It was so nice to return to a warm place so we spent about 7 days relaxing and enjoying the beach atmosphere.
Nha Trang is full of tourists and all that goes with that: Western food, beggars, touts, tours, cyclo drivers, moto drivers, tourist offices, street vendors, beach resorts, happy hours and set menus, and local English speakers.
We spent a lot of time walking about and went on one of the 4 island tours. The tours are very cheap and often include lunch and a pick up from your hotel. The islands have an entry fee that the government charges when you land. The snorkeling was not very good and we saw more fish traps than fish!
The tour we went with had an MC (Master of ceremonies) like Frankie Stevens (a NZ entertainer) who called himself Mr Funky Monkey! He and some of the crew formed a band and played western and Vietnamese pop songs. They sang songs from all the different nationalities represented on the boat: Russian, Polish, French, Aussies, German, Kiwis, Italians, Argentinian and Vietnamese. The MC even knew a Maori song: Oma Rapiti (Run Rabbit)! The drums were made from an oil drum and old pots. They dropped the backs of the seats and made a dance floor- it was such a laugh!
There were free cocktails (rice whisky and pineapple juice) at the floating bar near a fish farm by one of the islands.
Lunch was an enormous spread of prawns, tuna, squid, octopus, tofu, fried spring rolls, with rice and noodles. There was so much food left over.
The last island was a local resort island and there were more locals than westerners which is always pleasing. They had paragliding and beach volleyball and there was very little shade unless you paid to sit on a lounger for the hour we were stopped on the island.
