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We left Saigon at abot 8pm and made our way to the train station. When we found our carriage we were quite pleasantly surprised (way better than India but not quite Thailand) and up until about ten minutes before the train was due to leave we had the cabin to ourselves; we hoped that might be the case for the 10 hour journey but just as the train was about to pull away we were joined by a very sweet Viatnamese family and their two kids. We settlled ourselves into the top bunks with the world largest bags strategically placed and then went for a last fag before sleep time! It all started well and i was hopeful of getting a decent nights sleep, unfortunately after about 2 hours of moving the train ground to a halt and the air con was turned off. Tel had been fast asleep virtually the whole way and had his snoring head on, to start with when the train was moving it was ok but once the train stopped it was pretty loud, so loud the Viatnamese couple woke up and decided to have a spur of the moment dried squid and durian picnic, which
was just great; locked in a carriage with no air con and a loudly snoring cockney! After an hour or so we started moving again an i managed to get a few hours sleep. As usual the train was pretty late so we spent a few hours in the morning talking to all the people on the train and drinking very strong iced coffee while whizzing past the paddy fields and the bufallos - sweet! We arrived in Nha Trang at about 11 and set about finding a hotel. After the usual rigmarole involving taxi drivers and their added comission we paused our hunt to have a coffee and sit on the beach. We got chatting to a guy called Bao who is one of the Nha Trang easy riders and he helped us find a hotel that was not too extortionate (For the first time in our trip it's high season everywhere which is weird!) and told us to come to his office later on to discuss taking a trip with the easy riders through the central highlands. We had some lunch and a few beers and then headed back to the hotel for some much needed sleep, to
discover, on turning on CNN, Michael Jackson was dead, i find it totally suspicious that it was just before his concerts and am convinced he isn't really dead (I think I have started sounding like my Nan; she was convinced Princess Diana didn't die but is living on an island with Robert Maxwell and Linda McCartney). After a lovely power nap (It was dark by now!) we found a sweet little fish and chip shop and sat and ate grouper and chips on the beach - chavtastic! Next morning we were up quite early and went and saw Papa Hanh the boss of the Easy Riders to discuss a trip with them. I decided i was way too chicken to go on the bikes so we agreed on the VIP option of 6 days and 5 nights through the highlands in a lovely air conditioned car! The afternoon was spent at one of Nha Trang's highlights, the Thap Ba hot springs where for £4 each we were treated to a healing mud bath, natural hot spring jacuzzi's and all manner of other water baths and sprays - heavenly. The best bit was being totally submerged in a big bath of
mud and then baking in the sun and then having it washed off with freezing cold water - brilliant fun and lovely on my permanently sun dried hide! Unfortunately after we got in the jacuzzi the rains came and we got to sit in the boiling water while being absolutely soaked, quite refreshing really. We finished off our day with a big fat ice cream on the beach and got ready for our early morning start to Dalat - the Viatnamese riveria.
My favourite Michael Jackson Joke from the popbitch MJ special - made me laugh a lot so thought i would share it!
Michael Jackson died of shock after finding out Boyz II Men was a band not a delivery service.
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CJ
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Gotta tell you, I was a little worried you'd been inducted into some weird biker cult - just be careful! My favourite MJ joke btw, Upon his death, Michael Jackson's house was searched, they found class A drugs in the kitchen, class B in the lounge and class 5C in the bedroom! Miss you both x x x x