Vietnam 2019

Monday 1st July - Breakfast at the hotel. Get shuttle bus to terminal two, should have been 9:29, but not till 10, one broke down. Very full. Painful check-in. Not much time to get to the gate. Fly A380. flight to Bangkok goes ok, but not sleep much. Fly 777 to Saigon, enjoy rice and prawns.

Tuesday 2nd - Thomas meets us at the airport at 9am, taxi to his flat, meet Misty, his dog. Me and Holly are less sure about the dog. He is staying at Hang Frank condo, room 203. Have a little sleep, very tired. Swim in the pool, on the roof. Watch heavy rain and thunder. Go out to an American BBQ place. Go to bed at 9:30pm, awake from 1am till 6am, then sleep till 10:30

Wednesday 3rd - I had forgotten that BBC website is blocked in Vietnam. Thomas is in and out doing a few jobs, goes into the office. We go up to the pool, a bit of rain, almost cold. We go out to Jaspas for 3pm, nice, but Holly does not like the kids area. Thomas joins us with Misty, new haircut and we sit at the front. Move on to Snap, Holly enjoys climbing and playing. Have pizza late on. I install Grab and use it to get us back.

Thursday 4th - Amandine comes over, we sleep till noon. Lots of rain during the day. I swim with Holly for an hour or so. We have salmon and cream cheese bagel for lunch. In the evening we go to Salute to start with, Holly is a bit shy with Amandine. Get a taxi to The Madhouse, Holly drops Zuma in a puddle and then we leave it in the taxi. I have espresso Martini to start. Followed by a great steak. Thomas goes off to Lush, Mark is going to work. We get a Grab home.

Friday 5th - Spend most of the morning looking into accommodation in Nha Trang, end up choosing Diamond Bay, seems very good value. Me and Holly go up for a swim. Amandine comes round for a while, she is going to look after misty. We are scheduled to fly at 4:30, goes at 5pm in the end. I sleep a little, crowded minibus to theDiamond Bay Hotel. We are impressed by the massive driveway and reception hall. Get a comfort bus to our room, 62108. We go down for some food, I have the pizza, pre made base. Two for one on Tiger beer. Fantastic air conditioning. Sleep very well. The aircrew from our flight are staying at the hotel. We see very few people, feels a bit like "The Prisoner".

Saturday 6th - Get dropped off near Louisiana brewhouse Holly sees some small electric cars, so she has a go on a motor bike, $1.50 for 15 minutes. We eat in the Louisiana brew house, I have pawn and Singapore noodles. Served by a Russian woman. Play on the beach in the dark a little. Another go, this time electric car. Lots of Russians walking along street. Shop to buy beer and milk. Get a taxi back, I miss the turn and we go past the gate.

Sunday 7th - I sleep till 5am, curtains are not thick enough. Breakfast, more smiles today. In the pool, we are the only people in. We eat by the pool, pho and club sandwich. We get the 3pm bus to the private beach, looks ok to start with, but even more run down than the rest of the place. No towels. Sea is nice, we all go in. Holly plays in the sand. We find the beer club, deserted. Holly can write her own name using the keyboard. The bus is a bit delayed coming back for 17:30. I am burnt on top of my head. We book Thomas into our room for an extra £9 per night. Heavy and sustained rain in the early evening. We think about going into town, but decide not to. Ring up to see if the Ruby restaurant is open, not. We eat at Emerald, Annette has steak, I have grilled prawns. Both very good food. Buy more tiger in happy hour. Call J&J from the balcony.

Monday 8th - I sleep well with the eye mask on. We have a swim in the pool and then walk over to reception to wait for Thomas to arrive from Da Nang. He is a little delayed, and then gets a taxi to the golf resort, followed by a buggy ride to the Hotel. We check him in and then buggy to the room. We go down for a swim with Thomas. The pool is a little bit busier than normal. We get a taxi into town and go in the Sailing Club. Have starters and main, I have Bo Luc Lac, they have curry. Sit right next to the beach, Holly has a small go in the sand. Walk north along the front, go in the same supermarket, buy a load more beer and water. Back for 10:30, Sit on the balcony drinking Saigon special till 1am.

