Nha Trang

The bus dropped off right in the main backpacker area in
Nha Trang at A hotel with $12 rooms but I didn't look at it. I was planning on leaving that same night on the train for Danang but I liked the vibe in Nha Trang and decided to stay a night. There is an ally off the beach road that has a bunch of budget hotels on it. I stayed at Hotel An Hoa for $10usd with fan, hot water, wifi,
tv. Since I went diving the next day and my train didn't leave until
after 11:30pm I did late checkout and for $5usd was able to stay until
5pm.

Went diving with Seahorse dive shop. 2 dives with lunch on the boat
for $33usd! Great deal. First spot was Madonna Rock which had a cool
boulder field and 2 small swim through caves which were cool. Second
spot was fisherman bay which had really good corals. Visibility wasn't
that great, maybe 10meters cause of some recent rain but apparently it
gets really good sometimes. Lunch onboard was really good and we had
tea, coffee and fruit in the morning too. Seahorse was the cheapest I
found. Most places were $40usd. Seahorse's equipment was pretty knew
and the staff were nice. Just beware that the soda and beer at lunch
isn't included.

Ate dinner at Madame Chuong restaurant. Ordered the porcupine! Sautéed
in satay. After the woman told me "very good! Fresh from forest" for
80,000vnd. I wanted it with Chinese spinach but she said "spinach no
good with porcupine!" haha. "Ok give me whatever vegetables that are
good with porcupine." it was actually REALLY good!

Leaving Nha Trang I bought a ticket the day before on the SE6 night
train to Danang for 274,000vnd for a hard sleeper, top bunk. The soft
sleepers were all booked. A hard sleeper is a bed in a cabin with 6
bunks and no door. Soft sleeper is nicer in a cabin with 4 bunks and a
door. A moto out to the station costs 20,000vnd.

The train was an experience. The SE6 train was pretty crummy- dirty,
noisy, old, etc. My Vietnamese cabin mates (they were all Vietnamese,
only a few foreigners on the train at all) seemed to be pretty
entertained by the fact that a white person was in there, especially
on the top bunk which is the cheapest and I barely fit in it. The
cabin had AC though and with the door closed it wasn't that loud.
Outside in the hallway it was INCREDIBLY loud. the bathrooms were
absolutely terrible by any standards and the "mattress" was no more
than half an inch thick. But I slept ok actually. Better than I would
have on a night bus I'm pretty sure and I'd travel that way again over
a night bus (I've hears that the night buses in Vietnam are the
worst). I didn't see any food available on board but there was a
beverage cart in the morning.