Ne Trang (and a picture)

Our journey to Ne Trang was once again by the night sleeper bus. When it arrived Helen was elbows out and onto the bus straight away to try and get two bed seats next to each other whilst David dealt with getting the cases securely in the luggage hold. We hadn't been on-board too long before David noticed a bug crawling along the floor and then disappearing under one of the beds, then another, then another. After the first pee stop and we got back on board, Helen also noticed the bug situation - in fact the bus looked pretty much infested with them and when people were getting back on board after the 2nd pee stop you could hear the sound of lots of swiping and thwacking of bugs going on in several parts of the bus. We wrapped blankets around our exposed feet and legs, closed our eyes and tried to sleep the best we could. You can imagine it wasn't easy - particularly as the coach driver was bonkers with erratic overtaking, plenty of use of the horn and severe braking. At least it momentarily took your mind off the bugs and every time we went over pot holes and bridge expansion joints there was always the hope that a few of the critters were being shaken off the bus.
Eventually we got some sleep, only to be woken by the sound of water. There was a toilet half way down the bus that constantly said it was occupied and could only be shut with a lock mechanism on the outside of the door - this had already confused a couple of passengers, but was no excuse for the bloke who was standing in the bus peeing up the outside of the loo door and the exit door midway along the coach.
When we arrived therefore, we alighted via the front door of the coach. We were then pleased when we finally shook off all the hotel touts (although one was persistent to within 100 metres of the hotel we had booked). At the hotel we were told that our room was ready even though it was only 0715 hrs. However, when we got to the room, the manager opened the door to find somebody was already inside it. We were then offered another room and were finally able to wash the thought of those bugs out of our system.
Ne Trang itself is a beach destination, so we spent a couple of days relaxing down at the sea front looking over to the island pictured above, connected to the mainland by one of the longest looking cable cars we've seen.
On one evening we spent a night down at the Sailing Club on what appeared to be chillout night by the music they were playing, and a bonfire was lit on the beach to add to the ambiance. Unfortunately, Helen was ill on our second night, so David went out on his own the following evenings and was concerned he looked like a bit of a saddo in the restaurant and bar he visited. He was accosted by one of the waitresses in the restaurant and thoroughly cross examined as to whether he was there on his own, how long he'd been in Vietnam, whether he was married and why he didn't have any children. In the bar, he ended up sitting at a table next to an old guy who clearly had an identity crisis and thought he was an American Indian. David then cursed himself that he was off duty from taking pictures for a few days so that he couldn't share this image with you all.