Weather update : It's still hot !

And I'm still eating like a horse. Or is that : I'm still eating a horse ? It's so difficult to tell here.

Well, the rest of the time in Dalat was great. After the day tour on the back of motorbikes, we started to get a bit cocky and decided to rent a couple of mountain bikes from the guys at the hotel we were staying at. I say they were mountain bikes, but only in the sense that they were a rough approximation of bicycles, and we were on top of a mountain. All similarities end there.

WHAT WERE WE THINKING !!!

Okay, the scenery is breathtaking and it is nowhere near as hot as the lowlands, with low humidity too, but we were up a bloody mountain. If a road had only a 1 in 4 gradient it was considered flat. And we kept getting lost (that was entirely Cara's fault as everybody who knows me knows my impeccable record on map navigation). Needless to say we spent many an hour puffing and panting our way up and down very steep hillsides. We eventually found the old royal palace we were looking for, which turned out to be a 1930's art-deco house like one near the river in St Margarets back home. And they made us wear bags on our feet which smelled of cheese (the bags that is. Well maybe Cara's feet too). But the best part of the whole episode was trying to ride a bike that was clearly built for a six year old, and that was the biggest one they had. You'll all be glad to know that I continue to frighten small children simply by continuing to be this tall. Apparently there are small ethnically isolated hilltribes in the highlands that have started singing folksongs about an enormous white/grey ape creature that has been seen wandering the forests on a small squeeky tricycle. Cara however, remains a smiley figure of fun and interest for everybody. There is no justice in the world.

After Dalat we caught a bus to Nha Trang, which was only 6 hours away. After coming from the cool, temperate highlands back down to the coast, the heat slapped us in the face as we got off the bus. Fantastic ! Nha Trang is a resort town on an enormous stretch of beach. The beach is fantastic but the town itself seems to be undergoing some fairly hefty development and enormous highrise hotels are springing up everywhere along the seafront. I imagine in a few years it will resemble Miami Beach. By then, travellers who have been there now will hate it and say it has bespoiled and commercialised a natural beauty. The locals will love it and make a shitload of money after decades of financial hardships. You make your own mind up.
Long story short, we had a cracking days diving, met a few other travelling types, got drunk and ate more. Same, same. Nice place, enjoyed it, won't go back.

Departing Nha Trang we took the open tour coach to Hoi An. The very helpful chappy at the booking office told us the bus had only 20 people booked onto it for that night, so we should be able to stretch out (it's a 13 hour journey). What he didn't mention was that if the buses are not full, they flog off the remaining seats to locals for a few pennies. Our 45 seater coach set off with 50 people on it. That was, of course, after driving round town to every hotel, twice, checking everybody's tickets, twice, to find the one person who was supposed to be going to Saigon (HCMC) but had got on the wrong bus and finally, waiting to find out the outcome of a fight that broke out at the booking office between the ticket inspector and a disgruntled local chap who wasn't getting a seat on the bus (the ticket inspector won, despite being just 4'6" and only having one hand, and only two fingers on that hand. Tough little guy. We readily gave up our tickets for inspection after that). We eventually set off out of Nha Trang after sitting on the bus for 90 minutes without going anywhere. It was a really crappy journey. There was no room at all, and when the guy in front of me put his seat back to go to sleep, I had to put my legs in the aisle as it was physically impossible to get my legs behind the seat. After desperately trying to get some sleep, I finally managed to drop off at about 4.30am. Fortunately for me, the very kind gentleman driving the bus decided it would be better if I stayed awake at that point, so at 4.45am he started playing Karaoke videos at very high volume. Lucky for me he did, otherwise I might have had up to 2 hours kip. Bless him. Despite being hot, cramped and noisy, it was an interesting experience, and seeing the Vietnamese countryside as the sun came up was amazing. As it started getting light, people were already busying away in the paddy fields and riding water buffalo down the streets. You don't see that on the A316.

p.s. On the bus, Cara slept for 6 hours. There is no justice in the world.

I'm sure Cara will fill you in on what's happened since we arrived in Hoi An