We went out to get some food, since it was about 4 by this point and we hadn't eaten all day because we couldn't work out the food ordering system on the train! Outside the restaurant, we came across some guys offering to take us on a bike trip and a young boy selling books, but we shooed them away until after we'd eaten. The restaurant was actually incredible, it had set meals with amazing food which were really cheap!
After we'd eaten, we let the boy convince us to buy 2 books (the last 2 in the Millennium trilogy and Catch 22) and chatted to the bike guys. They were really friendly and had a book full of reviews from people who they had taken on trips. We decided to go and get coffee with them, and we had our first pillion-riding experience, which in the heavy Nha Trang traffic was TERRIFYING! I was completely convinced that I would just slip off the back and John admitted afterwards that he had noticed himself squeezing his driver with his thighs going round corners!
I don't think John mentioned in his post, but the Vietnamese love coffee. They roast their beans with margarine and sugar, then grind it quite coarse and use an odd little contraption ( right) to make really strong drip coffee, which they drink with sugar and ice, and the milk that's used for white coffee is condensed milk, but you can get fresh in some places.
So, we ordered some coffee and had a look through all the reviews from the bikers' customers and we were definitely tempted! We had a set budget for all expenses per day, so we decided that if we could get the price down to that, we would take a trip to Ao Nang, which was our next planned stop. In the end, the cost was a bit over budget, but we decided to just go for it anyway! We did manage to haggle a good chunk off it, which I was very proud of.
We found out that the drivers were called Anh and Tan, and we arranged to meet them two days later to set off on a five day trip. We put down a deposit and they took us back to our hotel.
The next day, we went to the nearby mineral mud baths, which were soooo relaxing. We did the cheapest option, which included a hot mineral shower, a private mud bath, another shower and some hydrotherapy, then a (very!) hot mineral bath. There was also a public mineral swimming pool and waterfall, but they were heated so swimming was just exhausting! It was difficult to get pictures because of the mud, but I got a couple of John!
John was really ill the day after that, so we had a very quiet day walking on the beach, reading and not doing much. We decided that we should buy an SD card for the bike trip, so we went for a wander to hunt down a shopping centre John had seen. We did find it, but it was tiny and rubbish! A really nice, helpful sales lady gave us some directions in hand signals and we managed to eventually find somewhere to buy one, although I think this was more luck than anything else!
When we mentioned the bike trip to the miserable receptionist and she did a really concerned face, so I spent the evening convinced they were con artists who would either steal our money and never be seen again, or drive us to a secluded spot, then rob us. I actually couldn't sleep because I was so worried!
We woke up bright and early for the start of our trip, hoping that Anh and Tan would show up.... which they did!! It turned out the horrible receptionist was just put out that we hadn't booked through the hotel and therefore given them their commission!
Bike trip post to come!
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