Nha Trang with a bang...

So if you have read the last two posts you will be pleased to know the smell of food has diffused in the air con now. I am still flat out on my back and my arms are starting to ache from holding this tablet above my head.

We have just left, what I believe to be the best place we have visited in Vietnam so far, Nha Trang. The beach here is amazing. It has the softest golden sand and stretches the length of the whole city. The sea is warm yet refreshing and offers a load of water sports.  We rented jet skis here and bombed across the sea, if only we had the go pro on this day.

We are staying in a cool little hostel recommended by some people we met in a bar. At 3 quid a night its great value, and has a great location just 5 mins walk from the sea front. Oh and did I mention it has a free breakfast!

The area is famous for its mud baths and mineral spars. Being the big lad I am, I just had to try this! We spent a day in the mud and mineral pools sitting in water that was 40 degrees plus! Hot in this weather. I tried to save some dignity by having a few beers but safe to safe this was a girls dream day out.

Back in the city there are a range of night and day markets selling anything from "hello kitty" toys to crocodile handbags. There is a host of restaurants and street food outlets on the sea front. I think I've had my best value for money meal here paying 5 quid for 6 courses including beer!

We have spent a few days lounging out on the beach after some decent nights out with people in our hostel. Some of the local bars offer 50p beers and stay open for as long as you drink!

The highlight of our time in Nha Trang was a day spent on Vinpearl island. You start by getting a cable car (The world's longest over water cable car!) from the beach across to this island. The island has a water park, theme park, aquirium and private beach. All this can be bought for 20 pound! The water park was great with loads of rides including a wave pool. Our favourite was the double dingy half pipe, our weight distribution meant we flew down this ride!  The theme park was good we went on one roller coaster that sounded like it was going to break when it turned you up side down, generally holding on for dear life! In the aquirium we were able to pet sharks before chilling on the beach to dry off after an exhausting day.

All in all a great place to stay, loads to do and a cracking beach. The Russians love this place too. Almost everyone there is Russian and shops and locals have even catered for this with Russian signs in all the shop windows.

Our next stop is Mui Ne; it is a small fishing village on the beach, we only have two more stops after that before we are in Saigon and off to Cambodia.

The first few days in Tokyo...

So, turns out the Japanese have their own language, eating utensils, no shoes rule and a unique way of flushing the loo. 

We arrived at our first hostel Asakusa Smile a few days ago after successfully navigating our way in circles in the Japanese heat and with our heavy backpacks. 

Our room was a nice lil' shoe box. Our shared toilet was an experience for both of us. Their loos are high tech Panasonic or Toyota branded with many buttons. Neither of us wanted to get our hair wet, so FYI don't hit the blue button.

Our first morning was spent walking into what we call 'town' (just the local high street) to get some breakfast then we walked to Tokyo skytree to purchase tickets for the sky hop bus. On this open top, very touristy bus we ventured to Odaibo where we had the pleasure of seeing a famous japanese girl group, think spice girls on steroids! Actually we pretty much thought this whole area was on steroids. This place called Fuji TV and venture fort was full of over enthusiastic animations, high pitched singing, and was generally a really strange place. It was like a theme park but its an actual place with shops, restaurants, a professional TV studio and a big ferris wheel (yes we went on this).

After this experience we went to the more sophisticated, high end Ginza. This is just like Oxford street. From Ginza we then went onto the Electric town for dinner and to see this part of Tokyo lit up in the evening. This place was also very different, it was full of arcades and Japanese girls standing on the streets in tiny maid costumes promoting restaurants but actually, they looked like they were promoting Anne Summers. It felt like their red light district so we have a feeling these restaurants were not the norm inside.

And this is where this first post ends. We are writing this nearly a week into our trip so when we next have our spare hour we will post about our visit to Roppongi and pics of our new hostel (we are in cool traditional capsules).

Cj and Sam