#45mins later i’m walking out with 3 new books and an hour left to actually start reading

[carebearcody]

walking around central london with 4 (four!!) books in my work bag bc i have shockingly little self control

[rosellenjane]

1/10 - Vung Tau to Mui Ne

So I didn’t do a post yesterday, that’s pretty much due to me spending the day doing nothing other than book my bus for today, drink a little with the people at the hostel and do a couple of hours of my TEFL course. It rained mid morning and that was enough excuse to do nothing. I had a nice catch up with my Mez Bez and ate two pots of instant noodles so you’re all upto date for yesterday’s activities.

This morning I had set my alarm for 05:45 to get up and do my last bit of packing for my bus that was arriving at 06:30 for a 4.5hr drive to Mui Ne. Just before my alarm went off I had a knock at my door from the night security guy telling me the bus would be here at 6. Bloody hell, I had 15mins to open my eyes the other 50%, pack my shower stuff I definitely wasn’t about to use and general shite lying around like chargers, pjs and insect repellent.

This time my small rucksack had 1 plimsoll with my deodorant stuffed in it and my make up bag, I’m losing at the big rucksack jenga arrangement.

I ran down at 05:57 to pay my bill and go for one last wee as I wasn’t sure if the bus would be stopping. The little mini bus arrived at 06:20 😐 so I had a nice chat with the security guard and he helped me with my stuff onto the mini bus I’d been told was taking me to Mui Ne. To my surprise we stopped off 10mins later which I thought was to let people off until I saw someone carry my big rucksack onto a coach. The girl I was next to nudged me to get off so I followed my rucksack and pointed at the coach door to the driver and he gave me the thumbs up so I just got on, I couldn’t really do much else and everyone was smiling so I went along with it. I got told off as soon as I boarded for not putting my flip flops in the carrier bag that was thrust upon me, and later on when we had a toilet break told off for wearing them rather than a pair of sliders from a big box of athletes foot that was supplied. It was a sleeper coach so all of the seats were like very reclined aeroplane seats with cubby holes for your feet. I wasn’t sure I’d fit through the very narrow aisle but I followed the guy down and catapulted myself into this little nest and he popped my rucksack alongside my legs and we set off.

I was about 30cm away from an Indian guy on my left who must have been commuting and I’m not sure if his headphones weren’t connected to his iPad or what but I had the pleasure of listening to some of his favourite hits for a long while whilst he napped, also every time we turned left his phone slid off of his little table into the aisle and I had to put it back on his iPad scared that he’d wake up and think I was trying to steal it, I ended up hoping we’d take a sharp right and it would be someone else’s problem.

I fell asleep and when I woke up I checked google maps and saw we were close to Mui Ne and the Indian guy was gone so they were obviously dropping people off. I made eye contact with the bus assistant and showed him my hotel address and he gave me a thumbs up. Unfortunately there are 3 or maybe 4 hotels under the same group in Mui Ne and once he told me to get off I found that I was at a different hotel to the one I’d booked. Again I checked google maps and found I was 20mins walk away and it was midday, it was 29 degrees and I had that toddler equivalent on my back, I checked grab and only motorbike taxis were available so I decided to walk it, for 30 seconds until I saw a taxi driving towards me waving. The hotel is called Mui Ne Hills and that’s for a reason. I’d read reviews about the hill but I thought that 300metres is nothing really, and it isn’t, until you have the weight of a 2 yr old on your back, probably a 1 yr old on your front and a 2 litre bottle of water in your hand. I was sweaty as hell when I got to reception and I was an hour and a half early to check in.

I dropped my bags in the check in area and went for a smoke and a guy who started working at the hostel today asked if he could speak to me and practice his English, no problem, he was nice and invited me to visit his family’s farm where they grow dragonfruit. We chatted for an hour or so and he learned some new English words and I showed him English money that he hadn’t seen before.

Once I checked in I charged my phone etc, sapped up the air con and then headed down to the pool. I was sat alone for a bit until the Vietnamese guy came over again, we chatted for a while and a downpour started. A couple of friends from Holland joined us and we all got to know eachother which was cool, They had met on a travel buddy website a month previous so we did the now usual conversation of ‘how long’, ‘where have you been’ ‘where’s next on your list’ conversation. This took us up until 5ish which is when the hostel activities started. First was a pool pillow fight which was the most entertaining thing I’ve seen in a long time, the guys were especially good as they clung on to the pole for so long!

The winner shared his beer tower with us so I made a few more Dutch friends which was nice. This is the Vietnamese guy and the Dutch guy competing, the Dutch guy won in the end -

Next up was flip cup where you go down the line, drink your beer and then have to flip your cup upright from the edge of the table and it goes down the line in a race.

After this me and the girl from Holland got a pizza from the restaurant and got chatting to a couple who have been honeymooning for 4 months already, they were great and so friendly. I needed to shower so said I’d catch them at beer pong. There was a quiz about to start but I was greasy as hell and needed a freshen up. I did actually only miss about 10mins of the quiz and when I got back down I joined the honeymooners, a new couple from America and a guy from Australia and we came 3rd in the quiz. One of my redeeming answers was to a riddle - what travels the world but stays in one corner???

After the quiz it was time for beer pong, There were teams of 2 and I was with the Australian guy. We were shit, absolutely shit, our game lasted around 45mins and they had to bend the rules for us and our opponents just so the game finished. I had got the winning shot but anyone who plays the redemption rule, well, what a crap rule, so we were out of the tournament. I think I’m so used to playing on whoever’s garden table that’s available that I was not equipped for a full length beer pong table. Especially embarrassing after bigging myself up as a good player.

The beer pong started at 9:30pm and I’m writing this at 3am. We played ring of fire (ring of death as the Dutch call it) so things got a little messy whilst the tournament was still going on. The honeymooners ended up winning which was nice but when they started offering out shots of rum from the bottle they’d won I decided to call it a night, I was supposed to be going on a sand dune tour at 04:30 to watch the sunrise...

I’m looking forward to seeing everyone at the pool tomorrow and seeing how everyone’s feeling, I’ll probably take it easy tomorrow and book that jeep safari for the following morning to get something productive done.

Lots of love,

Rosie