As well as being a country of incredible beauty and delicious food, Vietnam can be a frusturating place to travel. As with any developing country, there are always things that are just not quite right. Like when we arrived at the train station yesterday for our ride from Danang to Nha Trang, the train was late - fine, that's expected - but when the trains arrived - emphasis on train*s* - there were no signs on them identifying which trains they were. And as they pull into the station, all the staff magically disappears. So, we boarded the train that appeared to be ours, went to our seat, and someone else was sitting there. We got into a dispute about them being in our seats, other passengers came over, and then after a few minutes, it turned out we were on the train going in the wrong direction. A simple sign on the train identifying it would have, of course, avoided this problem, but no one had thought of that. We got off the train, and a few minutes later, our train pulled into the station. We asked about 15 people to make sure it was definitely our train.
The ride was pleasant enough - about 10 hours in an air conditioned car, nice seats and plenty of leg room. The views going past our window were often enrapturing. Vietnam must have 100 shades of green, from the bright neon green of sprouting rice plants to the deep olive green of the forests climbing up the hills which rise from the coast. The train also crawls past vast beaches, over impossible bridges, and through numerous small villages - the houses of which you can see directly into, given the open construction of Vietnamese homes.
We had booked our hotel from the hotel in Hoi An, which had promised us a good rate on a room with a view of the beach - something we definitely wanted in this town. When we arrived, they told us 'sorry, all sea view rooms full'. But we had a *reservation* and it was clearly written on the reservation 'sea view'. 'Maybe tomorrow someone check out'. So, we left this hotel and searched on foot, walking the city center's streets looking for a hotel that would have a sea view room available. However, at high season, most of the hotels were full. Frusturated, we finally settled on a cheap room with no windows at the back of a nearby hotel. We looked again this morning, but all the hotels (more than a dozen) were either full, or had worse rooms available.
Accepting that we had been screwed, we headed to the beach to relax this morning.
Nha Trang's sprawling public beach was moderately crowded, but we rented ourselves a couple of beach chairs, waded in the warm water, read our books while cooled by the gentle breeze, and forgot our troubles. In the afternoon, we found a cafe that served cappuchinos, fresh fruit juice and fantastic French pastries with ice cream. Set back from the beach, the cafe is arranged around a pool under coconut palms. We snagged deck chairs from a departing couple, ordered coffee and lemon tarts, and went swimming after eating. Lena was chased around the pool by a 5-year-old French boy with water wings who found it amusing to blow bubbles at her underwater.
Tomorrow, we do our first dive/snorkelling trip, out to the islands about 1 hr off the coast from Nha Trang.
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