Sunday 25th Hotel Galliot, Nha Trang

We were up early because even though we had packed up the evening before we needed to have breakfast and be away by eight o'clock. This was our long train trip from Saigon to Nha Trang, 7.5 hours. We arrived earlier than the stipulated 30 minutes prior to departure and struck up a conversation with a couple from Sydney. Retirees like us but he was a real train buff who enjoyed talking about train trips they had made. Bob had booked a "soft sleeper" for us figuring that on such a long trip it would be good to be able to stretch out. This still was incredibly cheap. The carriage was new and clean and we had the lower bunks. There was clean linen including a pillow and a duvet which was good because the aircon was very efficient. Shortly we found that the upper bunks would be occupied by a young Vietnamese family. The couple had a little girl of 3 or 4 and a baby. We didn't hear the little girl make a peep the whole day. She was very shy and I know she slept most of the trip. The baby only wailed for food and it was very peaceful. The parents didn't speak any English but we had some conversation with sign language.
We had stocked up with some fruit and snacks as we didn't know what food would be available but to our surprise a basic meal was delivered to our room. Boiled rice with some small pieces of chicken, cabbage and fruit. This was enough to keep the worms happy. I tasted Bob's share of the unkown fruit but didn't like it and handed mine up to our upstairs conpanions.
The train arrived on time and our taxi delivered us to our Hotel which is very comfortable. We took a walk to the mini mart, one of about 6 nearby. To our delight we discovered fresh milk, product of Da Lat which is our next destination. Nha Trang is a popular seaside town and we went to look at the beach after shopping.
Our dinner restaurant was selected by the einee meenie process from the many options and the food was very good. The restaurant was very busy and the waitresses were young and inefficient in the main. We watched bemused as they ran around in circles and were on the point of leaving when the one efficient one spotted our annoyance a detailed off a server. Fortunately the food made up for the choas and it was interesting to watch.