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Published: September 2nd 2009
Nha Trang From Dalat we headed back down from the highlands on a bus ride that twisted and turned through mountains for hours with hair-pin turns where you could look down the side of a cliff dropping hundreds of metres straight down. We arrived in Nha Trang, another coastal city famous for beaches and scuba diving. We hopped off the bus, grateful to have made it through that journey, to the throngs of moto drivers trying to recruit you to come to their hotel. By 'their' hotel, we mean they get paid a commission for bringing in customers. We've become accustomed to this and although we try not to get sucked in by them, we have never had a problem with the places we have been brought to, sometimes even better than what we would be looking at ourselves. On this particular occasion, the bus actually dropped us off at a hotel so the moto drivers had to stay outside of the hotel gates to wait for our business. We walked towards the men and one man went to show us a laminated page of his hotel when he fumbled it and it fell to the ground. Another moto guy
saw this happen and immediatly jumped at this and with a big smile on his face put his hotels page in our hands while laughing at the other guys misfortne at dropping his page. It is a cut throat type business and I couldn't help but laughing right along and decided to follow this man to his hotel. It turned out to be the nicest place we have stayed in yet - large room, big bed, satellite tv, mini fridge, hot water, balcony with ocean view and air conditioning all for $10. We haven't splurged for airconditioning yet on our trip so this was a real treat!
Although the 6km beach in Nha Trang doesn't have the nicest sand and the water drops off quite quickly, it does have one of nicest manicured gardens and sculpture parks that divides the beach area from the main road/town. We didn't spend too much time on the beach as we were lured by an ad we saw for a day at the mineral and mud baths. We rented a moto and headed 5km out of the main part of the city to the baths. For $7 we had our own private mud
The cable car ride out to Vinpearl Island
Pretty tacky, but a popular tourist attraction. The island even has their own 'hollywood' Vinpearl sign.bath and mineral bath tub. It was great! First you soak in the mud and then allow it to dry on your skin as you sunbathe. Next you walk through a highpowered jet spray to get the mud off, then you relax in a hot mineral bath. A complete mud treatment! The hot springs spa has also built several pools that you have access to and we spent the better part of the day here.
On our way home from the mudbaths we heard a loud popping noise and knew immediately that something was wrong with our motorbike. Sure enough, 30 seconds later our back tire was completely flat and we were fishtailing around a corner as Matt tried to steer us to safety. We made it to the side of the road and were wondering how we were going to go about fixing this to get us back home when a man walked by. I pointed to the bike and made a pumping motion to the tire - anything can be understood with an assortment of charades! He pointed to the huge round-a-bout on the corner so we went out looking for the shop. The "shop" turned out
to be 3 teenage boys on the street corner with an air compressor, spare tire tubes and a lantern! They took one look at our tube, pulled off a patch that had been done previously to expose a huge rip and set to work putting a brank new tube in our bike. 15 minutes and $3 later we were back on the road, and although frustrated that we had rented such a lemon (the tire wasn't it's only fault), it was still an experience watching our tire being changed on the corner of a busy intersection!
The next day we decided to take a tour of the many islands off the coast, and we had heard good things about Mama Linh's boat trip. The day started out with our tour guide introducing himself to us as Mui, and telling us how excited he was that we were Canadian as his girlfriend was also Canadian. He went on for a few minutes about her and then made a comment about how his wife didn't like her very much; and then he laughed! We were in for a treat with him at the mic! We had a great day cruising around
The high powered jet spray
There was still mud everywhere! admiring the scenery and we enjoyed some traditional Vietnamese foods for lunch. After lunch they somehow transformed all of the bench seats on the boat to turn into a dance floor, and a drum set and a guitar came out and soon everyone was singing and dancing on the boat. They had karaoke books (Asians love their karaoke) and even fake flowers! Our boat tour was mostly made up of young travelling Vietnamese couples so they all took turns singing old love ballads! After a few too many songs Mui said "ok, now we have floating bar and drink f***ing shit ass wine". We laughed and we all jumped into the water and shared some horrible vinegary tasting red wine while floating along with the waves. Great day all around!
That night we were sitting at a little family run bar - think plastic kids chairs set up arond small tables - drinking $1.00 pitchers of Bia Hoi (yes, it is very cheap beer!) and we overheard a group of people talking about scuba diving and lessons, etc. We asked what dive shop they were affiliated with as there are numerous to choose from in Nha Trang, and by
the end of the night we were signed up to diving the next day and Matt had committed to completing his rescue diving certification. The dive instructor (who was from Texas) gave Matt a deal he couldn't refuse and so the next 8 days he spent on a boat completing the necessary dives. It wasn't easy as he had to endure many rescue situations where he had to find people lost underwater then bring them up to the surface while providing air, then take off all of their equipment and his own, and carry them up onto the boat. He came home everyday exhausted from his dives. He was also puked on several times with mushed up fruit as he attempted to rescue people on the surface! However, after 14 dives he is officially a certified Rescue Diver which is only one step under a DiveMaster, one of the highest achievements in SCUBA! I also spent two days on the boat and did 4 dives, 2 of which I was able to use the shops underwater camera to try out my skills. I would later learn that most underwater shots that you see are immensely Photo-Shopped, but still amazing! The
diving was the cheapest we have experienced anywhere in Asia so far, with $35 getting you two dives, all equipment, an hour boat ride out and back to the dive sites, and a group lunch at a Vietnamese restaurant afterwards! We have agreed that the coolest dive site in Nha Trang is Madonna Rock, which is so aptly named for its twin peaks! We experienced some crazy underwater surges here, and were able to explore some rock tunnels, which the surges made even more fun. At one point we were waiting on the other side of a tunnel for Matt to emerge and with a big surge he appeared and then shot right past us!
We ran into the right people at the bar that night, as the dive instructor is also certified to teach people how to teach first aid courses. Matt had to renew his CPR and First Aid and mine was going to expire in the coming months, so we decided to do the full deal and refresh our skills, and also learn how to teach ourselves. It meant more time indoors when the sun was shining outside, but now we are both certified as Emergency
Mui & Sea Urchin
He is explaining the verility powers of the sea urchin - everything weird is good for virility! First Response Instructors! We thought it would be another great thing to have under our belts as possible job opportunities in NZ and also at home.
The people who work at the dive shop were amazing and we were invited to multiple dinners and parties. We were fortunate enough to experience Vietnamese culture as it truely should be as we were taken to restaurants where we were the only "whities". Vietnamese barbeque where you cook your own food over a pot of coals was fantastic, and the cases of beer that piled up beside our tables for ridiculously cheap was the icing on the cake; it was great! It was also the locals at the dive shop who recommended a great little coffee shop, where I have had the best tasting iced coffee ever. The copious amount of condensed milk and the thick syrup that was the coffee was heaven for my tastebuds, so I made sure to have at least 2 every day - I had to keep myself occupied while Matt was getting puked on! We also spent many a night at Bia Hoi, drinking $1 pitchers - Their slogan is actually 'very good, very cheap, very
Vietnamese'!
Thanks Scuba Zone, you will always hold a special place in our trip memories! Love to all,
Matt "Ya, I'm a Rescue Diver" Winter
&
Lindsay "I'm an Emergency First Responder, can I help you?" Arner
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