Day 61
Today is an early start as Ben wants to go fishing. Yesterday when we were discussing it with the son he seemed keen that I came along but it's not really something I've fancied so after another yummy breakfast, I slip off up to the room to spend the day lounging on the balcony and getting some work done. However 5 minutes later Ben turns up looking pretty pissy as the guy doesn't seem to want to let him book the fishing without doing some other tours with the family and me coming too. The other tours include farming and cooking but they are really expensive for us and I'm just not that bothered. Ben goes back down to say I'm working and don't want to come and I get down to it only for Ben to come up 5 minutes later extremely annoyed as the guy just says no, as the fishing is only $5 and he wants more money from us. It really sours the morning, l get they make their money from tours but you can't push it onto people.
After getting a few bits done this morning we head off to the beach for lunch and then a repeat of our now daily cycle of flop, flip and dip. The bar we go into today is really cool and has....a pool table :D I have some delicious tempura veg and Ben has clams which I try and they aren't half bad. After 3 games I win 2 even with the worlds strongest tequila sunrise in me but we both pot some blacks so the new total is 21-11.
Back on the beach, I have a bit of a break through with my feelings about travelling, it has probably come across that I don't always go with the flow with this adventure. I've been reading a book about mindfulness and it's made me realise a lot about myself, the main being I'm constantly in a state of needing to do. I get a thrill out of achieving which is great for running my own business but I can't seem to shut it off and that need to do means guilty when I'm not working 24/7. This trip really niggles those feelings as really this is just one big holiday and my brain constantly thinks I'm not doing enough.
I've realised that having this constant to do need actually means I'm missing out of the brilliantness of this trip and the uniqueness of the adventures we are having, we really won't be able to do something this huge again. I need to start taking every moment as it comes and just relax which is where the mindfulness comes in. The aim of it is to make you live in the moment, not the past with the what ifs or the future of what might be and I hope with a little practise I'll be able to do it and also carry it one when I'm at home. I'm also going to try and not be as hard on myself, as Ben says I've already come along way and am lot calmer so maybe this little mad hiatus is doing me some good already.
Once we are back from the beach, we clean up and get ready to go out again in Hoi An as we enjoyed it so much yesterday. We never normally do this but we eat at the same restaurant today as the food was just so good, I went for a Vietnamese sandwich thing that I could have easily eaten 10 off, nom. After filling ourselves, we wander around the beautiful old town with its colonial buildings and red lantern light, taking in all the market stalls and the hustle and bustle. We buy a few little trinkets and a doughnut, hmmm and just take the beautiful surrounding in. This place is easily my favourite of Vietnam so far and a contender for best of the trip, the buildings are just so beautiful and the night life of shopping and coffee suit us perfectly and who can forget the beautiful beach we spend our days on, how am I going to be able to leave?
Day 62
Today is our last day in here and tonight we leave for Nha Trang by train. We've spoken to the family and they are happy for us to leave our bags here today and have invited us to a little gathering tonight of all of the guests for a free meal, we aren't ones to turn down the offer of food.
We wolf down the breakfast and then spend 30 minutes playing with the cutest baby called Bing who I swear Ben is going to try and steal. You really haven't seen cute until you've seen a chubby Vietnamese baby. We cycle down to the beach for our last day of sun action here. Lunch is at Bayan and I have the same as yesterday as we sit in a transformed boat seat watching the waves, bliss. It would be rude to ignore the pool table and the game now stands at 23-12 with 2 wins to Ben. As well as looking after our bags, the family are also letting us have a shower before the dinner and it's so nice to be able to de-sand before we get on the train.
We are the first to arrive for the dinner but are soon joined by a honeymoon couple, a Scottish writer, a French couple and 2 air hostesses. It's actually a really nice night with mountains of food and swapping stories with everyone about our trips so far. We also get to know the family a little more and it turns out the place has only been open for 2 months but starts to explain about their odd questions and their pushiness of the tours. We also realise that the Vietnamese are friendly but quite abrupt nation of people and their rudest isn't meant with any harm.
Our taxi arrives at 8.30 and we are at the train station by 9.30, getting not and sticky whilst we await our train. It arrives early which is a first for this trip so we bundle on and find our seats. We couldn't get a bed on this one so we will be sitting up for the night but fingers crossed it will allow us a little nap.
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