Day 71 and 72: Saigon and the Cambodian Boarder

Day 71

Today is our only full day in Saigon so we get cracking quite early, we have a Mexican breakfast before setting off with our little paper map towards the War Remnants Museum...and get promptly lost. I'm going to blame the heat. Our obviously looks of "Where the hell are we?" attract the attentions of a buggy driver (we call them buggys but they are a carriage on the front being pushed by a bike at the back) We have both avoided these the whole time we have been away as they can be expensive and you can look a bit silly in them but in the heat of the morning and the fact we had no idea where we were, we took him up on the offer. Ben sits down first and I'm on his lap which is uncomfortable for both of us and it's clear as soon as we set off the guy doesn't think it's such a good idea either as it struggles to get up the slightest of hills. Cue his mate turning up and I transfer over, it's an alright ride but nowhere near the overpriced £3 each they charged us when we finally got to the museum. Note to selves, remember when you think your going to be tricked, you probably will be.

The museum is set over a few different areas and we start in the main building on the top floor. The first part is a brief, slightly biased, history on the lead up to the American war and the countries, I think, fair fight for independence. The next section is a photo collection which includes photographers from both sides and it's quite moving and harrowing go look at. Half way through here the museum closes for lunch so we pop down to a coffee shop to cool down and try and process it all. Nothing I've seen the whole time we've been in Vietnam makes me think the war was anyway justified and it's hard not to blame the wests bullying ideals, a sentiment that just seems to keep repeating itself. 

Once back inside we take a look at the war crimes section and the effects of agent orange on the people and their generations afterwards. It all gets a little too much and we move past the rest of the museum quite quickly. Before we leave we take a look at a harrowing reconstruction of a prison that the Viet Con were held in, it comes complete with real bats. We grab a taxi back (so much cheaper than the buggy) and cool off, whilst taking everything in we've seen today. Dinner is Mexican again as I am craving an enchilada, then we shop and play some pool (28-21) I wish we had taken longer in this city as there seems so much more we could explore but alas we leave tomorrow for a whole new country, Cambodia. 

Day 72

After we pack this morning, we head out to find some breakfast and stumble upon a very delicious bakery. I get my cheese fix and Ben his pastry and pizza. It's not long before we have to be at the tour office to get out bus across the boarder. This one isn't a sleeper but actually that's quite nice. We haven't got our visas yet for Cambodia as you can do it through the bus company, 10 minutes into the journey the conductor comes around and takes our passports and $35 ($30 for the visa, $5 for his services) the 2 couples in front of us and one behind decide that the $5 is too much and want to do it themselves at the boarder. We had looked into doing it this way but it looked a bit of a hassle and the $10 extra was worth not having the worry. The conductor tries to convince them against it but they stand firm and we watch curious to see if it can be done.

We arrived at the boarder about 2 hours later and we are told to get off the bus and wait with loads of other people for our names to be called out. The conductor then gives the big pile of passports to the Vietnam customs guy to stamp. The Do It Themselvers (DIT's) have to wait in a queue separately and get their own passport stamped. We wait for 5 minutes before mine and Ben's names are called first and we get back on the bus. The DIT's are already on there, looking all smug. Everyone else starts to slowly gets back on the bus, this is when another conductor comes up to the DIT's and tells them they need to get off now and make their own way to the boarder if they are going to have enough time to do their own. The irony here being the transport to the boarder is $5. They refuse, saying the bus will wait for them. The guy shakes his head and walks off but me and Ben both agree, the bus won't leave without them, it's a scare tactic.

The bus moves along through the boarder crossing for about 5 minutes before we reach the Cambodian side. The DITs get off first and rush to a window to start getting stamped. We are ushered through, have a few checks and then we are back on the bus. It takes less than 10 minutes to do everyone and suddenly we set off, leaving the 6 DIT's behind. We both look at each other a bit shocked as all their bags are still here, the conductor hasn't got on yet and we haven't got our passports back so we assume he's looking after them and will meet us at the food stop which is a few minutes from the boarder. 

