Hi again,
I'm currently blinking at the screen, which is slightly blurry owing to a little bit of mud in the eyes. Ah well, who said a little mud ever hurt anyone! Tell you why in a minute.
So right now I am where, um (have to think about this one a little), oh yes, Nha Trang. Nha Trang is a Vietnamese resort city set right on the beach. The beach itself is quite lovely, even by Aussie standards, but the city fairly ordinary. There are some very, very large rats, the kind that look as though they would steal your baby if you gave them half a chance! Also there seems to be a fair few prostitutes out in the evening offering nasty Westerners a happy ending. Ah well, not everywhere can be as lovely as Hoi An!
So where was I up to... Hoi An... not much more to tell there, really. I explored some of the old town, assembly halls and temples on my own, which was a nice thing to do. I do love having company but it needs to be the right sort (hi Yvonne!!! can't wait to get to Cairo!!! can you bring me some vegemite???) and there is only so much of the not-quite-right sort of company I can take. Hey, only child....!!! So getting out on my own again was a Good Thing.
We then spent a fairly nuts amount of money posting the red boots etc. back home to Aus, so hopefully all of that will reach home OK and the Melbourne girls will babysit it until my homecoming. The post office in itself was an experience, took us nearly an hour to get that all sorted! Plenty of "you fill in this paper" and "you fill in that paper" and "box too big, we cut down" and a Hell of a lot of masking tape. You wonder how much of the weight (17 kg!! between 3 girls!) was taken up by the masking tape, but it's not as though you can argue. After the post office we went to the feeding frenzy restaurant again and had our fill of cheap and cheerful Vietnamese food. Then to a bar, which had great music but was pretty uneventful despite experimental cheap cocktails (and no, I'm not censoring!)
So nearly up to date now, one more day to go aside from today....
Yesterday was Train Day. And there's not so much to tell about that! Ten hours on the Reunification Express... naps and snacks.... little bit of iPod... insanely smelly toilets.... lots of smokers... used sheets in the sleeper beds.... people selling everything from loo paper to cooked ducks through the train window.....
Oh now that is priceless, the taxi that's reversing just near me plays "twinkle twinkle little star" instead of beeping, lolz! I wonder how Ollie the Outreach Van is going??? :)
So today I spent the morning in the market with my room mate, an exercise which tested my patience to the absolute limit. She is a lovely, warm hearted soul, though, so I should not complain.
This afternoon we went to the mud baths, which was An Experience! I still feel as though I have mud between the teeth, but my skin feels Amazing! Two hours for around ten dollars Aus, alternately sitting in warm pools of mud, showering in mineral spring water, bathing in hot mineral spring water, blasted by showers of all sorts and lolling in a warm mineral pool. We did the cheap option rather than the private bathing and it was a riot; young Vietnamese girls found my white (or red or muddy, depending on the moment) skin incredibly funny and kept touching it and giggling! Weird how we westerers covet a tan and the Vietnamese girls envy my pallor!
I will admit to the world that I went for the most spectacular "speccy" (great Aussie word there) by the mud pool where I fell in the mud, exposed both flobby stomach and likely boob (so much for Vietnamese standards of decency) and narrowly managed to avoid braining myself! Oh dear, maybe one day I will grow graceful and elegant, do they do lessons in that any more??? lolz
Anyway, we are off to dinner and I don't have anything else interesting to tell!
Love lots,
D x x
I'm currently blinking at the screen, which is slightly blurry owing to a little bit of mud in the eyes. Ah well, who said a little mud ever hurt anyone! Tell you why in a minute.
So right now I am where, um (have to think about this one a little), oh yes, Nha Trang. Nha Trang is a Vietnamese resort city set right on the beach. The beach itself is quite lovely, even by Aussie standards, but the city fairly ordinary. There are some very, very large rats, the kind that look as though they would steal your baby if you gave them half a chance! Also there seems to be a fair few prostitutes out in the evening offering nasty Westerners a happy ending. Ah well, not everywhere can be as lovely as Hoi An!
So where was I up to... Hoi An... not much more to tell there, really. I explored some of the old town, assembly halls and temples on my own, which was a nice thing to do. I do love having company but it needs to be the right sort (hi Yvonne!!! can't wait to get to Cairo!!! can you bring me some vegemite???) and there is only so much of the not-quite-right sort of company I can take. Hey, only child....!!! So getting out on my own again was a Good Thing.
We then spent a fairly nuts amount of money posting the red boots etc. back home to Aus, so hopefully all of that will reach home OK and the Melbourne girls will babysit it until my homecoming. The post office in itself was an experience, took us nearly an hour to get that all sorted! Plenty of "you fill in this paper" and "you fill in that paper" and "box too big, we cut down" and a Hell of a lot of masking tape. You wonder how much of the weight (17 kg!! between 3 girls!) was taken up by the masking tape, but it's not as though you can argue. After the post office we went to the feeding frenzy restaurant again and had our fill of cheap and cheerful Vietnamese food. Then to a bar, which had great music but was pretty uneventful despite experimental cheap cocktails (and no, I'm not censoring!)
So nearly up to date now, one more day to go aside from today....
Yesterday was Train Day. And there's not so much to tell about that! Ten hours on the Reunification Express... naps and snacks.... little bit of iPod... insanely smelly toilets.... lots of smokers... used sheets in the sleeper beds.... people selling everything from loo paper to cooked ducks through the train window.....
Oh now that is priceless, the taxi that's reversing just near me plays "twinkle twinkle little star" instead of beeping, lolz! I wonder how Ollie the Outreach Van is going??? :)
So today I spent the morning in the market with my room mate, an exercise which tested my patience to the absolute limit. She is a lovely, warm hearted soul, though, so I should not complain.
This afternoon we went to the mud baths, which was An Experience! I still feel as though I have mud between the teeth, but my skin feels Amazing! Two hours for around ten dollars Aus, alternately sitting in warm pools of mud, showering in mineral spring water, bathing in hot mineral spring water, blasted by showers of all sorts and lolling in a warm mineral pool. We did the cheap option rather than the private bathing and it was a riot; young Vietnamese girls found my white (or red or muddy, depending on the moment) skin incredibly funny and kept touching it and giggling! Weird how we westerers covet a tan and the Vietnamese girls envy my pallor!
I will admit to the world that I went for the most spectacular "speccy" (great Aussie word there) by the mud pool where I fell in the mud, exposed both flobby stomach and likely boob (so much for Vietnamese standards of decency) and narrowly managed to avoid braining myself! Oh dear, maybe one day I will grow graceful and elegant, do they do lessons in that any more??? lolz
Anyway, we are off to dinner and I don't have anything else interesting to tell!
Love lots,
D x x
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Where are very much looking forward to the pics. Lots of opportunities!!L M and D
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