Vinpearl, Vinpearl and Vinpearl!

So as I promised in the last post, I will go on to tell you about the midget and the events with the crazy cyclo.

But before I do such a thing, I'll go through some of the stuff we've been up to the last couple of days. Well our second day in Nha Trang was purely for the sake of relaxation. However this relaxation that we both were so eagerly waiting was prematurely ruined by a (massive) group of Chinese tourists that, on their own accord, decided to make our floor a playground, daycare centre, opera theatre, mobile calling station and every other vocal activity centre you could think of. You see now, this would be fine if it were in the afternoon, but nooo. It was at a rather abrupt 6:30am. After a few french mutterances, we gave in and got up at 7:30 (but boy did they get the stink-eye or glare down from us when we walked past them, I felt their souls burning).

When you look at the previous photo uploads you can see us both sitting in little tiki huts by the beach, that basically sums up what we did that day (in a nutshell). However one thing changed that day (apart from my wintery white skin colour), Lauren has lost her skills of batering. I'm not blaming her for this, I think it has more to do with the little old ladies and the little children that sell you souvenirs as its pretty hard to grind down a few dollars from an old lady that is carrying baskets that weight as much as my left leg.

So our third day was one of conquering fears and getting beaten up wilfully by a water slide (the pain was worth the gain, however I beg to differ now that the initial excitement has worn off). As you might have guessed we went over to a theme park, but this was no ordinary theme park, it was Vinpearl (refer to the previous lot of photos for the hollywood hills-like sign). Catching the worlds-longest cable car to an island inhabitted only by machines of wonder is something you can only dream about. Not only was the view of Nha Trang bay and surrounding islands fantastic (refer to the post below for photo's) but the approaching view of the rollercoaster and many upon many water slides (I counted around 12 at least 5 story slides) it was looking to be an awesome day.

Now its probably appropriate to mention that (I was not aware of this until the day myself) Lauren had never been on a water slide in her entire life. As in never ever ever, never ever before. I imagine you are as shocked as I was, but I was keen to change this. However with my consistent annoyance, it didnt take long to break this drought (pardon the pun; anybody who watches 'come fly with me' will get this). The first ever water slide that Lauren attempted was a run of the mill 5-lane multi-bump slide in which you go down on a rubber board on your stomach. Now before I move onto the hilairious stuff, it is noble to mention that apart from breaking this fear of drowning, Lauren also proactively reduced her fear of heights by climbing the 5 story waterslide (after many psych-up attempts and the consistent chant of "I'm not a wuss, I'm not a wuss!"), however also good to mention is that the stairs were the see-through steel rods that when looking side on it looks like a solid steel step but when looking down its like a mesh and everything below you (and how high you actually are) come straight to mind. After many attempts to back out at the top and many prayers to God, we both went straight down head first down the giant water slide. As I have had much experience with water slides in my time, the run down the slide went without hiccup. However unfortunetly I cannot say the same about Lauren. Also another quick point to mention is that just before we decided to go on the water slide Lauren mentioned that on all these types of activities she always manages to break something or hurt herself. While I, the loving boyfriend, ensured nothing could possibly go wrong (honestly though how often do you stuff up a run down a straight waterslide?).

