So the day at the mud baths turned out to be a huge success! They are on the north side of town and about 3km into the forest, so naturally, beautiful grounds. We relaxed and pampered ourselves and finished the day off with an italien supper on a small pond. Well worth it. When we came back, we decided to finish our spa day with an hour long foot massage...the whole day costing us about $20. Jealous much?

The next day however, wasn't quite as pleasant. We decided to take a bus tour out to "Monkey Island". The tour actually consisted of three islands, the last one being home to hundreds of monkeys living happily without predators. The reason for the trip being not so pleasant was due to two things. The first being a sole elephant tied up on a chain about one meter long. The elephant lived alone on the island, without a mate and without even a park to walk around in. I told the keeper - who insisted on attempted flirtation even after I had insulted his practise openly (...) - that I refused to buy a picture with the elephant so as not to promote it's captivity. He told me that she was 25 years old and that they can live to up to 100. I couldn't even bear the fact that she had another possibly 75 years to live in those conditions, and that such a proud animal can still be treated with such disregard. The second unpleasant factor of the day was that we had to watch two seperate circus' (one of which inevitably contained the elephant). I've been to the circus before, but for some reason - maybe that the animals were trapped solitarly on an island - I found these particularly disturbing. The combination of the elephant, black bears, goats, monkeys and dogs all dressed up in human clothing being forced to perform embarrassing and unnatural stunts really got to me. By the end of the third island and two circus performances, I felt sick to my stomach that I had contributed to the operation of such a display. It didn't help that we were on an all-vietnamese tour with only a couple of people who could speak english. I really don't like the tour feeling. It was the first time I had done anything in my travels with a group and a guide, and I don't think I'll be doing much more of it...not a personal experience, and not an ounce of that exciting exploring feeling.

The only positive thing about the day was that the monkeys roam free, and I got to ride an Ostrich(!!).

The next day was spent at a local beach called "Long Beach" about 45 mins out of Nha Trang. I went with the DJ from Crazy Kim's and we met up with some of his friends, only a couple of whom I had met before. The day was spent lounging about eating plate after plate of seafood and fruit, occasionally wading out into the ocean to cool off, or sleeping in hammocks. Need I say more? Great day...and am getting used to being the quiet one amidst conversations in Vietnamese. It's a whole new level of integration...I think I've passed the acceptance test.