At the food stop, we just grab a few drinks and get quickly back on the bus as we don't trust him to do a head count. The conductor gets on and hands out our passports with our snazzy visa and the bus drives off. Without the DIT's but with their bags. We're both in shock but Ben points out, he did warn them.

A couple of hours later we arrive in Phnom Penh and we grab a tuk tuk to our room. It pulls up at a dingy bar and I think the driver has the wrong place when the staff point us to the back where the stairs to hostel are. The place gets dingier as we walk up the stairs, there's a guy getting tattooed in the reception and the place stinks of weed. A sullen English guy is on reception and is obviously the source of the smell. He checks us in and takes us to Room 8 "The best room" and opens the door to a cramped, unbearably hot room that stinks of weed, which we realise is because it has no closing windows and looks over the common area, urg. It's also dirty but on the plus side the mattress is nice and it's ensuite, every cloud and all that. We turn on the fan but it just blows hot air around so we leave the room in search of food. 

The room has given me a thunder mood which I just can't shake off, so we head out in search of the night market and I instantly cheer up. Our tuk tuk driver is a young lad named John and for €15 dollars he offers to take us on a tour tomorrow and we take him up on the offer. At the market, we grab a few souvenirs and I eye up a Playsuit before we go in search of a pool table. We find a bar just around the corner and duck in only to realise it's a hostess bar. It does have pool though and we decide we can handle her sitting and watching us playing badly (32-23)

When her attentivness gets too much we grab our bus tickets to the beach in a few days time and grab a tuk tuk home, just in time as the heavens open as we do and it's amazing to see. The rooms ever hotter and smellier when we get back and has the added beat and noise of the bar downstairs. The noise shuts off at 1 but the heat remains and we both don't sleep much. 

Day 69 and 70: Mistakes and Sand-dunes

Day 69 

I sleep so lightly last night that I hear every noise and about 4ish I hear a car come up the drive. "Wouldn't it be funny" I say to myself "If the driver has gotten the wrong day and that's our tour man" I chuckled to myself and roll over till I hear tap, tap. Oh no, I open the door to the night guard for the hotel. 

"Tour?" 

"No, tomorrow"

"No tour?"

"Tomorrow"

He seems to get it and I go back to bed until 5 minutes later there's another tap and it's the driver this time.

"You not want tour?"

"No we do, it's just it's tomorrow"

"Oh, you sure? I check my texts" pause whilst he scrolls "Oh yes, tomorrow! Sorry, I get too excited" I can't be mad at too excited, I wave him off then go back to sleep. Ben sleeps through it all.

After breakfast, as the beach is so rubbish, we hang out at the pool again. A lady from Lancashire (the place isn't important for the story, it's just her accent feels homely) stops me in the pool to tell me how much she loves my style, smug much :D We chat a bit about travels and she settles my fears even more about Saigon, apparently it's one of the cleanest places she's been. We lunch here again, sunbathe some more then go to play some pool. It's a good routine and must be working well as I win 3-2 again (27-20)

We go back to the hotel for dinner and I get to settle one of my cravings, home made lasagne...hmmm so so good. As its too windy for cards, we grab a chess board and I teach Ben crudely how to play, I see a new obsession starting.

Day 70 

My brain decided that we wouldn't wake up in time for the tour and I slept fitfully again until the alarm goes off at 4am for a 4.30 pick up. We dress quickly and it's a good job we do as at 4.10am the night porter comes and gets us again. We get into an old army style truck with a Singapore couple about our ages and set off. We pick up another couple on the way (I think Korean) and we jet off out of the town. 

We've been driving for about an hour and the sky is starting to lighten when the truck suddenly loses power and smells strongly of fuel. The driver tries to splutter further forward but it's having none of it and we settle ourselves to the fact we are going to be seeing the sun rise from the inside of a truck when another tour truck slows down and parks in front of us and gets out a rope. They're going to try and tow us, and slowly and very gingerly it seems to work till our replacement picks us up and speeds the last few minutes to the dunes so we don't miss out anymore. We have a little kerfuffle over the entrance as we know, and so do the rest of the jeep, know it meant to be free but a make shift guard won't let us pass till be pay, after a few minutes arguing we all click it's only 60p and grumblingy hand it over.

