So after treating Ho Chi Minh to the antics of the Virgins we headed to Nha Trang about 600 km north of HCM.  When I looked at the map I saw an airport in the middle of Nha Trang so I thought it was going to be a quick ride to the hotel, so what I found out when I arrived was that the airport is 30km south of Nha Trang.  We made it to the hotel and and found some food and booked in for a massage.  I walked into the massage place and they recognized me from when I was there at the beginning of May.  We decided that I couldn’t be a spy as people always remember me! Sometimes it is not always a good thing.

We all had a massage, however Wendy got more than she bargained for.  You will have to ask her exactly what she asked for and what happened in the massage.  Maybe the policy of “What Happens in Vietnam stays in Vietnam” will apply here.

We then had ice cream for dinner, because we can and also as we had a late lunch.

The next day was one of the more extreme days of the trip.  We lounged beside the pool the whole day.

That night we went to a Spanish restaurant and had Tapas.  Susan and Wendy got dragged up onto the dance floor and danced to a Black Russian DJ.  When they finally managed to ‘escape’ the dance floor they informed us that Russian women seemed to like not wearing bras.  Interesting…

The next day we organised a tour where we had our own private car take us to a waterfall and then a mud bath after lunch.  We walked for about 20 mins to the waterfall and by the time we got there we were roasting.  We could jumped off the rocks and spent about an hour there.  I got a massive fright when something nibbled my toes.  Of course I screamed doing the same.  The fish that they have in the foot baths that eat the dead skin off your feet were in this river.

From there we headed to the mud bath and had a great afternoon in the mud and spring baths with lots of laughs.

We then had Indian for dinner.  Yes, very Vietnamese.

The next day was my birthday, and I was woken up with the presentation of a piece of chocolate cake.  My tradition is to have something sweet like this for breakfast on my birthday, and they also had balloons on my bed.

It was also Tina’s birthday in a week so we treated ourselves to a snorkelling day in a speed boat.  My version of a speed boat is different to Vietnamese, what a surprise.  Their version is more of a boat with an out rigger motor.

We had a great day and the water was colder than expected and we saw lots of fish and they put on a special lunch for us because of our birthdays.  We then went back and off to the markets via a Cyclo.  We fitted two us on there and our driver decided to go up the wrong way on the street, no so bad unless you are at the pointy end of it like I was.

We then opened the bottle of Moet that they bought for me and had the cake the hotel supplied.  Oh, and a little bit of gin:).

We then tarted ourselves out, unfortunately Sus could not make it out as she was sick.  We went to the Sailing Club and had food and a couple of beers.  After that we wondered the streets and Tina went home too, sick as well.  Vietnam had taken its toll.  We found a stall on the side of the road and bought some beers, flagged down a Cyclo and then went for a cruise of the city.

It was awesome, we could chat to each other and we looked at the night life.  The driver I had had been doing it for 32 years.  They then dropped us off at a night club.  We danced the night away for 3 hours and mingled and played pool.  We got home at about 2am which is quite a big night for this old girl.  I realised that I am now ‘middle aged’.  Very depressing and that the people in the night club could be my children!

The next day we flew back to HCM and had some Bun Cha and did a bit more shopping at the Ben Thanh Markets for some last minute gifts.  Bun Cha was our favourite meal.

Thanks to Tina, Susan and Wendy for making the massive commitment to come over and visit me.  It was a wonderful birthday present, true friends!