Mud Baths: Nha Trang

June 7 10:41pm

Exhausted. Trying to stay up to write at least a little though. Especially since I'm so far behind on some of the previous days.

Today we had a little extra time to sleep in. Andy was out until 4am on his own so he was the most exhausted of all of us. Leanne and Al stayed out til about 2am.

I woke up around 8:30am and decided I wanted to read but then I felt like I had to pack because we had to meet at 10am but our bags had to be in the specified day rooms before we left. Then around 9:30am I was going to get breakfast but I had missed it. I saw Matt as I was going to go downstairs and eat where we had breakfast the previous day but Matt said the guys were upstairs. When I went up there was no food laying out. I had missed the serving time. Later I found out a lot of other people had missed breakfast too. I think at some point along the way there was a lack of communication about breakfast times and where it would be served. Mars said she ended up going back to the breakfast place we ate at the other day and had to pay. I have 3 cliff bars left so I ate one of those with my malaria pill. Yumm.

We met at 10am to head out for the day. We went to the Cham towers before the mud baths. The towers were pretty cool. Not anything like Angkor Wat. They were made out of brick and were built in the 7th century. There were originally 8 of them but only 4 are still standing. The towers were nice but I think the best part was the view. It wasn't very tall but you had to climb a stone staircase so you were on a hill. There was a beautiful harbor with mountains on one side. The harbor had super blue water and all the boats were really strong colors so the contrast made it even that more beautiful. The other side had a view of a bunch of houses which was also pretty.

When we got up to the top and were walking around, a family came up to Mars, Andy, and Katina and wanted to take pictures with them. It was pretty funny. Kind of like with Martina in Nepal, everyone in the family had to have a photo with them alone and a few people together. Mars is really tall, Andy is African American, and Katrina has blonde hair. Novelties! Haha.

We then headed to the mud baths. The building looked like the front of a spa. When we arrived, Mars had all the money and we paid them. We got 96,000 dong back because we had a 5% of coupon. We ended up using that money toward our day rooms.

After we had paid, we had to go through a little entrance and it led out into this small garden area that had signs pointing you toward massages or mud baths. The next little bit was chaotic. We had to get a key and wait in one of those lines that isn't really a line and is more people shoving past each other. Once I got a key and a voucher for a towel, I had to go to another little stand to get a towel. There wasn't really a point in having a towel but I didn't know that and it only cost 50 cents. It was so hot you really had enough time to dry without needing a towel. Then I went to the lockers and there was a sign on that saying to store your valuables with store room 3. I was the only one who read that and I told everyone else. Then, we had to go back to where we got our locker key and give them our valuables and sign a sheet and get a receipt. They put it in a bag and wrapped a ton of packing tape around it and stored it in the desk where they stood. I think it was pretty safe ha.

Mars, Saskia, and I hadn't put sunscreen on yet so we did that and then walked around for a bit to see where things were so we could let our sunscreen soak in. There were a couple big swimming pools, a waterfall that you could stand under, a small pool that squirted water up into the air. There were a bunch of lounge chairs lined up by the pool. Most of them had a hut covering it or umbrellas.

We decided we wanted to go to the mud baths but some people in the group told us we needed to have our tickets. So then we had to go back to our lockers and get the key. Mars actually had to go back and get her wallet from the valuables counter. Finally we were ready. We had to climb some stone stairs to get to the mud bath area. There were a bunch of small baths that were empty that had umbrellas covering them.

You get into a bath that is empty and they start filling it up with mud once you are in it. I was in a bath with Katrina, Andy, Mars, Robby, and Zara. They give you buckets as well so you can pour the mud over yourself or each other. It actually felt a lot nicer when someone poured it on you for some reason. Katrina didn't like the feeling of the mud in her swim suit but I didn't think it felt too much different than water. The mud was kind of slimy but it was really soft feeling. Most of the dirt was ground up so you didn't really have large chunks and therefore it didn't really feel like dirt. It was a nice light brown color. Apparently it tastes like pure dirt though, ha. We could all actually float in the mud bath as well. It was crazy. Even in the strangest positions you were just levitating.

After we soaked in the mud for and covered each other in it for about 20 minutes, we got out and walked up more stairs. At the top of the stairs there was a sun bathing area where we laid to let the mud dry on our bodies. After we were mostly dry, we washed off in a shower/stream of water. We then proceeded to more small baths covered by umbrellas (all the umbrellas were made out of straw or something, like the roofs for poor people in Nepal). Before we could go in these, we had to walk between 2 walls that had water squirting out of it from both sides on all different levels. You would think that in Asia you wouldn't run across problems due to being vertically challenged, but it happened. I was barely tall enough to not get sprayed by water in the face! Again, you enter the bath when it is empty and they turned the water on to fill it up. (Mom, I realize I am constantly switching tenses but I can't deal with proper grammar right now). The water was really warm, like bath water warm and it felt really nice and relaxing. I was hoping it would make my quads hurt less but they're still pretty achey.

The water was all hot mineral water and it was actually really salty. The mud and mineral water is supposed to remove dead skin cells, penetrate the skin, and deposit minerals into your body which will help to reduce stress, relieve aches and pains, and make your skin smoother and finer.

After maybe another 20 minutes with Mars, Ed, and Leanne, in the warm pool, we got out and went to the waterfall. Again, this was very nice warm water. It felt like a massage. It was wonderful. I took a lot of pictures throughout this entire process. I'm glad I have a waterproof camera. However, I'm nervous about it because Courtney's already broke. Her screen stopped working because water got into it and she looked up reviews and people are having a lot of problems with it. So I might try to not expose it to water now. I can't afford to not have a camera.

