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DAY TEN Awakening to Americas 'a horse with no name', the melancholy notions of this song did not prevent the despair I felt when realised it was 5.00 am, and there was a flight scheduled at 8. Through forward planning ( Jasmin's area of expertise), we had visited a bakery the night before and bought chicken and salad on sesame rolls, bottles of water and some fruit, as breakfast wasn't an option with the hotel at such ridiculous times of the day. The flight to Nha Trang was a less than an hour and cost 35 quid each. As opposed to a ten hour night train at 40 quid each and probably mice in crisp/chip packets...no brainer. Thanks to a tip off from the eternal traveller, rob dunleavy, was that we had to go to Vin Pearl, a theme park only accessible by boat or the longest over the sea cable car in the world ( apparently). It was decided that was too good to pass up for a visit, so after dropping our bags at the luxuriously named ' The Perfume Grass Inn', it was decided that Vin Pearl Land it was. The Perfume Grass Inn can only described as a s***hole, I stayed in better accommodation in Uganda! If you wanted a shower, you had to sit on the toilet due to the lack of space in the bathroom, and also the positioning of the shower head on the wall by the toilet, rather than in its own unit. It may have been an after-thought!!This hotel had been recommended in lonely planet guide, but I think there must of been abound persons convention that gave the good reviews. Moving on, we arrived at the cable car for Vin Pearl Island, and made our way across a 30 minute ride over the sea, and about 100 foot up. Gareth Overends worst nightmare. Made sure I sent him a picture! Vin Pearl Land is definitely worth attending for the novelty value, but expect amazing things. The roller coaster was decent, obviously not a patch on Alton Towers or those in the states, but at least we can say we rode a roller coaster in Vietnam!!ha ha Next stop was a trip inside the mountain, to a massive cave full of arcade games. Snowboarding games, punch bag, shooting as many hoops in 2 minutes, throwing tennis balls at a huge clowns head, and our personal favourite, ' The Screamer'. The point of the game was to scream down a microphone as loud as you can, which in turn moves your penguin forward, and towards a finish line. Please, I implore you to watch the video on our site. I won convincingly, obviously I am a top screamer, or I can communicate to penguins through the art of screaming. Onwards to the aquarium, which was actually really good. Loads of varieties of tropical fish in large tanks, a reptile room, a snake room, then a travelator which took us through a large stretch of being literally enveloped by the purpose built tank. Again , plenty of varied types of fish, turtles, sea life ( starfish, corals, sea horses etc) and sharkies. The dude attending to the maintenance of the tank, fully donned in scuba gear, looked to expel air from both his air supply as well as his rear end every time a shark wobbled by...maybe he was on work experience and hadn't expected this on his first day. The next port of call was the reason why we had visited - Water slides. Loads if different types including the kamikaze wave, which involves dropping around 70 degrees down a curved face, then up a similar face. You then rocked up and down until you were slopped into the finishing pool. Review -a solid 8/10 for initial adrenaline surge! The rest were a mixture of straight slides, spiral slides, body slides and also a doubles raft, which were all good fun. I hadn't been to a water park since Forster/tuncurry when I was around 12 years old, and had forgotten how much fun they are. A trip to they wave pool had me thinking that I may be able to surf a man made wave, but it's only mildly choppy, so no extreme fun to be had. One Vietnamese kid just pushed it too far by putting two blow up water rings over his head in the wave pool. Unbelievable!some people just don't get it!!ha ha. They pool attendants were extremely militant, and I am sure if I know my Vietnamese well enough, there motto is ' no-one shall have fun' A paddle in the real beach followed, as it had cooled down substantially enough to be refreshed by the water. Again the no fun nazis stopped people for such incredulous behaviour like diving into the water, splashing and play fighting ( that was us..had a second warning). Must write a thousand lines, and behave like a scorned schoolboy for the rest of my life. As the light was drawing to a close, we decided that a few last water slide runs were in order. Whata mistaka to maka! The first few runs were brilliant, had a couple of races, then doubles down the biggest slide in the park. Then, through no fault of my own ( seriously, really not my doing this time!), flying down a slide with jasmine, I was was thrown at the high wall side of a corner and clipped my elbow. It smarted slightly, but through the enjoyment of the slide, it was forgotten about until jasmin asked why my entire arm was covered in blood! A park attendant also saw and peed his jocks slightly and rushed for me. I am pissing myself laughing at this point, as jasmin was panicking, old mate was panicking for what was a small nick. It's amazing though, in Vietnam, it seems everything is cured by using band -aids! Had my elbow cleaned up, the decided to call it a day. Another recommendation given to us by the Dutch guys was to go to a restaurant called Yens, which is slightly off the main tourist route, but I tell you what, strike me down and call me Shirley that food was ultra incredible. It's hard to describe how good it was, but this was the best food I've ever had, agreed by jasmin. Two starters, two main courses, large bottle of water and four beers....how much do you ask. Approximately £4.00 for incredible Vietnamese food and drinks in really nice surroundings.
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Graham Gold! The scream machine lis made for you.