After drinks, we caught our overnight bus. This time we came prepared, we made sure that we had our eye-masks and travel pillows, both of which we forgot last time we went on an overnight bus. Luckily the trip was largely uneventful and we managed to get quite a bit of sleep, well that was until 6.30am when the bus driver started BLASTING Vietnamese music! We were not amused, but luckily it was turned down slightly for the remainder of the trip.
When we arrived, we went in hunt of a good breakfast. After eating our full, we walked through the streets and found our hotel. We wanted to see if we could just leave our bags there, however we were pleasantly surprised when we were allowed to check in early. At first glance our hotel room seemed tiny but, after we felt the pillows (which were soft for the first time in Vietnam) and saw the awesome shower, we decided that the room was actually perfect.
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| Our 'city' view |
Our next stop was to go and price diving and see what the options were, especially since Mel is not qualified. We found a 'discover diving' option, which allowed Mel to do some skills training in a pool, before testing out those newly learnt skills in the open water. After booking the dives, we went and spent some time being lazy bums on the beach. We rented some deck chairs and that was that - until it was time to head to the pool.
At the pool, Mel was kitted out with all of her gear and was given a run-down, on land, of the skills she would be practicing in the water. Then it was time to put theory into practice. While Mel was busy practicing, Ross was testing out the new 'Go-Pro-like' camera that Mike sent us from South Africa. We were a bit weary of just jumping in the water with it straight up, so Ross tested the housing in the pool to make sure that it stayed bone dry inside.
When we were finished at the pool, we went back to our hotel and showered before heading out for a drink and then dinner. A friend of ours had told us about a really nice bar that is right on the beach, so we decided to check it out. We needed to draw money on the way, so we went in search of a Vietcombank ATM. Vietcom is meant to be one of the biggest banks in Vietnam but, for some reason, we can never find ATMs. We always see plenty of them when don't need them but, as soon as we do, poof, they seem to vanish! We were pointed in the direction of one, and walked for a while, but couldn't find it. Ross was convinced that he had seen one earlier, so we retraced most of our steps but still couldn't find it. Eventually we just drew money from another ATM and headed to the Sailing Club.
Now this is quite a 'larny' bar, so we expected high prices. And that is exactly what we were met with. The setting is great though, so for one drink - no problem! However, much to our delight, they were setting up for a beach party that was happening there that night. As is about right with our timing, it was sound check time. So, for the second time on Saturday, we were blasted with very loud music. Then came the rain! And boy did it rain. We had to move under shelter and nurse our second drinks until it finally let-up enough for us to leave.
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| The storm rolling in |
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| Russian dancers practicing |
Dinner was the next thing on our list, so we did some googling to get some ideas of where to go. As we were walking down one of the streets, Ross looked up and saw a sign for the restaurant 'Olivia's' which he had read about online. In we went and we had some absolutely delicious pizza. Because of the rain, the roads were all really, really flooded. Luckily, by the time we wanted to leave, most of the water had drained away, as we were not too keen on the prospect of wading through gross, Vietnam drain water. Most of our walk back to the hotel was dry but, of course, the last few steps that would take us into our hotel were covered with water. So, in the end, we had to risk it and wade through the water - gross.
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