MUD

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in 'nha trang' there is a special mineral mud bath. i paid for a collective bath but had a tub to myself. this enabled me to determine that mineral mud is quite "heavy". i was able to float while holding my head out of the water. if the mud had been more than 1 foot deep i believe that i could have floated in a sitting position.

after soaking for 30 minutes, i layed in the sun to allow the mud to dry. then it was time for a rinse which was followed by a 45 minute hot jacuzzi.

the only problem with the baths are that there is no cool water for rinsing nor immersing oneself after all of this exposure to heat. i did try to cool off using the one cool water sink available but it was too little. i actually dipped my hand under the faucet for some time while i chatted up a vietnamese woman cutting up her fruit but still i was overheated. then i bicycled away on what was a very hot day.

fortunately, i found just outside of the gate a 'nuoc mia' (sugar cane juice-with ice, woohoo) vendor and was able to lower my body temperature just a little before biking into the heat.

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