When we arrived 1.5 hours early our hotel wasn't there to pick us up so we had to walk and find it. Sucked. But we got there and checked into one of our favorite hotels to date. Up on the fourth floor we had a spacious and quiet room with a clean bathroom and two big beds. The ladies who ran the place were sweet and friendly and kept our room spic and span the whole stay.
We did make it into the water one day. It wasn't too cold and the rain clouds had abated for the afternoon. We donned our swimmers and headed for the shore to find 6-8 foot waves crashing like drunken rockstars. The wind was strong and churned the surf hard. I was the first in and had a hell of a time keeping control of myself.
Water and I go way back. We're pals, almost like brothers. We have a deal: take care of each other. We've never had a fight.
The water in Vietnam was having a cranky day. He just about had his way with me, but I convinced him to relax a bit and let us have a swim. It was fun. Leighton came in and played too... a bit of diving under waves and then riding in the biggest ones. Hard work but so much fun!
We went to the Oceanographic Institute as well, which had a great little outdoor aquarium including lots of turtles and some sharks and one lonely (but playful) seal. Then I got a massage while Leighton walked to the local market to stock us up on canned tuna and baguettes for lunch.
On our last day we had booked a night bus to take us to Hoi An for 7pm and decided to spend the day at the local hot springs since we had to check out of our room. We rented some bikes and on the way there we stopped at some ancient Cham temple. It was the Cham that the Angkor people conquered and then were conquered by, and then conquered again in the era of Angkor Wat. It started raining a bit (for the 8th day in a row at this point) and then, in km 4/5, started pouring! We were completely drenched by the time we got to the hot springs centered. It was such a cloudy and cold day that we didn't expect to see many people. The places was pretty well attended though.
We opted for the cheapest package of a public mud bath ($5) and full access to the site. Since there wasn't a crowd we got our own private bath for 2.
It was cold but silky soft. It was so viscous that we floated in it like astronauts! I felt like I was weightless and whenever Leight and I bumped into each other we spun around like gravity didn't exist. We met some ladies from California and chatted with them while we soaked and scrubbed. Then we showered off and headed for the hot mineral bath.
It felt so good because the mud and the air were so cold! Not an ideal day to be out in a bathing suit but as soon as we hit that hot water we wondered if a better day for the springs could have come our way! How lucky for us that the day stayed chilly and the baths stayed hot!
Then we made our way to the swimming pool, wary at first of going swimming and leaving our little hot tub. Luck held out though and we plunged into a vast pool filled with water as hot as we just got out of! It felt amazing to be in a giant mineral water swimming pool. We tried swimming around but felt like soggy toast! The hot water just sapped us of energy and made wading through the water almost impossible. It felt so nice to just relax for a few hours before getting on a bus.
Our favorite (and most tourist-friendly) bus company was sold out so we had to buy from another company. For some reason we wanted to say $3 and chose the "sitting" bus instead of the "sleeping" bus for our 11 hour bus ride to Hoi An. Mistake. We both got off the bus at 8am feeling like our necks were broken. Watching Leighton's head roll around and flop back and forth with every bump was almost as painful as having it happen to me. My neck still aches!
This reminds me of mudfest but way cooler. You boys look happy :)
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