8/04 Getting a Sun Tan

Let's make an exception and sleep late today! Since I was at a vacation here in Nha Trang and the beach just a few minutes away, what's the rush? I tugged myself tight into the bed, and while I was dwelling to sleep, the house next door started to do some refurnishing, and they were really loud and close, just a single piece of wall apart. Man, it's only 7 in the morning! How was I supposed to sleep under this kind of circumstance.

The main course of the day would be to take a sun shower and tried to get a tan in the middle of the day, just at the beach. I prepared a bottle of water, some towels before setting off.

There were many kids playing soccer in the courtyard, my guess was that they belonged to the hostess and maybe her relatives. The kids were extremely outgoing and nice, some asked me whether I felt like joining them for a game, and I said yes.

It was basically a friendly match that involved much passing and laughter, I left until I was sweating all over the body and made my way straight to the beach. (It's very very hot here in Nha Trang)

It might sound crazy to you, but I was planning to get a sun tan from 11 to 1 in the afternoon, without any sunblock. Hope that I wouldn't be getting sunburn instead of chocolate colored skin!

The sand was hot, and they burnt my soles even with the shoes on. I found a spot right under the sunlight, stripped off my vest and laid the towels. I arranged my belongings to be sitting next to me, plugged the earphones and laid down. Woof, that was hot and smothering. Oxygen felt rare and there was no breeze, I struggled for a bit and slowly got use to the environment. Felt just like barbecue...

Eventually, I was lucky to doze off into a nap, and woke up to find that my chest and belly were already brown! That's pretty nice. However, the other parts that was originally darker than the rest had become a charcoal dark color, which was pretty nasty.

I hurried to a restaurant just near by and sat in with the menu, I was feeling both starving and thirsty at the same time.

I felt hot gazes landing on me from all directions, was it because of all the sweat on my body? Or was it because of my unnatural dark skin? It was really awkward to have others gazing at you intently.

Anyway, it really was a special experience and something worth trying at the beach.