Cable Car Wobbles, Deli Style Elbow Slices & A Giant Dib Dab

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Yet again we jumped on our new favourite mode of taxi transport and zipped off to hopefully check-in to our new hostel in Nha Trang. Luckily for us we were given a free room to catch up on some sleep till the afternoon and until our reserved room became available in the afternoon. Ruby hotel was cheap cheap, if I remember right it was about £4 each a night and even included air conditioning, Wifi and bonus satellite TV, blooming bargain I say! The staff were lovely and friendly and really helpful organising and booking travel arrangements and attractions.

Nha Trang is located on the southern-central coast and is widely renowned for parties, sun junkies and offers plenty in the form of other touristy attractions. We'd heard mixed reviews about this place and were unsure weather we fancied a Vietnamese version of Benidorm. Admittedly we weren't expecting the so called beach capital to have sweeping powdery white sands but hoped the ocean would be enticing and turquoise. Instead, we found a rotting dead fish, a crispy cockroach laid on it's back and a needle...all within a meter radius. Scott quickly made the conclusion that if the fish can't live in the water, the hardest insect alive couldn't survive on land and humans trying to join in by injecting drugs then we should probably skip trying to catch a tan and cooling off in the murky brown water. We were thankful later in the week of our decision to not take a dip as we witnessed a local hanging his arse off the end of a boat taking a cheeky dump! I know it happens but I don't want to see it!

But don't let the above put you off! We had a fab time here - we rented bicycles one afternoon and ventured down the front and round the more local parts of town. We bumped into Ramon & Demitri who we'd met at the Laos/Vietnam border a few weeks previous so parked up for a few minutes and had a quick catch up with them. It still amazes us that you can meet other backpackers in other countries weeks or months before and then randomly bump into them again. We often spot people who's faces we recognise but cant quite pin-point where from and back home you can live in the same village and not ever see them again! We took advantage of the local transport system and jumped a bus to Vin Pearl Island a few kilometres out of town. We had already pre-arranged our tickets with our hostel for entry to the Water Park which also included the cable car ride across from mainland to the island. The cable car is 3,311m long and 115m high just so you know and is supposedly the longest in South East Asia, not quite sure of the last fact!? Scott wasn't reassured by the statistics and it didn't include anything to say that it was the safest in the world either! As usual I gave it a little wobble just for my own amusement, the car that is, and wickedly giggled each time Scott freaked out at how unstable everything was and how we would most certainly die if we dropped from each increasing height...which in turn started to panic me too so I decided to sit still for the remainder of the twenty minute journey across until we swung into the entrance!

Even though were both older than your average teenage backpacker, were still suckers for water-parks and really giddy about getting some adrenaline action from a few of the slides! The place was deserted pretty much and we ended up running round the park, rubber rings in tow, racing up steps and jumping on slides without any queues. We did knock up a few injuries here though within the first half and hour. Any serious slider will know that digging your elbows and heels in should make for faster speeds so naturally this is what we both did. What we weren't expecting were the rough joints between each tube connection to be of similar use as a meat slicer at the deli counter, obviously not as smooth as western standards. By the time we were spat out back to front, upside down and practically drowning in the exit pool we realised quickly that we now had poker straight right angled chunks removed from our bony limbs. To top it off during this little ordeal the tube was that fast that it burnt a hole in the back of my bikini pants with the friction, not cool! Scott also bust his lip open on the mat race as the front flipped up slapped him straight in the chops! Apart from gaining a few little scratches here and there we had a real fun day which left us shattered and heading home for a power nap by late afternoon and tucking into a well deserved Indian curry later in the evening.

We enjoyed lunch one afternoon with Faye & Andy after they spotted us wandering around across the road and arranged to meet up again for tea the next evening. We conversed about our thrills at the water-park and convinced them it's worth a trip out even if it's just to trim the hardened skin of the back of the heels as a bit of a pedicure! We rented ourselves a motorbike for the day to make our own way to the Mud Baths a few kilometres away out of town perched in the mountains somewhere for a relaxing afternoon and to hopefully soak our aching joints from the bone rattling rides the day before. We didn't really want to be paying a fortune here as it was advertised as a luxury spa with itineraries for those who could afford expensive treatments. We stuck with the basic package which included everything we wanted anyway so set off with the map in hand ready to tackle the traffic clogged roads. The baths were signposted pretty well and so managed to navigate our way there fairly easy with no real disasters for a change.

Hippo's in mud is what we were, wallowing and rolling about in slimy green slop! Of course they tell you it's full of natural minerals from the local springs and can reduce ageing by one hundred years but for once I wasn't even that bothered. For the first time I actually quite enjoyed having a good soak in some dirt making sure to cover every inch of exposed skin, covering my hair and scooping bits which had sunk to the bottom of the bath (surely the best bits I reckon!) to spread on my face in true face pack fashion! Scott being a little more reserved and cautious didn't quite go the the extremes of getting it in his eyes and mouth but happily scrubbed away and later relaxed laying under the sun's rays drying off the excess moisture, leaving rejuvenated, new skin underneath. Our bodies looked just like a scorched river-bed, cracked and gasping for a few drops of fresh water. So what better way to remove the mud crisps than a shower off in jet washers and have a lazy soak in hot hot hot springs! I'm not a bath fan to be honest so lasted about five minutes before jumping out. Scott happily dozed in and out of a relaxing heat induced water coma so left him to it whilst I struck up a conversation with a couple of Geordie girls in the bath tub next-door! Why-eye man!

We had the motorbike for the rest of the afternoon until the next morning so we had a nosey around further afield to visit some other possible sights. We rode past miles of stinking seaweed crisping up nicely on the beach - I assume for the fish sauce which is a major must have here and into an eerily deserted village. The weeds were in full force sprouting out from underneath the tarmac road, vine plants slithering there way over each hut like a constricting snake and a random scruffy dog barking at us in the distance. We quickly did a sharp little U turn and sped straight out the way we came in - Weird!

We arranged to met the guys again for tea and book our tickets out further down the coast still to Mui Ne for the next morning. For the first time in a long time the five hour journey was smooth and uneventful. I'd pre-booked a bargain on the net the night before for a 4* hotel resort for only £15 pound a night. It was lurrrvly!! Huge swimming pools and right on a deserted, clean sandy beach. Looking back on our time now in Vietnam we spoilt ourselves rotten with the cheap accommodation options and even ordered in room service as we couldn't peel ourselves away from another movie marathon! Mu Nei was most definitely more remote than Nha Trang. The beach stretched for miles, uninterrupted except for the adrenaline junkie kite surfers gracefully making the most of the blustery gales and stormy surf here which I would assume was perfect conditions at the time as the skyline was littered with colourful wind-capturing sails.

Mui Ne is located at the foot of several sizzling sand dunes where young children would congregate selling there own scruffy sheets of plastic to zip down the golden surfs! I was well up for bit of downhill action but in true Idiot Abroad comment style Scott quickly pointed out that being hot and sweaty he didn't fancy being turned into a giant human dib dab lolly while rolling around in sherbet sand! So we swiftly crossed this off our to do list and instead just spent the evenings splashing our feet in the waves as we'd enjoy a walk along the beach at sunset.

Ho Chi Minh was next on the hit list and we were both feeling a little apprehensive and slightly nervous about visiting this huge city based on our last experience in Hanoi.

Anyway must dash peeps :-)

X x X
　

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