We hit the dunes just as the sun comes up and we get some fantastic pictures of the rays, I've included a few below.

We also have a go at bouncing down the sand dunes, we took enough pictures to make a gif, don't I look cute?

(Coming Soon)

Next up is the red dunes so named because they have orange sand (apparently it looks red at sun set) 

On the way back to Mui Ne village we stop off at the fishing village and I get a bit engrossed in watching the the haggling at the morning fish market. We also get to watch the laziness of the Vietnamese when it comes to walking when a guy rides his moped down the steep slope instead of taking the 40 stairs, how he didn't slip of his bike I don't know.

 The last bit of our tour is the Fairy Stream, which can't come too soon as I'm getting a bit peckish. You start by walking down a rubbish filled stream (not so appealing) until you turn a corner and you are confronted by beautiful red sand cliffs and odd shapes. We scramble up to the top to get a better view and it's really beautiful. 

On the walk back I get caught by a puppy who's decided that his breakfast this morning was going to be my hoodie, he was only tiny though and just playing.

We whizz back and grab breakfast before we catch our bus to Saigon, another sleeper. The journey whizzes by a a we arrive in Ho Chi Minh City (a city with two names) 6 hours later and it's nothing like I though it would be, everything is light and clean and the people are so friendly. Once our bags are dropped, our first thought is food. I've spotted an Indian resturant across from our hotel and I've got a really craving for Thali, oh it was so good, I've forgotten how yummy the food was in India. Once tummies are full,  we go off to explore and get caught up in what looks like is a travel agents convention showing off all the different parts of Vietnam by flashing bright lights and playing weird V-Pop. We walk till it overwhelms and then go to a bar for some cheesy sing alongs. 

Day 67 and 68: Buses and Mojitos

Day 67

Our bus is leaving at 7.30 so we are all organised and downstairs for 7am. We get picked up by a mini bus and are quite chuffed with the transport until they fit 15 people into 11 seats and it's then we realise it's just taking us to bigger bus. This is when it gets fun, it's a sleeper bus!! Which means instead of seats there are individual beds so you can lounge the journey away. It also has wifi and air con which trumps the train.

It's meant to take 3 1/2 hours to Mui Ne but with the several stops, poor road conditions and a lunch break it takes us 6 but it was a really pleasant journey. We pull into the main strip in Mui Ne and are instantly accosted by a man trying to give us a map. My heart sinks as I think I've going to have to spend the next 20 minutes over heating trying to tell him "No, we don't want your friends hotel, No we don't need a taxi and No we don't want your pushy tour" but he's actually just being helpful and for the first time on our whole trip I actually want to book things with him.

 He shows us we are only a short walk from our hotel but the heat is unreal and by the time we have reached it at the top of a steepish hill we are both pouring with sweat. The hotel is great though, we are staying in a budget sister of a big resort and we get to use its pool and facilities which are just a short walk away. Our bit also has a little pool and the rooms are brilliant, really tall ceilings, a nice bathroom and a mini bar with Oreos. It's perfect.

We grab some food before heading to check out the beach and it is such a disappointment. It's a similar size to the ones we've been on before but it's full of rubbish and smells disgusting. The only way you can get to it, if you're not staying at a beach side resort, is down a filthy alley which is littered with rotten food and broken chairs. You'd think with it being the main draw to the place and with the amount of resorts there it would be pristine but it's worse than anything ive seen at home. We decide we won't be coming back to that. To cheer ourselves up we go play some pool and I win all 3 games! So we are now standing at 23-15 and I'm actually quite impressed with my playing, one game I even came back from 6 balls on the table to Ben's 1!

