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Published: April 20th 2010
Same Same but Different.... that's how to describe our life here in Nha Trang Central Coast Vietnam. Perfect one day and just as perfect the next.
This is such a pretty place and we are so pleased that we decided to leave Hanoi behind. Nha Trang is on the South China Sea and is surrounded on three sides by mountains that go right to the sea. There are several small Islands off the coast, one big one that protects Nha Trang from big seas, and another slightly smaller Island called Vinpearl. Vinpearl has been developed by the Russians, and has a Resort, its own beach and the best Water Park, Amusement Arcade, rides and Aquarium. Vinpearl is linked to the mainland by a 3 klms long cable car which is at the southern end of the bay. We visited Vinpearl last year with Craig & Annette, and boys being boys Craig & Dean hit the water slides. Unfortunately for Craig a little too hard, as he ended up with two broken ribs, and a visit to the local hospital, which I think he would rather forget! It is so much quieter here than Hanoi, and crossing the road is a
breeze by comparison.
We came to Nha Trang on the promise of work in a Training Hotel , but that wasn't to be, but hey things happen for a reason!
With the Hotel job we were to live in and teach the staff English for 25 hours a week, in return for a room, breakfast and laundry. When that didn't happen we decided that we needed to find ourselves somewhere to live other than a Hotel room. So here we are in our own little house, just a two minute walk from the beach. It's great to have some space after all the hostels in China, ( boy does that seem so long ago now.) We live upstairs from our landlord Mr Heiu, who Dean likes to call Mr Miyaga (from the Karate Kid) as he has lots of Bonsais. Mr Heiu is a really nice man and he & his wife have a very fun old dog with the biggest googley eyes that you have ever seen. She is quite cute really. We have our own entrance gate down a little alley, it took us a few attempts to find it when we first arrived but have
our bearings now. In the alley are some real characters. We have a couple of girls who live opposite who like Hip Hop music and between 4.00 and 5.00 every afternoon, they crank it up. Next to them is a young guy who plays guitar and he sits on his motorbike most afternoons playing classical music. We also have a guy who fancies himself as a Karaoke singer and he also has a go, fortunately not all at the same time, thank goodness. So put it all together with Deans IPod going and we have quite a musical neighbourhood!
The house has all that we need really. Room downstairs to park our motorbike, at the top of the back stairs we have a nice little patio, with a great fish pond. A bathroom, kitchen and bedroom/sitting area and a small patio out the front for the washing machine, perfect.
We pay 6,000,000 VND a month ( sounds a lot doesn't it) by equates to about $90.00 a week. The bike costs us about $1.50 a day, so all in all not much really. Now that we have a kitchen we have started cooking again, which is great. Something I
never thought I would say. We visit the local market every couple of days, and have it down pat now. We park the bike at one end and even before we are half way along the row we have filled the backpack with all sorts of goodies. They sell everything there, meat, fish, eggs, bread and fruit and veg and even the occasional frog! It's very cheap compared to home, and we get a bag full for about $2.00. Meat is very cheap and we can buy enough for a meal for us for about $1.00.
We visit the beach most days, usually first thing in the morning before breakfast and than again in the afternoon. There are some real characters there as well. The Ice Cream man rides his pushbike with a freezer at the front and plays the music from Cheech & Chong. There is a guy who rides his motorbike with a tray on his head selling fruit donuts and there are always ladies ready to sell you, either a a book, some sunglasses, fruit or a cold drink.
Towards the northern end of the beach is the fishing fleet, they fish mostly for lobster
and crabs, and most days the ladies are along the promenade with their small charcoal fires cooking up the daily catch. It smells wonderful.
