Monday 5th
Not much to write for today really, we had another beach day today only I stayed in the shade of the palm trees and Liam did a little bit of sunbathing on and off. It was a really nice day, we read, listened to music, had the most amazing sandwich that I made before we left in the morning with some crisps and just relaxed all afternoon. By about 4pm we were ready to leave. In the evening we went out to an Italian restaurant and had cocktails, pasta and garlic bread which was really good. We then went to one of the bars and had a couple of drinks before heading off to one of the bakery to find a slice of cake to go eat on the beach. The beach is lovely at night, very few people around and the moon is massive. That was our day really!
Tuesday was slightly more eventful but not by much I guess. We were supposed to be leaving today but we wanted to go to the hot springs and the last bus to our next destination just wasn't late enough to allow us to have long enough there. So we booked another night, hired out 2 bicycles and away we went. After calling in for our daily fruit smoothie and drinking it on the beach we cycled to the hot springs, which was an 4km. Only we just seemed to keep on going, it seemed like a really long 4k. We went from really busy roads to a really steep hill with not many people around and it was so hot we were both dripping with sweat with red faces. We were about ready to drop when we cottoned on we must surely have gone past it. There was nobody around other than a building site, we were scared to keep going on case it was the wrong way, and scared to go back down in case we were going the right way. We tried to get somebody's attention at the building site but failed, so ended up having to make a decision what direction...we chose down towards more people to ask.We found a little shack with some people in who confirmed we had been going the wrong way by signalling downhill.
We finally found the place, but we must have cycled a good 6km out of our way and mostly uphill! It was worth it when we got there though. We went for the sort of middle treatment type for about £12 each. The spa was really nice, we were taken through to change and given towels before being asked to shower. We were then led through outside to an area with loads of wooden baths and baths made from sort of rock pool formations. We had paid for a private 2 persons tub, so we sat in and the mud started pouring in from the bamboo tap. It was a really deep tub so the mud went up to our shoulders and it was lovely and smooth! We got to soak in it for 30 minutes, I think both of us almost fell asleep.
When the 30 minutes were up we walked to the 'shower' which was a big communal space that was round with rock walls. The shower was really great because they made it just like a spring shower of rain and it was open so you got some sun on you at the same time. It was like standing in warm rain and was so relaxing. Once all the mud was off we went back to our tub which had been cleaned out, and got back in with hot mineral water. We soaked in that for a while too, by that time our skin felt lovely. We were then led to the water fall which had a nice little waterfall at the top that you could sit under and use the water the massage your back, plus a few little pools at various levels leading up to it with different temperature water in each one. I sat and relaxed for 20 minutes or so whilst Liam spent most if the time seeing how long he could hold his breath under water. Then to get to the next part we walked through some water fountains, the kind that spray water at different levels from the floor. It led to a cave, you could see the tunnel going in but just dark inside, but the walls of the tunnel had thin hard sprays of water coming out all at different levels all over the wall. When you walked through it was like lovely little pin pricks over your skin. You got inside and there were little gaps in the ceiling letting bits of light in, and there were pools of water and places for you to stand with more water sprays at different levels to massage different parts of your body. We spent about 10 or 15 minutes in there before deciding we were hungry so left.
To get to the restaurant you had to walk over a man made beach, with lovely big pools on either side. In our package we got lunch included snd after having a drink and applying sun cream we went to the pool. Liam went to explore a bit but I stayed in there, the water was a great temperature and it had water jets. That combined with the sunny day was lovely and I must have been in there for a good 2 hours. Liam was there with me for a lot of it too, swimming around and relaxing at the side. We had no idea what the time was but the sun was getting a bit lower and most people had started to go ( although that said there were very little people in the first place).
We got out and walked up to another waterfall at the top of the complex. You could sit behind it in rocking chairs which I thought was really cool! I wanted to stay longer but Liam was ready to leave as he wanted to go to the cinema. So we went back, got changed and set off on the bikes again. It was a bit more downhill this time so was much easier, but as we got closer to nha trang centre it just got really busy, it was about 5 o clock so I think it was rush hour. That, missing a turn and cycling further than needed again, plus seeing Liam get too close to cars for comfort a few times completely undid any relaxation I had felt earlier in the day. By the time we reached the cinema I had a lovely little tension headache brewing. We watched sky fall, the new James Bond movie which was very good. By the time we made it back it was getting pretty late and we were both really tired so we ordered a pizza from one of the restaurants to take back to the hotel with us. After eating pizza and watching the latest episode of walking dead we went to sleep, or at least I did as I had a terrible headache!