Our stomach rumble again so we hit the strip and spot a fairly busy sea food resturant and it's so delicious. I've become a shrimp fiend and I fill my face with butter cook ones covered in fresh black pepper and lime. We wander back, admiring the lack of sounds and darkness and I know I'm going to sleep well tonight.

Day 68

After a night of playing with the air con (we aren't used to such luxuries and put it on too cold and then can't get the remote to work) we are up, breakfasted and by the pool by 9am. The pool is lovely and we swim and sunbathe, getting all excited when happy (7) hour starts and its mojito time! We sunbathe till the heats too much and grab some food and more cocktails, the last one knocks me out and I spend the afternoon napping whilst Ben fiddles with his blog.

Once I finally wake from my mojito nap, we go and grab some food from the same sea food restaurant as before and I fall in love with something else, cabbage in butter and garlic, so good. We play some more pool and I come from 2-0 to a 3-2 victory (25-18) The tunes are brilliant tonight, with a bit of Status Quo and Grease and I'm dancing and singing around the pool table. On our walk home, we book out bus tickets to Saigon and a sun rise sand dune tour the day after tomorrow, can't wait. 

Day 65 and 66: Massages and Eggs

Day 65

After the adrenaline filled day yesterday, we are going to have a relaxing one today. After breakfast, we head down to the beach for our usual two hour top up. The waves on this coast from Danang to here have all been so strong, today I get knock down, much to Ben's amusement, just at the shore.

Once we get too hot we come back and get ourselves ready for a very taxing and so tiring, massage (tehe) As you might have read before I'm not so keen on massages as they seem to be unbearable painful so I've carefully looked through the salons lists and decided that a sunburn soother sounds like it will be the least painful. Yeah, wishful thinking on my part. Still as agonisingly painful, so much so that at one point the lady stopped and apologised. But at least I'm now very well moisturised. To finish off I have a manicure and pedicure and go for bright red nail varnish so feel quite divine.

Lunch, I'm ashamed to say, is at the Pita again. It was just next door to the salon and they do over filled pitas for £2 and they really are delicious. Feeling all full and relaxed (Ben loved his massage) we decide against the beach with our new moisturised skin and check out the roof top area on the hotel.

Its cool and got sofas so we don't leave until sunset. Back to the beach for pictures and then, don't judge us, back to Pita for dinner. I know, I know we should be trying new places, but honestly until you've tried this platter you can't comment. The staff are really pleased to see us and give us the best table in the house. The platter is as good as yesterday and so is the delicious dessert, we get up to leave when the head waitress asks us to wait, I'm thinking she wants a photo or to ask us to write a review when she comes out with 2 free cocktails and thanks us for our custom! Was such a nice gesture if it wasn't for the fact we were already pretty drunk at this point. Drink drunk and I've got from a 4 "Ooh this feels nice" tipsy to a 8 "Let's go dancing" merry. Ben's not so keen though and that probably isn't a bad thing as with 10 minutes the room starts spinning.

Day 66

Urrgg, I feel so rough today. I woke up a few times in the night with the room still bouncing off itself and I'm hot and thirsty. The only saving grace is that Ben looks as rough as me and he has the added fun of being locked in the toilet which I have to break in to to get him out. Breakfast works it magic and we are off down to the beach to recover. We decided, after our free drinks, and because it's getting a bit embarrassing that we won't go to the Greek restaurant again tonight "You can't handle the platter" I'm getting a bit peckish and have had a craving for ice cream for days so we grab a sundae at an ice cream parlour called Romy's just around the corner from the beach. It's a bit too much for Ben's fragile hungover yummy and we are back in the room for a nap.

Carrying on our pampering theme from yesterday, this afternoon we are heading off to a mud bath place in the hills that seems a little obsessed with eggs. We drive for about 15 minutes out of town and then turn down a dirt track which seems to go on for ages until suddenly a giant egg appears in front of us. We are taken through a really professional gated entrance by a guy who, bless him, was keen but English is worse than my Vietnamese. We get shown to separate changing rooms and the directed to a warm rain style shower before we are shown to our bath which, you might have guessed it, is the shape of an egg. It's about 7ft high and you could at at push fit 4 people in but nicely fits us. Once you are in, the slowly filled it will warm, cream consistency mud till about chest height and you get about 20 minutes to play around. We dunk ourselves and generally splash around until our 20 minutes is up and we feel like prunes. 

