It's Christmas! And we started our day by all chipping in to donate to the local orphanage. We all put a few dollars in the kitty and headed off to the local market to buy some rice, oil, fruit, and toys for the orphans. The market was a really interesting experience, with live chickens in cages or on the street with their legs tied together. I did not like that! We headed to the orphanage, and Genevan got dressed into the full Santa outfit, with beard and everything! When we arrived, me and Si put on our Santa hats from Nicola and got some toys out to give to the children. Genevan's outfit was missing a hat, so Si kindly donated his to him. When the children came out, they were so excited to see the toys, I've never seen anything like it! They were like pack of animals, and as soon as I opened the packet of action figures that I was holding, the savages came and took the lot in a couple of seconds! I was just left holding the empty packet with a look of shock on my face! As soon as there were no toys left to hand out, the kids moved on to the festive clothing we were wearing..... They literally stripped Genevan of his Santa outfit and Si's hat, and a little cutie dressed himself in the oversized clothing! While I was laughing at Genevan getting stripped, I felt a tap on my leg, and a little boy asked me for my Santa hat.... How could I say no to that face?! I managed to get a photo of him wearing it before he disappeared to show his friends what he had. We had a group picture with the children, and had a chat to the older kids, who wanted to practice their English. I got chatting to one girl, and she asked me if I had Facebook, and if she could add me. Since she had just told me I was very beautiful, of course I said yes! Ha. I think now that I'm going to get a dozen Vietnamese teenagers trying to add me... We played with some of the younger kids some more, and then left them to lunch. It was such a nice feeling to see the children's faces light up when they saw the presents, a lot of these children are either orphans, abandoned by their parents, or live there because their parents are too poor to look after them. Good deed for the day = done!! For lunch, we went to a local restaurant for a BBQ. We were expecting one big BBQ for all of us, but when we sat down, they gave us a mini BBQ between four of us on the table top and plates of raw meat, and more seafood! The food was AMAZING! The marinade on the beef and chicken was delicious and it was nice to be able to cook again after being fed for two weeks. After the meat was done, we had some barbecued fruit, which was also tasty, although I did have a piece of pineapple that tasted a bit fishy..... After lunch, because we were still feeling a bit delicate from Christmas eve, we all went for a mud bath. Although a tiny bit smelly, which was apparently the eucalyptus, it was really good! It felt really nice, and our skin felt so soft afterwards! It was a little bit weird though to be in a mud bath with 16 people we've only known for a week! After the mud bath, we went in what was like a human car wash, with jets squirting out of the wall that we had to walk through. They were so powerful, it was almost painful, but I think actually, it felt really good! Everyone then sat under a waterfall, just to make sure all the mud was off. Then, we went in the hot mineral bath. The water contains minerals and is about 40 degrees, so your pores are opened and the minerals can cleanse your skin. It was incredible! Every pool should be at this temperature, it felt fantastic to just float in the hot bath. When we'd finished, which was far too soon, we went to see a temple, a pagoda, the reclining Buddha and a giant buddha on top of a hill, over looking Nha Trang. On the top of the hill, there were children coming up to us asking for money with really sad faces. When the first little girl came, I felt really bad, but when a couple more came, I stopped feeling guilty. My guilt was also eased by their parents watching them from their houses with the tv on! We were unsure what to for dinner, but then we heard the word "pizza"... We went to what was apparently "the best pizza in Nha Trang". It was goooood..... But we couldn't say if it was the best or not until we've sampled all of the pizzas in Nha Trang.... After dinner, we headed back to the hotel, to mentally prepare ourselves for the last night train. At the station we found out that the train had been delayed for 40 minutes! So, I took the opportunity to ring family to wish them happy Christmas. I was nice to speak to everyone, but made me wish I was having Christmas dinner instead of waiting for what I knew was gonna be a horrific experience. I'm now on the train writing this, and I was right, it is horrific. The toilet is disgusting, Lisa hasn't got a clean sheet for her bunk and the air conditioning is stuck on and it's freezing! Oh well. We came for an adventure.... Only 9 more hours to go!

Happy Christmas! Emma x