At this point it was around 1:30pm and we decided it was probably a pretty good time to eat. I was starving since I hadn't really had the opportunity for a real breakfast. Never eat breakfast at home. Here, I need it. Eggs and a baguette is perfect. You get so tired and do so much and it's so hot you actually need the food. Or I feel like I do at least. This was also annoying. We had to collect all our valuables and we just kept them this time instead of putting them back. Mars had the receipt for 3 of us because we all put our valuables into the same bag. When she was taking the receipt out of the locker, it literally flew high up into the air. I don't know when you can say the wind took something of yours, but it happened. It went really high up. It's good the stairs up the hill to the mud baths were right there. One of the guys got it for us. It was really funny though. The people working there seemed very entertained as well.

We ate by a little lake with a bunch of fish in it. I explained to Ed, Andy, Leanne, Katrina, and Mars how sex obsessed most Americans are. It has really surprised me how not often sex is brought up in a group of people the ages we are. And most of us are single. It's really refreshing though to not always have to be on guard about that.

After lunch (I had pizza again and I tried some of Andy's frog legs which were surprisingly good and the seasoning was tasty), we had 40 minutes left until we were leaving. I decided to sit in the shade in a lounge chair and talk with Katrina and Andy.

Again, chaos ensued at the end of our time there. I think we had come at the correct time because as we were leaving a large influx of Asian people were arriving. We had to push our way up to the front of the line to get our deposit back for the locks and keys. Katrina got up to the front and she turned in the keys for us which made it quicker.

Name of spa: Thap Ba Spa

A few of us wanted to get dropped off at the pagoda. I had read about it in lonely planet and it sounded beautiful. I'm glad I got some people who wanted to join me. It is called Long Son Pagoda. It was definitely beautiful. I am so glad I went. The temple and grounds are pretty themselves but there was also a huge reclining Buddha. And by huge I mean ridiculously large. It was made of white marble maybe? It was on the side of the hill. A monk was there and he kept taking pictures on the camera for us by the buddha and by the cremation building, which was actually really small. Then, of course, he asked for money. He wanted 100,000 dong each which is $5! They kept saying it was good luck. I got cornered when the rest of the group had moved on and he kept asking for more and more and wouldn't let me pass. I gave him $2 or $3 I think and ended up saying no that's enough and I don't have any more money (which was kind of true) and he backed off and let me leave. He wasn't very happy though.

There were stairs we had to climb to get to the Buddha and more to get to the next Buddha which was again, a beautiful white statue that was of a huge seated Buddha. There was a really beautiful temple inside this Buddha. It wasn't very big but the walls had bronze Buddhas and trees and sky molded onto it. There were also a bunch of cabinet things with small drawers or boxes in them. This is where a lot of the monks are left. There were literally a bunch of them surrounding the temple and names were written next to each box or drawer. I'm not exactly sure how to describe what it was.

We left there and walked back to the hotel. Matt told us it was maybe a 20 minute walk but I think it took us 45 minutes. I used the map to navigate for us. Robby thanked me later and said he didn't think he would have ever been able to figure out how to get back. So, family, I do have the ability to be good with directions. Luckily, we can read the letters here so the street signs are easy to figure out. I think walking back it was just Mars, Katrina, Andy, Zara, Robby, Saskia, and me. Katrina's sandal broke and I was extremely impressed with how far she decided to not wear 1 shoe for. I would have given up I think and taken a taxi back. We also saw a lot of raw sea food that was being sold and cooked, as well as some chicken feet... Ew.

We were supposed to get food for the train for that evening and the next morning. My pizza at lunch had pretty much filled me up I think. I walked around and around this tiny supermarket with like 4 small aisles and a refrigerator section that was really small. Nothing sounded good so I went to the street to buy bananas. I bought 7 for $1. And then I accidentally set my bag in them and I broke all the stems off so try were all open. Dumb move ha. I kept 3 and gave the rest away.

I moved my bag from a day room to the one room we were allowed to keep for free until we left for the train station. We had to put all 16 of our bags in that room which was interesting. Luckily most of the people in the group had gone back to the room after the mud bath and by the time we got back at 6pm they had left to go find food. That meant I had time to shower in the room before everyone came back.

Showering is literally one of the best feelings ever, especially if it is in cold water. Also, walking past a fan, or a door when you can feel the air conditioning come out of it and blow on you for a second. Ha. This is my life.

We headed to the train station, which we had also passed on our way back. By bus it only took a few minutes. Every time we get on a bus, we load our bags by passing them through the back window. Unloading is the same.

The train station in Nha Trang is pretty small. There were fans but it was a really small space to cram a lot of people into and we were all dripping sweat. We stood and waited to get on the platform for maybe 10 minutes. Seriously, walking outside and waiting on the platform was so great. It was night so the sun wasn't beating down on us AND there was a breeze. We all decided they should just let you wait on the platform.

We waited maybe 10 or 15 minutes for the train because it was a little late. But once it arrived we booked it to our car. We were at the end of the train. Not all the cars are sleeper cars. A lot of them have seats instead of beds. This train is the worst of the ones we will take. It was the local train.

It wasn't that bad. The toilet smelled rank. Like Matt opened a window because he went in when I was brushing my teeth. I literally had to brush my teeth outside the bathroom with the door closed. It was terrible. The seat was pretty nasty as well.

The rooms were dirtier than the last train but I don't think as bad as in India although it may have been close. There was a lot of trash in the cabin and the bedding wasn't clean. They came around and gave us clean sheets and blankets but we had to change the bedding on our own. In India there was "clean" bedding provided for you.

Ultimately, there was air conditioning and we had a bed and a lock on the door and we were with our own group and not random Vietnamese people so I was happy. I also had my sleeping bag which makes me feel better about anything gross. I slept pretty well compared to other people I think. The talent of being able to sleep anywhere is amazingly helpful while traveling.