Once out, you dry in the sun for a bit so the mud gets nicely caked on and then you wash it off with some quite brutal showers. Oh my, my skin feels amazing after this, I'm all soft and lovely and we finish off our spa experience with a jacuzzi. This egg spa isn't the only thing on site so we get changed and see what else we can find. As part of our ticket we get a free drink and a snack, which again you might have guessed, is egg based. We both go for a big plate of egg fried rice which is really welcome after our swim as I'm starving. 

The park is laid out into different villages with shops and attractions in each one but the place is deserted. On our hour explore we only see a couple of gardeners and a handful of other tourists and all the kiosks are closed, it would be deadly quiet if they weren't pumping out the strangest bird song that kept looping and crackling. It's quite a nice walk though and we see some cool egg pods that you can stay in and unfortunately some monkeys that weren't kept in the largest or challenging cages. 

We grab a taxi back into town and go off in search of some new food after our vow to avoid the mouth watering, scrumptious platter, hmmm.... We were given a flyer on the beach earlier for a Mexican place which turns out to be a bit of a disappointment as the food is too hot for me and the portions are tiny. Once back in the hotel, we FaceTime Ben's mum and sisters and they sit us at the table and eat Sunday Roast that we normally go and have each week. 

Day 63 and 64: Greek Food and Vinpearl.

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. 

Day 61 and 62: Beach, Beach, Beach.

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. 

Day 59 and 60: Leaving Danang and Waves

Day 59

I had such a bad night sleep last night, I'm so glad we are leaving today. The rooms just too hot and you can't get any air into it. Ben also sleep wee'd last night, luckily in the toilet but he was unsettled for the night and it kept me up. I finally give in and just peruse the wonders of the interest until Ben wakes up at 7.30, this is obviously the best time for my body to want to nap and. I wake up an hour later like I was living in jelly. Urg

We go off in search of food but after a fruitless search at the bar we were in last night and a few more hotels, we settle for a really crummy breakfast at a small place that's boring and small but feeds us and we waste the rest of the time till our pick up just mooching on the beach, watching the many (unprofessional and highly funny) photo shoots going on. The manager here did something which is really starting to bug me about travelling, they give the most mediocre or down right rubbish service till the last day when they are all sweetness and light and creepily ask you to leave them a nice review. This guy asked us 4 times and would only let us go when we said we'd recommend it to our family and friends (we really wouldn't)

Hoi An is our next stop and only about an hours drive from where we are in Da Nang but we've heard is so much nicer beach. We get dropped off about a 15 walk from the beach but it the most luscious of farm areas. 

Our guesthouse is called The Tropical Garden Home Stay and it's easily the nicest place we've stayed (other than the fabulous Chiang Mai) since we have left. The ceilings are high, the beds huge and it has a rain shower all for £20 a night, bliss. In true sun worshipper style we dump our bags and head off towards the beach and it really doesn't disappoint. 

The sand is white, the water warm and with enough space that you never feel you're too close to anyone. We stay till 5 with me engrossed in my  Mindfulness book and then we go eat some delicious food. In our hast though to get out in the sun we haven't bought enough money with us and have to walk back, embarrassed to grab some. Ben's a gent here and drops the cash back on his own, but only after a little argument with the old lady of the house trying to charge him £15 for the use of the free bike. We can't work out if it was a translation thing or she was just be devious but now Ben gives her the hawk eye whenever she's near.

Day 60 

I managed to sleep weirdly on my arms last night and can't feel them properly for a good hour this morning, honestly I'm walking around like a robot. I do manage to scoff our free breakfast though which is scrumptious and we hand in our mountain of washing, not realising that it would all be hand washed and I felt a little guilty once it came back I realised it was two thirds of my bag.

