Gems

Right so Mashs last night so him and Sam went on a boys drinking mish while I stayed in. They played pool with the bar owner and bet on who would win, lost and had to buy the guy drinks. Well done guys. The next day we had to run around getting Mashs many shoes/shirts/jeans picked up, and on the way into town on our scooters I got separated from them and was lone wolfing for a while. I waited in the market square and about 15 mins later they stroll on by. Turns out in Hoi An they close the streets off to tourists on scooters between 9-11am and they couldn't get into town. I mustve slipped through un-noticed, cos I parket right in the centre of the market. Woops. After Mash leaves me and Sam get lazy and have a swim, then laze by the pool for ages. It was goodtimes. Then we went to Ganesh for a curry, yuuuuuuuuum, so full and tasty...

WelljusthaveatigerbeerpleaseandwherestheWC? Great fun.

The next morning we have to check out of the Lotus, and we go back to Hoa My, the first place me and Mash stayed when we first got here. My Son, the 'Holyland' which is 68kms southwest of Hoi An and the Marble Mountains were next. We went to 'Water Mountain', which was amazing. Apart from all the steps. And marble is surprisingly slippery when used in boulder form to make a step. But, beautiful buildings and caves and statues galore. One cave we had to climb through what I first thought was a rockslide, through a hole, up some more rockslidey looking steps, all while holding a can of coke - why the hell didn't I drink it before rockclimbing? - aaand were at the top of the mountain. Pretty neat. Neato. Neats. You can see the other mountains from up the top, and you can also see down to China beach, which you can tell in a few years will be a booming tourist resort/spa area, there's so much construction happening.

My Son is a lot of old ruins, but it's kind of sad because the main reason they are so demolished is cos it was used as a base in the war, so the Americans bombed the crap out of it. Lots is still standing tho. There were quite a few people around there, and we'd heard from the older Australian couple we met on the Dragon cruise that alot of locals had asked to take their photos, which sounded odd, but here we kept catching them sneakily taking photos of us. Then a group of them asked if they could take a photo of me just standing there, looking like I'd just walked along a long dusty track in 35 degree heat. Ok then...aaaaand then they all had a go getting a picture with them and me...maybe it was because I was taller? (Claire they probably would have crapped their pants had you been there) or I don't know, I don't really get it. One of them pulled my arm into the photo, maybe they're not too familliar with tattoos? Then they kept shaking my hand and saying thank you thank you, it was confusing anyway. Inside all the buildings and caves theres bats cheeping away like birds, but you can't really see them. Sam was trying to take a photo of me behind this statue that had no head, and a group started milling aound in the background, watching, and that was funny too. It was group E/F of the ruins, and one of the big structures had a roof built over it, and the roof kept making these creepy groaning noises, ominous oooo.

 When we got back into town Sam went to get a hoodie made, then we went to Mermaid for tea. Yums all round. On our way back to our room, Sam walks into yet another shoe shop, and ends up coming out with 2 more pairs. Him and Mash are worse than girls, uncontrollable shoe buying! More than me even. I'm going to have to catch up with them, but there's this darn un-necissary sleeping bag I should never have brung with me taking up too much space. Ah well, at least I'll have a blankie in London town.