Day 63
The night is filled full of sporadic sleep and weird noises from all the people on our carriage. Unfortunately the couple in front of us make the most disgusting noises and I have to spend a lot of my energy trying not to vomit as its hauks and spits on the floor. Erg.
The train arrives on time, woohoo and we grab a taxi outside the train station to take us the short distance to the beach and our hotel. We've arrived really early but the receptionist is great and let's us check in early and take advantage of the buffet breakfast, yum. Once fed and changed, we hit the beach which is a 3 minute walk from the hotel and although a lot busier that Hoi An it is still beautiful, with white sands and warm waters. We lounge for a bit and swim in the much calmer waters but the lack of sleep catches up with us so after a couple of hours and thoroughly over heating we head back to the hotel to snooze. Ben's out for the count in no time but my brains whirring and I can't seem to get to sleep so I trawl the Internet and find a really yummy looking restaurant that does Greek food and is rated really highly but the best bit is that's it's only a 5 minute walk from the hotel. I wake up sleeping beauty and we wander around the corner to Pita which is spelt on the sign with a Pi symbol.
The food here is incredible and so fresh, I pick a Mediterranean salad and crunchy garlic bread whilst Ben has the best moussaka he's ever eaten. We stay for a few cocktails and are rewarded with a free delicious chocolate dessert each that's as scrummy as the main course. After filling ourselves to bursting, we wander down to the beach and get caught by a persistent but actually quite friendly bracelet lady who gives us a few tips on where to go and where to avoid and makes Ben a cool beaded anklet from scratch which is really interesting to watch. By 7pm, I'm so tired that my eyes are drooping as we walk and I crash, finally sleeping off last nights train.
Day 64
After another yummy breakfast, we check out what Nha Trang has to offer and we are both a bit intruiged by an island we can see from our hotel called Vinpearl. I also want to get our transport sorted for our next destination today as I didn't fancy getting left with rubbish seats again. My plan was for a train but to get to Mui Ne with we need to get on two and take a bus for about an hour, which was really appealing but the receptionist came up trumps again and let us know of a bus that would pick us up from the hotel and go straight there, taking less time and costing less. Perfect. So with tickets bought, we flag a taxi and head off towards the cable car station to get us onto the island.
Getting closer, the taxi driver and I both notice at the same time the cable car isn't working at the moment and we pull over to speak to a ticket seller who lets us know in garbled English it will start again at 12.30. It's 11.15 but we are used to waiting so we grab our tickets and go down to the station to wait. It turns out, according to a sign on the wall, that the cable car is off till a, and I quote, "Big Boat" has come in. That "Boat" turns out to be a huge Fred Olson cruise ship that docks just before the cable. It fascinated me and once we got back later I did a bit of research about it and it turns out a suite on it for its round Asia trip costs £16,000 for 3 months! I've never been that interested in cruises before but that boat was just so cool.
The cable starts about 30 minutes after the boat comes in and we queue up for a pod. This cable car is the longest sea crossing one in the world and takes us 12 minutes to get across. Once on Vinpearl and we are fed (the only disappointing part of the day, just boring fast food) we make a bee line for the aquarium, which is included in the price. It's full of lizards, and all manor of pretty fish with a huge downstairs tank full of sharks and sting rays, we spend ages in there and I learn Ben's got a bit of thing for the place, I literally have to drag him away from each tank as even the fish were starting to look a little uncomfortable.
After we have our fill of fishes, our next stop is the water park, again included in the price. We strip off and head to our first slide. We go for the closest which is one where you lay tummy down on a mat and go head first down. It was amazing even if I did hit the water at the bottom with such force it knocked the wind out of me. Next up we went for a double which again was painfully brutal at the end but we got so amazing speed on the way down. We wander around the park doing flumes and wave pools and even going back to the first one for a return punishment but loving every minute. Or so I though until I learnt my second fact about Ben today, he's terrified of flumes. Well more specifically the being dunked at the end. It doesn't seem to stop him though and he goes on every ride with me, even if he's a little quiet in the queue.
We've been waiting all day for a ride to open called the Tsunami and at 4 when it does we are first in line with our sing rings. It concept is a sheer drop like a death slide that swoops down in a U shape to another sheer drop on the other side, you swing back and forth until you lose momentum and drop into a splash pool at the end. It is so terrifying especially when you are hovering over the edge before the guy pushes the ring off and your stomach in in your mouth. We loved it! 6 times in a row later, after doing double and singles, facing front and back, we decided the scariest way to go is backwards as a double. We stop when I fall off mid slide, half way up the side and decide it might be time to let someone else have ago.
As well as all the rides, the island also has a purpose built beach with the softest sand so we go and lounge on there until the last ride we want to go on opens. The Space Hole is a steep dark flume, that shoots you out in the end to a bowl that you spin around until you fall into a plunge pool. It was not worth the wait. The flume bits not bad but the bowl makes you dizzy and I got stuck trying to get out and Ben hated the drop at the end so it was a bit of a waste of a wait.
The whole afternoon at the water park has knackered us so we grab a drink before heading off to explore what else the island has to offer. On our way in we spotted some rides so head back to give them again. We go on the swinging chairs with terrify me as Ben spent the whole time trying to latch onto the my chair (I'm not great with heights), we then go on the dodgems (Ben's favourite) and upside down ride that makes me scream then a roller-coaster that we managed to get a front seat on. We then spot a sign for mountain coaster and join the queue. These is a string of separate carriages that are dragged up to the top about 30 metres apart and once you've hit the peak, you control the speed on the way down, it was brilliant! The only draw back was the guy in front kept stopping to take pictures so slowing us down. We went straight from here to the carousel and that ends our evening of rides.
The sun is setting now so we get some snaps whilst we wait for the "Big Boat" to leave and the cable car to start up again. Once back on main land we head straight for Pita again as the food was just so great last night. This time we go for a sharing platter and it's when we really fall in love with the restaurant. It consists of lamb, chicken, sausages, burgers, shrimp and calamari on a bed of warm pitas topped off with a feta salad, fries and mustard and Tzatziki dips around the side on a huge wooden slab and is easily the best selection of foods I have ever put in my mouth. You know of my love of shrimp but I'd never tried calamari before but the chewiness of that mixed with the dips and I'm in heaven. We both stuff our faces and polish off our free desserts at the end and know we will be back tomorrow for another round of this bliss.
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