Christmas Day!!!!

Morning All.....

Well its xmas morning and i have made it Mui Nea down on the Souheast coast of Vietnam. I am very lucky here today as the weather was not good yesterday (not major problem as i was traveling on a bus for 5 hours), Its blue skies 31 Deg and 10 am. Sat right next to the beach, it certainly is a strange way to spend xmas day, funnily enough it does not feel like it!!
I went diving in Nha Trang but ended up being very disappointed as i was looking forward to seeing so many things but the area has been over fished and with no controls on fishing its all going. The reef has been really badly damaged where the fishermen have used TNT in the past to catch the fish and destroyed large sections of it. The dive centers are trying to to get the government aware but its an up hill struggle and will be too late.
Nha Trang was a laugh I hired a motorbike and went north up the coast and found the smoothest road in Vietnam. Along though in the bays were brand new developments going in so it will not be long before its a package holiday resort on this coast area. I have made it here just in time before major tourism takes off, its a shame to see how much it changes places, but it does give people money and jobs. Past the development though were some great fishing villages who obviously do not see many westerners as i was a real novelty there, will try to get some pics on face book later. These 2 boys were trying to talk to me and they only new hello in english and thats about all i know in Vietnames, but drawing things you can really comunicate. Its still the maddest place in the world to ride a bike but with 82 million bikes you can understand why. Saigon is apparently worse than Hanoi so looking forward to that chaos!
I have met loads of pepole while trekking around and had a really nice meal last night with 2 German girls that i have met. Xmas eve for them is the biggest day and had booked into a resort for a few days as a treat! I have been used to spending about 50,000 to 100,000 dong for meals (2-4 pounds), but last night was $50 US with champagne, wine and a 5 course meal. Fantastic value in our world but massively expensive here but hey its xmas and its worth it. Going to spend the day with them today, hopefully sun lounger reserved with towel on it already! (well they are German..... ha ha).
The next few days will be fun as lots of people are working there way here so some good party nights in front of me (had a good one at a club on the beach last night and ended up skinny dipping with a load of people, and the water was still really warm (so not too embarrassing getting back out!!).
Going to go and have a go a kite surfing over the next few days so will let you know how that goes!

Have a great Christmas everyone and i hope you have a fantastic time over the festive season, must admit yesterday I was missing seeing everyone and not being around today. On the other hand i do have a beach in front of me with my name on it!

Enjoy all the festive telly as what is on over here is sooooo bad that even having on in the background is not good news, i dont think any Emmey awards are coming this way soon. Oh by the way apparently Top Gear xmas special is on and they filmed it in Vietnam!!

See you all soon and happy xmas!

Mike x