It's another day at the beach for us today and we forgo the walk in favour of the bikes (free and no old lady in sight). It's such a nice ride and I forgot how much I love to cycle. The beach is near empty when we arrive and we stretch out, making a little den for the day. The cycle for the day is flop (down on the towel) flip (sides) and the dip (in the sea). The waves here are so much fun, they are powerful enough to play in but small enough to jump if you need to and we find a shallow bit that we can jump into them from. 

The day just a repeat of that cycle apart from an hour at lunch where we buy bracelets and eat delicious fresh spring rolls. When we are both feeling suitably crispy, we cycle back. As you've already guessed with the bike incident, the family are quite strange that own this home stay and I can't work out if they disapprove of us or it's just the Vietnamese way but it always seems they are a bit disapproving of us. Like today, when we got back "You've only been at the beach all day?" "Yeah we love it" "But what do you do?" "Read, swim, sleep (nervous laugh)" and they respond with a look like we're utter weirdos. I know it's lazy but we can't be the only guests who do that?

We mooch in the room till 6.30 when we grab a lift into town and wished we had come in sooner. Hoi An has a buzzing market style night life and we grab something to eat at a little restaurant that serve delicious western and Vietnamese food, we will definitely we back. We don't explore too much tonight as our flop, flip and dip cycle didn't haven't enough sun lotion reapplies in it and we are both feeling a little crispy but we will be back tomorrow to find out what else this little town has to offer. 

Day 57 and 58: The Fiend is born and Bats. Danang.

Day 57

We've both got itchy feet for the beach so we are leaving the cheap drinks and heat of Hue for the hopefully cooler and more sandy DaNang. We walk back to the train station, though I think we both forgot how hot it was to lug our bags and we are both streaming with sweat when we get there. Lucky for us this train is air conned and although we have to have our bags on our laps again, it's not a bad trip with some quite pretty scenery. 

We normally stay close to the train/bus station so it was unusual for us to get off and need to find a taxi but we've arrived nowhere near the beach so we need to grab one. A guy approaches us and offers 100,000 (£3) for the trip which seems a fair price as the only thing else we've been offered is a motorbike! We do both look at each other though when we see the car he'll be taking us in, it's unmarked and as Ben whispers to me in the back seat has a boot big enough to fit a body. We have no need to worry though and arrive at our hotel all in one piece.

We haven't learnt from the other day and we got on the train without any food so are both pretty peckish so the first thing we do is head out to find some munch. To my disappointment but Ben's delight, it's all sea food. Now although I'm a pescetarian (I eat fish but no meat) I've never really been a fan of sea food, it all looks a bit slimey or fishy tasting, urk. Saying that is trip is all about trying new things so I give it a go....and fall in love.

We pick a restaurant which seems busy and have big tanks of fish for you to pick from. Ben goes for a whopper of a crab and some shrimp for us, I pick some spinach (not in a tank, mind) and just hope for the best. 10 minutes later our shrimp turn up, Ben starts to crack the, as I don't have the stomach, when a waitress turns up with gloves and a bucket and looks offended we started without her. She de skins them all and puts 4 in a bowl for me and 4 for Ben, I manage to put off eating them whilst she was around but as soon as she's gone Ben looks expectantly at me. Oh what's the harm, I dip one in sea salt and pepper and pop it in my mouth and I'm met by a delicious taste explosion. Oh my, I moan, why haven't I had these before? I polish my 4 in record time and I'm eyeing up Ben's when the waitress reappears with the crab, bowl and gloves ready this time. I also try this and am again impressed but I don't think anything will overtake my love for shrimp, devine!!!

