Boat trip from Nha Trang

We woke to torrential rain despite Phoong's assurances that the weather is always great in Nha Trang. In Vietnam when it rains you just get wet even if you are wearing the ubiquitous plastic capes. In the boat we met Mr. Tom our Vietnamese guide for the day whose English was quite fluent if you could actually make out what he was saying. He brought us (on foot) for a tour of a fishing village on one of the islands, stopping briefly to supply us with our spotted capes which gave us the appearance of suffering from some form of tropical disease - a rare form of dengue fever some of the group thought. The rain was flowing in rivers down the narrow streets but undaunted we waded on, sometimes up to our ankles in the muddy waters. We reminded ourselves of the beneficial properties of mud based on our experiences yesterday but I was not convinced that seeing a high school, a primary school and a nursery school were sufficient compensation for muck between my toes and sopping leather footwear. To make matters worse my designer hat will never be the same again and even worse it looks like Jim's camera has taken a turn for the worst. As I write he is off to a camera shop to see what, if anything, can be done. Let's hope that he is more successful there than he was yesterday trying to get a beer and a glass oif wine. To be honest, I don't think he has the sign language for what he wants to say nor has he the English as he doesn't seem to know much about the camera.

Anyway, back to the boat and the seats have been transformed into a beauty salon for manicure, pedicure, nail-painting,threading, eyebrow shaping - I had the lot for 220,000. I've never spent so many thousands on myself! Jim had no bother recognising me but the others in the group seemed to think I was tranformed. I dread to think what they thought I was like before! Jim refused point blank to have his nails or to get ear and nose hair cut. I don't know what that says about him - I do but I'm not saying!

Mr. Tom and Mr. Somebody Else started a sing-song with "10 green bottles" which we quickly shortened to 2 after 8. Then we had "Waltzing Matilda" and "Moly Malone" and something I can't remember that represented New Zealand. The whole thing was quite hilarious with lots of sign language and over-the-top acting. I could only mime as my sore throat has become a chesty cough and a squeaky voice. It was a shame because I might have given them a rendition of "Mary from Dungloe".

Shortly after, the crew started fishing and the group went swimming. Jim particularly enjoyed jumping in from the top of the boat and seemingly all enjoyed themselves from the commotion they made. They said the water was warm and very salty and buoyant. I didn't swim because it was raining and I didn't want to get wet. While all this was going on the seats were transformed once again and this time into a table for our lunch. We were treated to the day's catch - squid and a type of fish that tasted very meaty - chicken and beef for the non-fish eating people and a platter of vegetarian goodies for the vegetarian as well as noodles and steamed rice. It was a great spread!

Our next stop was rocky beach which was set up for sun-worshipping rather than rain-worshipping but we made the best of things with some of the group getting into some serious stone throwing competitions.

At present the men have gone to play pool and have a few beers and the ladies have gone to a spa. I am giving that a miss as I have lost my voice and I'm afraid I would not be able to communicate exactly what I wanted or did not want - you can never be too careful you know!
Tomorrow we get up around 5 am to be at the airport for 6 for a flight to Danang and then a bus to Hoi An where we have 3 nights.