Nha Trang, Vietnam.

The short:

Everyone says not to visit Nha Trang. All I've heard for the past 10 days is "Nha Trang is full of Russians", "I hope you like Russians", etc. etc. But I've seen photos of people that have been before and it looked beautiful, so I was personally quite keen on taking a quick peek, particularly as it's well known for it's natural mud bath spas and beaches, which are obviously both right up my street.

The long:

Tuesday:

Slight change of plans. The sleeper bus to Da Lat stopped in Nha Trang, where we were told we would have to wait for an hour before boarding another bus to Da Lat. So I seized the opportunity to convince the boys that a mud bath spa was exactly what the doctor ordered, plus we had been on a bus for what felt like an eternity and the sun was shining invitingly brightly. Success. It wasn't long before we had rebooked our bus tickets for the following morning and were bounding down the road in a taxi to find a hostel for the night. It was only 9am by the time we'd checked in somewhere and had breakfast but seeing as we were all up we thought that we may as well get on with the day. We went to Thap Ba Mud Baths, where we paid £10 each for a 20-minute cold group mud bath; 30-minute hot mineral water bath; 5-minute hydrotherapy; unlimited usage of the 2 swimming pools and waterfall, and a 45-minute full body massage. Ok, so it wasn't quite the standard of a London spa, but the price was fairly unbeatable. We got our swimmers on and hopped into our mud bath, having thankfully just seen them change the mud between each group.

The boys were boys and thought it would be hilarious to cover their entire heads in mud, which it was; they looked like slimy green monsters. It was particularly entertaining watching them try to spit it out of their mouths.

Once our 20 minutes was up we moved over to our mineral water baths, which were essentially just a bath, but enjoyable nonetheless. Despite our broken and little night's sleep we were all in good spirits and it was a great way to sit and chat and get to know one another better. The mineral bath was followed by hydrotherapy, which I really enjoyed, although it was just hot jets of water hitting your body from all angles.

Massage time. God I was so excited. I always bloody fall asleep, which I hate as I want to enjoy every moment. I did my best not to nod off but I must have succumbed to my body's needs at some point as before I knew it I was being shaken awake, although I do vaguely remember hands rippling over my face. I did feel very relaxed though, and welcomed the steam room that followed. All pampered and cheery we thought it was about time for a spot of lunch. We went to the spa restaurant, which I was sceptical of as, firstly, I thought it would be hugely overpriced and, secondly, the menu was enormous, which always sounds alarm bells in my head (how can they have all of those ingredients on hand and be able to cook all of those dishes well?). But I was wrong. The prices were totally reasonable and I ended up having my second best meal in Vietnam, consisting of a seafood salad that was so full of flavour and crunch that I want to try to recreate it at home. 

After lunch we decided to skip the spa swimming pools and check out the beach instead, and I'm so glad that we did. 

Obviously I had to take advantage of the beautiful setting and get some group shots:

The sun teased us, poking its head in and out from behind the clouds, but it was still a gorgeous day. I even ventured into the sea for a play, which was great fun... at first, but then I nearly drowned in about 2 feet of water. The waves were huge and the current incredibly strong. By this point I was in the sea on my own and the current had moved me a little further down the beach from where we were all sitting. I was actually trying to get out of the water when a massive wave came up behind me and pushed me forward. As I tried to get up, another one came, dragging me under. This cycle repeated itself about 7 times, with me scraping along the sand and swallowing half the sea in my attempts to come up for air. Eventually the sea allowed it and I sprang up and ran out as fast as I could. It was really rather a horrible ordeal, which has ever so slightly put me off the sea even more, which is a shame. I think I'll just stick to calmer water in future! (Perhaps some swimming lessons for Christmas? Haha).

The beach was also a great spot to do some Russian people watching, as steroid-pumped and fat men pranced by in speedos, much to my amusement. Once the sun finally disappeared behind so,e buildings we decided to retire to the nearby beach bar for a few beers. 

It was dark by the time we left and walked back to our hostel, so we all had a wash and a change before re-grouping for dinner. There was a great, fresh looking seafood restaurant really close by offering 2-for-1 on beers and mojitos, so there wasn't much deliberation involved. Everyone went to town, with Mike ordering oysters;

Andrew ordering AMAZING mussels (which we then proceeded to continuously order and re-order as a group until they had run out);

Robbie ordering tender squid; Ronnie ordering fresh pork and vegetable spring rolls, which we shared,

and me ordering the same amazing spicy seafood salad that I had had for lunch (it really was that good):

We sat for a while drinking and chatting, and I had the most perfect dessert of ice-cream and red wine; what more can a girl ask for? 

On top of that, it was one of the best damn ice-creams I've ever had and will become a permanent part of my diet whilst I am in Asia - MJ, it is vanilla ice-cream with caramel chocolate AND almonds, i.e. the best 2 Magnums rolled into one.

Sufficiently full from the sea we hit another "Why Not Bar", it seems they are a clever chain popping up all over the country. 

It was 2-for-1 on all cocktails until 11pm so we got heavily involved. We chatted and laughed the night away,

before taking on a tiny hyper fist-pumping Vietnamese man at pool,

who completely smashed us. He was actually unbelievably good. We smoked some hubbly bubbly and chilled amongst the Russians for a little while longer before hitting the D-floor at "Ocean" club just across the road.

Before we knew it, it was 2am and the realisation that we had to get up in 4 and a half hours smacked us in the face like a truck. As soon as my head hit the pillow I was out, despite the fact that my "bed" really should not be classed as such; it was essentially a plank of wood. I have never seen a mattress like it, not that it mattered to me at all at the time.