We have started exploring the local area , and a couple of times have been to a beach south of here called Long Beach. The first time we tried to find it we got lost and ended up in a backwater somewhere where they make Fish sauce. Boy does that smell, we dropped a u turn and got out of there real quick. Long Beach is beautiful. The beach would have to be several klms long and at one end has bamboo huts where you can sit in a deck chair and enjoy the peace. The water is crystal clear and very warm. They also have a small fishing fleet out of there, and the couple of times that we have been we have enjoyed the most wonderful prawns. You BBQ them yourself, and they would have to be 8 ins long. The road there follows the coast and the scenery is beautiful.
Last week when we went there, we got about 15klms along the road and got a flat back tyre on the
bike. It was stinking hot and we sort of remembered a repair shop about 2 klms back. We decided that I should stay where we were and Dean would push the bike back down the road. Fortunately there is a Resort along the road and Dean asked them if they could help him. The security guard made a call and the repair man turned up on his bike with repair kit on hand, and in under 20 mins after we had stopped, he had the tube out, the tyre off, the new tube back in, pumped up, and we were on our way again. Not bad, I think if we were home we would have still been pushing 1 for help, 2 for.......
I know that it sounds like we are taking life very easy, but we are working as well. There is a restaurant near here that runs a school for the street kids, not that there are too many of them now thank goodness. But other kids can also attend. Dean & I have been doing volunteer teaching there for about three weeks now. It's for an hour and a half each morning. Deans class is mainly
Uni students, and they all like to hear about his trips overseas. He has some real characters in his class, a guy who likes to think that he knows it all, and unfortunately had a bet with Dean last week on who discovered Mt Everest. Not something he should argue with a Kiwi about. Anyway he now knows that it was of course Sir Edmund Hillary, not Mr Everest that he was insisting on. Last Sunday Dean organised a game of football at the beach for them and we had a great time. Score: Australia 3 Vietnam 2. They have challenged us to another game next week.
Mine are a mixed bunch of kids from 12 through to about 27 years. They are great fun and we have had some great lessons. Last week I tried to teach them all about nouns, person, place or thing. Boy was that hard work, but we made it in the end. I also did a class about giving directions, that was fun. I divided the class into city blocks and they had to tell me whether to go left or right, boy they had me going in circles! The last couple of
days I have spent time with three girls who are doing their English exams and need help with their pronunciation, that I have found very rewarding.
Dean has also picked up some paid teaching work at a school just 6 kls north of here. The kids there are also Uni students, but he has some real beginners. He is really enjoying it. He picked up his first pay packet last week and has made his first million teaching! VND of course, but hey that doesn't matter. The school is open six days a week, like all schools here, and he was even there at 9.00pm last Saturday night teaching! Something that we would have never imagined at home. A couple of weeks ago we went up there to collect Deans schedule and a load of the students were there cooking lunch. They invited us to stay and we enjoyed a really nice meal with them.
Dean has also applied for a job at the local Sailing Club, the job involves hiring out catamarans and kayaks, and also to be a sailing instructor when necessary. We went to the managers house yesterday for Deans interview, quiet a sight really, Dean
riding the bike, me on the back with the map! Anyway we found it first time and were very proud of ourselves. The house is in a really nice part of town, and has a convent across the road. The nuns invited me in while I was waiting and it really was a beautiful place. Really peaceful.
Last week here in Nha Trang was the 35th anniversary of the Liberation. Boy was it huge. There was a parade of all the Armed forces, they where carrying rifles with bayonets attached AK47s, and M16s, there were also the returned service man and women, bands, floats, kids with flags and even the women farmers marched. Afterwards they had Dragon Dances, and at night a fireworks display. We did walk down to the beach at night for the display but decided not to stay as the beach was really packed!!. We think that everyone from far and wide must have been there.
We have met some wonderful people here, both Vietnamese and Ex Pats, and are really starting to feel part of this great place. The locals are beginning to recognise us now and everyone has a cheery hello for us,
it really is very nice. So until next time we hope you are all well. The journey continues..........
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Michele
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Happy Birthday
Sounds wonderful over there. Glad you are enjoying yourselves. Have a fantastic birthday on the 22nd Di. Love from, Dave, Michele, Kate and Todd XXXX