Luckily, we were late arriving into Nha Trang - I'm not sure as to why, but I do recall the driver driving for about 20 minutes in First Gear. This bus, whilst slightly comfier in its seats, filled me with as much confidence as the bus to Hoi An, but this bus was climbing mountains and winding round cliffs.
We arrived at 6am, and after saying goodbye to the 4th and 5th people is met from Bristol, I set off in search of my hostel, which only took about 15 minutes. I arrived around 6.30 and told that I'd have to wait til 12 to check in. Great. So I set about trying to work out how long I could waste on the computers. I briefly caught up with the Patchwegians, who were leaving that morning. It was nice to see them again, and the briefed me on Nha Trang, before leaving - but not without the promise of knocking on my door to ask me to come out to play on their return :)
Luckily, I was allowed to check in at 8, which meant I could go to bed earlier - for all of an hour. I did awake , however, to the friendly, familiar faces of Charlie and Archie #1, who were staying in my dorm (Archie #2 was downstairs). It was nice to see a familiar face again! Later we went to the beach and relaxed...well I say relaxed, Archie2, Charlie and I hit the waves - which were 10-15 foot and bashed us around. It was good fun, the fear of timing going under or over a wave just right or risk getting a wet slap in the face! This was all fine until I caught one that I wasn't expecting, crushing me on the sea floor and bending me in half...the wrong way.
After a bit of a chill on the beach, we went back to the hostel for a bit before heading out again for dinner. The guys had found a little place, literally cooking out of their front kitchen. Despite the simplicity, it was very tasty, and good value! The guy was really friendly too, offering us free extra rice. We headed back to the hostel bar after dinner, this is where everyone goes. It was buzzing! After a few games of pool me and Charlie gate crashed a game of Ring Of Fire - I haven't played this since Uni and I wasn't gonna kiss another opportunity! It was awesome! There was about 15 of us, mixed nationalities all learning things about each other that their close friends didn't know (defo in the case of two people, funny stuff! I love this game).
It was after this I came into my own. Archie2 grabbed me en route to the toilets to ask if I fancied talking to a group of girls he'd spotted. Basically, my job was to play Wing Man, the other 2 being preoccupied with their own missions.
So we set about our task. The girls were Norwegian but spoke very good English. Archie2 set his target and my job was to occupy and amuse the other 2. I've been a very successful wingman in my Time, so I was quietly confident. We moves to the next bar, Why Not Bar (why not indeed), my job becoming easier as one girl went home. Why Not was a wicked bar(much better than its name sake in Hoi An!) with good music, cheap beer and lots of seating. I disnt want a late night, but ended up staying out til 3.30 because of the duty bestowed upon my, but the mission was accomplished after I managed to persuade the girl I was talking to to play pool - a simple, yet effective tactic - and separated the girls, leaving Archie to work his magic. Absolute Classic.
NB I want to say this might paint me, and all guys in a bad light, but this isn't the case. The girls were genuinely lovely and I enjoyed talking to them. Both guys and girls do this, (Girls do, but it's slightly more subtle than guys, as with most things girls say guys are bad for).
The next day we were all feeling a little delicate, so we decided the best thing to do would be to go to the Vinpearl waterpark resort! We had to get there via the longest cable car in the world, but the Vinpearl Island was unbelievable. Essentially man made (the mountain was at least) it had a Waterpark, 2 storey arcade, theme park, 5star luxury resort, Golf club and more! It was amazing! The only downfall? The fact it rained all bloody day. Lucky we were getting wet anyway or I'd have been miffed!
We went with 2 guys and a girl we'd met in Hanoi, which was nice to catch up and enjoy some banter with things we all could actually relate to (like Sofie falling into the lake in snake village haha).
The waterpark was pretty awesome, it's rides as fun as any in The West but without the Health and Safety, which was both a blessing and a curse.
See, being in Asia, all the rides and restrictions were made for Asia people, not Westerners...especially 5 Western guys weighing over 13 stone each and a girl! This was fine on some rides, like the Tsunami, which meant as a threesome we were the only ones that touched the top of the first dip, but not so good on the "Family slide". This was a ride design for a maximum of 6 people, all sitting in a raft. We were not ready for what we got.
The ride was stupidly quick, with really steep sides..but the sides weren't quite steep enough for Westerners in a raft. Every turn we nearly fell out, nearly falling over the sides. A couple of times, one hand grasping a bit of cloth was all that kept me from flying out the raft! It was mental! There is no way in hell that ride would be legal in the West! But, for some reason, we rode it 3 times! Everytime coming closer to doom...the attendant, realising how close we were coming to falling out, actually gave us a massive push start! What an idiot! (I had the last laugh though, I grabbed his hand as he let go and pulled him half down the slide with us :p) nonetheless the ride was certainly an adrenaline rush, so I loved it.
There was also a wave machine, which was a fiddle compared to the waves at the beach! Waning other things, we had shoulder fights (one person on another's shoulders) between us. Josh picked up a little Russian boy of 12 (God there were so many miserable Russians in Nha Trang!) who, on fight off, proceeded to slap Archie2 right in the face! We were only play wrestling! It was hysterical!
We left earlier than planned, cos ye rain got so heavy all the theme park rides closed. On the way back, we nearly got in a fight with our taxi driver, who refused to give us a discount after he'd gotten lost and driven a long way past our hostel! What a nobhead! After trying to reason with him, we just walked away - we paid less than he wanted, we refused. It was his fault, if he didn't know he shouldn't have said he did! Having said that, we were arguing over 50p, buts the principle! They've got to know that ignorant white Westerners are always right! (I'm joking, of course)
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