Tuesday 9th - Up at usual time. Thomas has a lie in. Breakfast, sit by the window. They are preparing for a wedding. We head down to the pool. Usual games with the sinkers. Have a late lunch, I have rice with chilli, rather hot. Back in the pool, but Holly is tired, she cries whilst playing the game with another girl. We all come up to the apartment for a bit of sleep. Great view of Jupiter and Saturn from the balcony. Taxi into town, straight to the Skylight Bar. Great views of Nha Trang. Eat in the restaurant, wings and beef nachos to start. Pork ribs, very good. Annette really enjoys the setting. Meet Drew as we are leaving, he takes us down a shortcut. Thomas meets three women that he knows on the way out. We get in a taxi with a mad driver. He crosses three lanes of traffic, Thomas shouts at him to stop, throws him the money. Get another driver. Beer on the balcony to end, Holly is still awake.

Wednesday 10th - In the pool in the morning, an orphanage group come in for a couple of hours. We get taxi to Vin Pearl for 3pm, straight on the cable car, no queuing. Very hot when we arrive, stop with drinks, have cold peach tea. Look at the animals, tigers are great, very close. Bird house is great, parrots, storks nesting. Go round the undersea world, very good. We go on the dodgems, Holly's first time. She laughs all the time, crash into Thomas a lot. Have a quick look at the water show, large queue for cable car, so we come back on the speed boat. We walk fast to beat the rush, get very hot. Taxi to Louisiana brewhouse, everyone is hot. Starters and pizza. Quick supermarket visit for more beer and then home. Balcony till 1am.

Thursday 11th - Me and Holly do quite a lot of colouring and cutting. In the morning. We get a taxi to the Sailing Club for 1pm, we sit in a nice corner and order a nice bottle of white wine. Thomas's friend Lauren, from Shanghai, is there. She has a few drinks with Thomas and Annette. We all go on the beach for a while. Me and Holly spend a lots of time in the sea. Stay in till 7pm, still a great temperature, I have almost cooled down, to awake status. Annette and Holly go back in a taxi at 9pm. Me and Thomas head to Skylight. Sit in the VIP area with Drew plus girlfriend. He lives in the Havana hotel, we call by his room. I talk about the Rolls-Royce "Stay Curious" poster. We walk along the front to Oui. Have a couple more gins in there. Back for midnight.

Friday 12th - We are all ready for breakfast. We sit at the end of the pool, Holly plays with her sinkers, I rest mostly. We get a taxi into town, head to a BBQ place first, but full. Drew recommends a Korean BBQ, and books us a table. We sit in a room by ourselves, Thomas starts doing the cooking, but they soon take over. Very good meat, with salt and rice. Lots of other stuff, which we don't touch. Holly uses chop sticks to eat rice. Walk along for an ATM, and then taxi home.

Saturday 13th - Light breakfast. We get over to the Sailing Club for 4pm. Have the white wine again. David Sosa arrives on his bike. He has a little swim out with Dave Greenfield, it does not go very well. Rob and Mark joins us for some banter. We all head over to Skylight at 6:30, Thomas gets us straight to the top, and we have a table inside. We all have tacos and wings to start. Dan and Sosa stick to chicken tacos. We order the Dinosaur steak between three, it is fantastic. The athletes retire for an early night. We get a taxi home. Thomas stays out with Mark, Rob and Drew.

Sunday 14th - Alarm is set for 5am, taxi to the Havana, arrive before 6am. We are up early to watch the Nha Trang triathlon. I see Dave Greenfield, he tells us that Sosa will not be starting. We watch all the swimmers set off in waves. Rob, Mark and Thomas join us, together with Nam, Dan's wife. We see Dan come through the first lap, impressive swimming. Wait a little longer to see him start the bike. We then head to Story beach club. We get settled in a pod, by the pool. Most things are not open yet. Have a swim and then very nice breakfast, scrambled egg and bacon. We are served by Slim, very good English. We enjoy lots of time in the sea. Move along to Blue Sky beach. I walk along to try and watch Dan finish, I just miss him, at 1:30. Early taxi back for 5pm. Thomas orders curry.