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Published: February 25th 2007
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Yes, that would be Jarrod and Carol. We've mastered the ability to breathe 18m underwater! It's a miracle!
Nha Trang
When we left for this trip six months ago, I had no intentions of learning how to dive. Even in December when Jarrod was seriously considering doing the Open Water course in Thailand I still had no interest in breathing out of a tank underwater. But something just came over me... maybe it was the thought of turning down doing something new -
a travelers sin! So after hours of watching video's, completing workbooks and practicing our skills in a pool we advanced into the underwater world of the South China Sea. One of the skills we had to master in the pool was swimming without our masks (just in case you lost it or something). Being nearly blind (contacts prescription is a staggering -6.5 meaning unless it's literally an inch from my face it's blurry) four meters underwater, breathing from a tank, I now had to swim with my eyes closed and it was the most incredibly free feeling in the world. It’s a bit hard to describe but as I floated along, I vividly remember thinking,
"I Jarrod, Gary and Carol
All smiles after we've passed the course! Gary was our crazy English instructor. We had a lot of fun with him can't believe I'm doing this - this is too cool!" In the ocean we’d practice our skills and then take a cruise around the reef to see the wildlife. After we completed the course, we stayed for two more days to go "fun" diving. The decision to stay longer was easy, but it did mean that we wouldn't be leaving Vietnam within our 30 day tourist visa; down the road we'd need to get our visa extended.
And "fun" dives are just that. Fun, fun, fun and more fun! It's not just the diving that's superb, but you get a boat ride around the islands too! I think Vietnam is one of the most scenic places we've visited. It has lush green mountains, sandy beaches, and diverse underwater life. Diving we saw the most amazing things. Lots of different corals, rock formations and more types of fish that I know names for. We found Nemo, and many of his friends living in nearby corals. We saw a spotted eel jutting out of rocks to grab a bite of food and then ducking back in to hide. Numerous lion fish, parrot fish and schools of razor fish. A definite highlight
was when we squeezed through "swim throu's" which was like a tunnel five feet wide eroded through the rock with coral and fish above, below and beside you. Another
“I can’t believe I’m doing this!” moment.
After a week in Nha Trang we regrettably decided to move on.
Tet-tastic Hoi An
We arrived in Hoi An the first evening of the Tet celebrations (Vietnam's version of the Chinese New Year) and much to our dismay had a tricky time finding a room and ended up paying a bit more than we usually do. Mind you that included hot water, AC and a pool so we couldn't complain too much.
Immediately after check-in we wandered to the old city for dinner and fireworks at midnight. Coincidently we shared a table with a Vancouverite, Vincent, and swapped travel stories. With his shirt tucked into his underwear and stories of his stamp collection, conversations with Vincent were enjoyable if not a little out of the ordinary. At midnight we found ourselves standing next to a group of giggling pre-teen girls and they were almost as entertaining as the fireworks themselves. Each time there was a bang they jumped and then
oohhhed and aaaahhhed at the bursts of light in the night sky.
The following day we simply wandered around town. Not many shops were open, being a holiday and all, so it was quiet but still quite atmospheric with European wood shuttered windows and Chinese style lanterns hanging in doorways.
Hue
Similar to most first day's in a town we simply wandered around and unfortunately didn't find much inspiration in town. Day two, we headed out of town on a rented motorbike to find a skinny island between the sea and a lagoon. With the wind blowing through our hair we cruised by countless vivid green rice paddies to our right and even more lavishly decorated tombs to our left. The area is known as the "city of tombs" with literally thousands of family burial sites. Mounds of sand distinguished with a cluster of red incense sticks at the base were basic gravesites. Wealthier families had numerous smaller rectangle tombs inside cemented walls. Shiny tiles of green, red and blue depicted dragons and outlined the plaques listing all of the deceased.
After five hours on a bike our bottoms were aching. They got a brief rest while
Vietnamese Scarecrow
Gaurding the new rice fields outside of Hue we washed up and prepared for bed, yet it was only 6pm. I was dreading this part of the journey… an overnight bus to Hanoi; 12 hours of tender cheeks (which had already endured the bike ride), backache, stiff legs and sore necks. Thankfully we were able to snag a Mickey Mouse blanket to snuggle with and that made a world of difference as we headed north.
We arrived in Hanoi just before first light but locals were on the move already. We woke a hotel employee sleeping on a straw mat in the lobby to show us a room. It was still dirty from the night before
(foreshadowing…) so as we waited for it to be cleaned we went in search of breakfast. Pho (Soup) venders had a brisk business up and running and we seated ourselves on plastic stools with kids heading off to school and men heading to the office.
Next Stop: To Bed for a Nap!
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Cameron
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Still going!!
Wow...you guys are still at it?! Nice work! Looks like you're really soaking it up. How long are you guys gone for? Great blog site...