Day 75 Sleep and Beach 20 April 2012

The night bus to Hoi An was for lack of a better word hell on wheels – at least for Ana because Martijn can sleep under any condition. Ana made up her mind from the start that she would not sleep. Martijn thinks this was a mistake from the beginning but Ana gave him a laundry list of why it was impossible to sleep.

1. There was a concert of animation worthy snorers

2. The driver was constantly honking his horn

3 The road was curvy which without the seatbelts we made out of our luggage straps we would have surely fallen out

4 It smelled like feet and fart

5 The air-conditioning vent that was above Ana’s legs dripped ice cold water on her the whole entire time

6 The bus somehow picked up every Vietnamese going to Hoi An along the road and they were all sleeping on the floor

7 It eventually got ice cold (we are given a surely previously used blanket) we even had to put our fleeces on

8 When Ana started to nod off the sun was rising and it was blinding – reminding her why she does not care for the sunrise at all

When we arrived at our hotel at 6:30am life got better – we ate breakfast and they let us check-in at 8am. Ana’s head hit the pillow and she was asleep. Martijn eventually also took a short nap but set the alarm for 2pm so we could have some lunch and head to the beach.

There are no pictures for today because we both wanted to swim in the sea worry free.

We went to dinner at the Cargo Club where we had a delicious meal on the roof terrace and saw a gigantic cockroach. This makes us laugh because this is the fanciest and most expensive restaurant we have been to so far – costing us a whopping $35.

Day 74 Mud Bath and Night Bus 19 April 2012

We packed up, checked out and headed back to the Indian place for lunch. Yes we like what we know.  Then we headed out to the local Mud Bath and Mineral Water Springs.

We wallowed in the mud for a good 40min.
 

After this picture Ana managed to get mud in her eyes, ears and mouth. Not because she slipped but because she is Ana.

We then went into a hot mineral water tub and ended the afternoon in the hot mineral water pools.

With baby smooth skin we headed back to the hotel for our bus pick up and boarded the night bus to Hoi An.

Day 73 Lazy day 18 April 2012

Since our feet were still hurting from climbing to all slides yesterday (here you walk up stairs made of iron grate, which turns out to be very painful when you don’t walk bare feet all the time), we took another lazy day. Highlights included some good Vietnamese food at Lanterns, a restaurant thatsupports locals, and pizza for dinner!

We have also complained about arm pain all day – from the basketball face-off- but for Ana it’s been worth it.

Day 72 Water fun in Vinpearl park! 17 April 2012

Today we left early to go to Vinpearl park, Nha Trang’s version of Disneyland. We reached the park by cable car, apparently the world’s largest cable car over sea.

The main attraction of Vinpearl is the water park where we stayed from 10 am to 6pm, overcoming our fears for the scary slides. Both of us actually went down slides with illustrious names such as Kamikaze, Black hole and Tsunami, giving us enough adrenaline for the entire trip. Fortunately there was also a 2km long lazy river and a wave pool.

Since the park also features other attractions, we continued in the arcade hall, where we could play all games for free. With skill (Ana’s opinion) or luck (Martijn’s opinion) Ana beat Martijn in a basket hoop machine, scoring an amazing 98 points in two minutes!

After hanging what felt like minutes upside down in a terrible ride, it was time to go back to time. Apparently we are missing India because we headed straight to the Indian restaurant for another delicious meal!

Day 71 Walk along Nha Trang beach 16 April 2012

Taking it easy today, we went to the beach and walked all along the touristy stretch and back, about 6 km. After that, more than one month after we left India, we felt like Indian cuisine. The dal (lentils) and chicken tikka massala were delicious!

Day 70 Bus ride to Nha Trang, 15 April 2012

After breakfast we were picked up by moto (!) that brought us to the next bus. We now truly had to be backpackers, having our big bags strapped on our backs while holding on for dear life on the back of a motorcycle. The bus, another sleeper, but unfortunately less luxurious, brought us to Nha Trang in 5 hours, but not before stopping at a gas station with the worst toilet in Vietnam so far. Our hotel room in Nha Trang ended up the smallest possible (imagine walls around the bed), but with great room features, such as a huge tv and a rain shower, nice!

Day 69 Crazy house, 14 April 2012

We headed out for lunch at the bakery we ate before. Lured by an intoxicating smell we were drawn to a shop selling the world's best bun, and it was sure tasty!

Then we continued along with an American guy that was going in the same direction to the Crazy House. This is some sort of guesthouse made in an Alice in Wonderland style, using Vietnamese safety regulations.

After the fun we had some coffee and chocolate smoothies in a place recommended by the expat we met 2 days ago, very tasty! We ended the day at a local restaurant for some noodles and fried rice. Ana tried a new flavor of Fanta tasting like black licorice, not quite her cup of Fanta!