Man down!

So the first thing I guess I should mention is that we've down one Alan! Al was having a lot of trouble with his back on the bike and once we arrived in Na Trang he decided enough was enough. Lucky we met up with one of the Canadians from Cambodia so now Alan is traveling up the coast with Daniel. Colm & myself are still on the bikes and are leaving for Quy Nhon this morning. As I type Col is outside getting a part replaced on his bike so if all goes well, that'll fix the power issue and hopefully when I post again we'll be in Quy Nhon.

Yesterday Col myself & Daniel went on a 4 islands cruise. Alan was feeling sickly so stayed back at the hotel. The cruise started sounding like a bit of a joke. We got on the boat and the guide started explaining all the places we'll go;

"The first island is very beautiful for swimming & snorkeling but you'll have to pay if you go in the water.

The second island we stop for lunch and water sports, but you'll have to pay for the water sports.

The third island is a private beach and if you want to get off the boat, you have to pay!

The forth island has an aquarium, if you want to go in, you have to pay!"

At this point he was laughing his ass off, we weren't as impressed, the cruise was looking like these guys were a couple of cowboys! We arrived at the first island and discovered that you only needed to pay if you swam in one area, so not so bad! Onto the second island after an hour and things picked up hugely from here. Everyone moved to the side of the boat so the guys could set up lunch, what a spread! Noodles, rice, springrolls, prawns, fruit, veg & even a sea urchin! An incredible amount of food! Afterward the main guide started telling that we would be having a happy hour shortly, but first while our food digested they would treat us to some music with the best boy band Vietnam has to offer. ;)


Out came a rusty symbol, rusty guitar and two of the old fellas jumped up to play. One of the guides turned himself into a "sexy" lady and added some backing vocals. It was brilliant, the main old guy had an amazing voice and could play that rusty giiitar! Nearly all the watersport guys came over and jumped on the boat so by the end we had a big crowd cheered the guys on. I added a video below, picture quality is poor but sound is still good!




Next up was the happy hour, a floating bar with free wine. The guides started throwing out some floating rings for us and everyone piled into the water. Colm & Daniel were of course the first at the bar! The guy running it was hilarious, with us all floating around him he kept getting us to say 1 2 3 cheers (in Vietnamese) then he yell "Up the bum, no harm done" or "Up the bum, don't tell your mum"! The wine was pretty rough but a good time was had and eventually we piled back on the boat for the return trip. We stopped at two more islands, the private beach one and the aquarium. Didn't bother with the aquarium, seen enough with the one in Bangkok. We did watch two grown men having a water gun fight though!


So we said our goodbyes and bused back to the hotel. Colm met another East Rider who directed him the mechanic that is fixing the bike as I type this. We finished the day with a nice quiet night playing cards, though I should mention we did go to a bar where 23 danish girls had just finished their dive certs and were doing body shots on the bar. Forgot the camera :(