So as we went hurtling down the point-and-shoot straight waterslide, I can see Lauren getting increasingly figgety with most of her body on the actual waterslide rather than the board your meant to be sliding down on. Then all of a sudden we went over the last bump in the slide and as Lauren unintentionally braced herself in the foetal position thus giving her a higher centre of gravity, effectively thrusting her into deep space (or at least up into the atmosphere) only to come crashing down on the only place lauren knows to fall upon, her face. After getting up all embaressed, and providing some pretty good entertainment to those who were watching, we migrated to the 'lazy river'. Now this 'lazy river' is actually a really good idea for a water park, you see it is a cicular river stream that surrounds the entire waterpark, effectively allowing people to float around to their next destination rather than walking on the steel melting pavements running throughout the park (I swear they chose pavements that attracted the most sunlight and conducted the most heat because they were beyond painfully boiling). But it was a really good way to see the park and a nice relaxing rest after the brutal waterslides. The brutallity of the waterslides was quite intense, lets just say they weren't out to please any nana's that like soft relaxing (non-painful) propulsions through dark eerie tubes. There are plenty of waterslides I could talk to you about but I'll spare you all your lunch break time and talk about just two. The first and probably most painful of all was just a simple straight 6-7 story slide that was designed for speed and speed alone. However what everyone forgets when meddling with water at high speeds (and those of you with boats and jetskiis would know what I mean when you are going very quickly across water and shards hit your faces and eyes) is that the faster you go the sharper and deadlier that little shards of water become. However while your copping this in the face stopping you from seeing absolutely everything (unless you have a glass eye, which you probably wont be able to see anything in the first place) there is a ripping sensation digging through your back from the rip your feet in front of you is making. However what was funny, in which the cat of nine tails whipping pain in your back was not, the fact that everyone who came down after me had the same reaction... get up and frantically rub your back trying to distract your brain from the pain whilst saying to who ever your with 'holy crap that hurt, is my spine still within my body? if not can you just shove it back in there for me please?". However apart from watching everyone elses reaction and swearing they will not go back, its always funny when you yourself go back for another and see all the other guys up their with you thinking the same thing ("how did I get up here again? Ohwell time to go down again, it didnt hurt that much did it?").

The second slide was called the black hole, and you never associate anything nice with something called the black hole. This next waterslide was no exception. It started as a simple black tube of darkness that went round in a circle. After leaving the spiral you were sent down a long incline that had the same sharp shards of water splashing in your face inhibiting you from seeing what comes next. As it turned out it was what was next that was the most suprising (and most painful). After your shot down the incline whilst not being able to see anything, your spat out into a circular bowl which, with the momentum you've gathered going down the incline, you are stuck whole-bodied to the sides of the bowl going round and round until you eventually slow down and slide down the hole in the centre. Now, Lauren was waiting at the end of the slide awaiting my arrival, and what she thought was thunder in the distance, was just my body slamming down like a ragdoll in the bowl after being spat out of the tube. This was the part that hurt, as the tube was not correctly aligned with the sides of the bowls facilitating a smooth transition between tube and bowl, there is a breif period that your body as a whole is airborn and its not a particularly nice feeling (expecially on the first run when your not expecting it). However I tried time after time and trial after trial to prepare myself for the slingshot out of the tube in order to acheive a soft landing, however it never happen (although I have a whopping sore elbow, back, left and right hips, shoulder and face so it wasn't a complete failure (in my eyes)). I think I had at least 6 attempts at it but could never master the gruesome landing, even some Vietnamese teens where laughing at the noise I made when hitting that bowl, which left me thinking that I'm missing something?

We finished the waterpark day at around 5 oclock with Lauren conquering another 3 waterslides before calling it a day. We left Vinpearl after a couple of rollercoaster rides and an upside down thing that made your eyes want to explode (and the guy next to me's stomach wanting to explode, thankfully not over me) and got to see the sunset over Nha Trang Bay from a very unique viewpoint (the world's longest cable-car). Also for some strange reason Vietnamese locals and tourists alike are very interested in the western tourists (possibly their awesomeness) to the point where on the way back in the cable-car the one next to Lauren requested a photo of Lauren and herself (which you can see on the post below).

So that basically rounds out our third day in Nha Trang and I'm sorry to say that the Lauren-loving-midget and the crazy cyclo will have to come in the next post because its time for our dinner.

Well I'll post todays events for you tomorrow afternoon (around melbourne knock-off time to save everyone doing work on a friday evening). Until then we hope everybody's well and don't forget to leave a comment if you would like.

Until then,
Swetchin & The Peacock