Na Trang

On an over night train from Ho Chi Minh City we arrived at 5:30 in the morning into a sleepy costal town. Our first impression of the town was that we could be in any Southern European Beach Resort. Our plan was to chill out at a beach party (all you can drink & eat). The party was on the beach where Miss World was held in 2009. The weather was overcast however many of us still managed to burn somehow (Sara)!  The toilets were an experience; instead of being a conventional European toilet or a Asian squat toilet they were in fact a solid concrete floor with a gradient away from the door, it was absolutely disgusting.  So everyone sat on the beach and enjoyed the local rum, vodka & whiskey and plenty of barbequed seafood. The water was so warm it was lovely and the waves were unreal! We found two shells in the water stuck together and when we pulled them apart an octopus climed out and ran back into the sea. 

That evening we celebrated the tour guides birthday and also one of the lads on the trip too. The next day we all woke up to a lovely hangover and with a day of relaxing before our 14 hour train journey to Da Nang followed by a 1 hour bus which would get is to our destination Hoi An!! Many of us decided to take advantage of the day by heading to the local famous mud baths. We all climbed into a giant outdoor bathtub as a group and then it was filled with mud.  With all that mud to be honest it felt exactly the same as rugby training in winter, though the mud was slightly warmer. After submersing ourselves in mud for 15 minutes we then had to sun bathe for twenty to allow the mud to harden before entering the hydrotherapy showers where the high power jets of water take all the mud off you. The next stage was a 20 minute jacuzzi followed by a swim in the pool. It was a good way to spend an afternoon getting over the hangover and preparing ourselves for yet another over-night train. 

The only ticket we were able to book on this train was a six bed sleeper cabin! The train actually wasn't that bad but the sight of cockroaches within the first ten minutes was not what we wanted to see!! We decided to take a sleeping tablet each so we would just sleep the whole journey. We woke up ten minutes before its arrival into Da Nang with some strange bite marks on our legs!! We were told later they locked like mice bites but we prefer to think they were giant mosquitos!

I hope you're all well and keeping safe at home. We have fallen a bit behind with the blogs but will be back up to speed shortly. Take care

Roy