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Published: September 12th 2006
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Wakeboarding
Funnest Wake i've ever been to Travel over the last few days has involved various extremes which has seen us leave the comfort and sun of Nha-Trang for the rain and bustle of Ho Chi Minh City.
We stayed in Nha Trang for about 5 days of beach bumming fun, and thoroughly lived it up. After the effort it took to get there we settled into a nice routine of lie-ins, sunbathing, beach footy and fine dining.
The best day there (and my personal favourite) involved a very leisurely morning on sun loungers, sipping beers, eating mangoes and developing melonomas. After an inexpensive and tasty lunch in a bar full of package tourists (who'd paid through the nose for their holidays; Idiots) I decided to have a go at Wakeboarding. It cost a fairly expensive 16quid but was worth every penny. Like snowboarding but in the sun and less collar bone breakages, I think i've definately found a new hobby.
The wakeboarding exploits were followed by a game of beach football with kids who we liked to affectionately call 'street rats'. They were lads of about 15 who sold postcardson the beach for extortionate prices. In order for us to play them they bet us
Lagoon
Even better than the one in Liden a pack of postcards or 50,000 dong. We immediately accepted that bet and with the aid of an American girl we'd met and our inherent English will-to-win, we took them apart. We didn't take their postcards which we thought would be a sign of goodwill. Apparently not, they then set about insulting our 'sticks' in an effort to dis-spell the myth about Asian men. This was taken in good spirit until they told the American girl that they had "put their sticks into her mother's minge" Not nice really, and a sign of the global village we live in when an English playground staple can cross the globe to the lips of potty-mouthed Vietnamese children.
After leaving the beach we settled down for a slap up seafood supper. I had a Lobster dinner for a fiver which was washed down with a few Tiger beers and some choice banter. Perfect day really.
Quite inexplicably though we were getting restless and decided to leave our beach and booze paradise for the costal town of Mui Ne. This involved a frantic checkout, an altercation with our coach driver and a 5 hour coach trip.
The town itself could best be
described as a "grot-hole situated on a beach of pure sewage" added to this it was overcast and empty. (tumbleweeds the lot) Clearly we all came to the conclusion that we would leave asap but not after we'd been to the sand dunes. The quickest and cheapest way to get there was to hire motorbikes and so it came to pass that the next day at 7am, bleary eyed and tired four English boys who had never riden before took a 70Km round trip on some of the safest roads this side of Baghdad to the 'dunes... And bloody loved it!
Getting there was like being in the film Easy Rider, all coastal road with magnificent views. Adam looked especially swarve in his fake Ray Bans as we pulled up to a roadside cafe to order a few Pepsi's.
At the dunes we rented sandboards (or a bit of plastic sheet) and trekked to the top of a dune to slide down on our stomachs. This was really quite an underwhelming experience but the scenary and weather compensated for that sufficiently enough for us to decide coming wasn't a complete waste of time.
After a very cool ride
Nha Trang Coast
Taken from my road hog motorbike back we hot footed on to a bus and headed for Ho Chi Minh City (or Saigon depending on your communist leanings) and were greeted by rain, smog and all the othger trappings a big city has to offer.
Fortunately for us nightlife is one of those trappings and last night we were able to indulge in a bit of a pub crawl. This emcompassed a brief trip to a tiny bar ran by ladys of the night whos beers seemed to be subsidised by the investments of Western pervs. We took full advantage of one of these (beers not hookers) and left for a fun bar playing 'Can't stand me now'.
This was a whirlwind of dancing, insulting filthy old men (behind their backs as they were massive) and chatting with fellow travellers which ended up in us sat in the street eating noodles.
Today we got up late full of hungover giggles and have been to the War Museum (previously named the American War Crimes museum) which has been quite a humbling expereince. The most sickening part being the exhibit of victims of Agent Orange (a chemical not FBI) which involved a horrificly graffic display of pickled foetus' mutated in the womb. Not a nice note to end on but was an interesting experience nontheless...
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barnesy
non-member comment
jealousy: a horrible habit
hey woodster, enjoying these cheeky blogs you are posting to the grat public, such an artist with your words i have to say! pictures and experiences seem amazing and am very envious of you and the other boys because of this!!!!! hope the good time continue to roll......