we were feeling very clean and relaxed.
It didn't last long.

(Photos: I Resort mud baths and mineral pools; the water for the mineral pools comes from a natural underground spring and the pools ranged in temperature from cool to hot, they had a basin of water which was hot enough to boil eggs, they put the eggs into wire baskets an lower them into the water until they are cooked then sell them as a snack).