I sat at the front of the overnight bus to Nha Trang, next to a stout lady with her luggage piled around her. Why she couldn't stow it like the rest of us, I don't know, but I was assigned the seat next to her and spent the next 24 hours battling encroachment on my space. At the beginning of the journey, I wondered how I would ever sleep, as - being at the front - I had the horn blasting in my ears every few minutes and was able to see what lay ahead (namely a potholed road and many narrowly avoided head-on collisions). But after a few hours, my eyes began to close...

Nha Trang seemed an unremarkable town, but had a beautiful, long, palm-lined beach. I headed down there after checking in to a hostel, and sat in a cafe, reading and watching the waves. I had breakfast and then stayed so long - the sun was burning hot and I had a nice seat in the shade and was feeling lazy - that I ordered lunch. When I finally peeled myself out of the chair and went to settle up, they undercharged me. I pointed this out and spent the rest of the day feeling smugly virtuous. I walked to the cathedral and around the centre, and then having seen the sights, lay on the beach for a few hours. I watched the Vietnamese tourists and locals swimming - many in clothes - and the children larking about, and talked to a procession of people looking to practice their English.