We finish up the crustations and the spinach and I feel pretty smug with my new found food adventure until the bill arrives, it costs us £30! And we both aren't even full, teach us for not checking the menu. It also swipes all of our money out as we never thought we would spend this much. We head off down the beach to see if we can find an ATM but after an hours walk and a few bewildered looks from bar staff we realise the nearest cash point isn't that near and we are both getting very hungry again. To advert disaster, we go back to the room and find some cash machines on Google which are only a 

10 minute walk from our hotel. On the way back we grab pizza, nowhere near as delicious as our first meal but a hell of a lot cheap at £2 for both and drinks. 

Day 58

Even though we put the do not disturb sign on our door, we get woken up this morning at 8am by the manager and his maintenance team. I obviously have my "fuck off" face on when I open the door but he persists and it really annoys me. Why couldn't they wait 20 mins for us to get ready and get breakfast? All they wanted to do was flush the air con unit which we weren't using and it really winds me up. 

It probably doesn't help that I'm hungry so once they finally get out of our room, we dress and set off looking for some munch. We noticed a bakery the night before near the pizza place so wander up and I grab a fresh baguette with laughing cow cheese and cucumber, nom and only 30p. That's more like it. After doing a little research last night, Ben has found some cool caves that he wants to explore, so we grab a taxi for the 6km journey there but decided to not get him to wait as it can get expensive. You should have seen the faces of the hotel receptionist when we said if worst came to worst, we'd walk back. Walking in not the done thing in Vietnam, I swear they would take their mopeds to their bedrooms to save their legs.

The place we are going is called the Marble Mountain and it's a pretty cool way to waste a few hours. The first cave we go into is huge and full of damnation statues to warn visitors of what waits if you don't play nicely in this life. It's also full of bats which we can hear squeaking above us but I didn't spot any yet. Once we've explore the cave and I've tested my cave fear (Don't know if any of you remember the 90's BBC program called 999, but the first episode was about a boy nearly dying in a sand tunnel and I haven't liked small dark spaces since seeing that) we grab some snaps and then head up a steep stair case to what we think will take us to the top of the mountain. Nope, just a balcony and we have to walk all the way back down as my legs are shaking. (Fatigue not fear)

That walk up and down has knackered my unfit slobby body so when we go out of that cave and see a lift that can take me to the top for 50p, I jump at the chance. Old Mr Fitness takes the stairs but I can see the jealousy in his eyes when I'm not a sweaty mess at the top. It's got a few pretty statues and gardens but it's the caves we have the most fun in. Ben wants to climb up a slippery looking on but I really don't fancy my chances so I wait at the bottom and am rewarded for my guardedness with one of the coolest animal encounters I've had so far on this trip. As Ben and a few other tourists scramble out of site the cave, which has a shard of light coming through, becomes quiet and still. I rest of a rock when I suddenly hear familiar squeaking above, I look up and 5 metres above my heave, I'm rewarded with a swoop of a little bat. I gasp as 2 more come out and play with each other, diving and flying around. It's truely cool and it's only interrupted when a noisy Chinese tourist comes in with a camera. I'm still gawping open mouthed when Ben comes back down and I fill him in on my bat discovery and we both vow to search for some more.

We carry on and look at a few more caves and although we hear some squeaks we don't see any more of our furry friends. We've been wandering around for about 2 hours when we hit our limit and decide to start walking back. We aren't walking for more than 2 minutes when a taxi pulls up, brilliant, I didn't really fancy the 6km back in this heat. We grab some lunch then go back to the hotel to cool off. Ben over heats very easily (putting it mildly) but in the last few days he's felt awful and we both decide it's his hair that's doing it. Now I'm not a hair dresser and Ben's not got a good record of hair trims (last time he had to shave it all off and wear a hat) so it probably wasn't a brilliant idea to let him take out a chunk of his locks with a trimmer. But, I obviously have hidden hair cutting talents (another string to add to my bow) as an hour later with the use of scissors, a comb and a lot of patience he has a decent hair cut and we are both a little impressed. 

We go off to test his new cool head with a walk on the beach which finishes in a bar with cocktails, american food and a pool table. The tournament is now at 19-8 and I win 2 out of the 3 tonight, I finally feel like I'm getting my game on.