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Published: February 1st 2012
Vietnam – Nha Trang (Complete with HCMC and Hoi An) – Please no floods this time and may my ear hold out so I can learn to dive!!
Health warning to all readers – This is a long blog, it’s three in one so be warned!
After a great time in Phnom Penh I headed back across the border into Vietnam, the journey and Visa arrangements were so simple, the hostel in Phnom Penh sorted everything out and the cost was only a few dollars more than if I would have struggled on my own to sort it out so I was pleased.
Once back in HCMC I suddenly remembered just how crazy the roads are out here, it’s a head spinning experience you just don’t know where to look first and anything goes. I only stayed two nights because I wanted to get to Nha Trang to learn to dive before I head out to Australia, mainly because it’s so cheap in Vietnam. But because their New Year was approaching all transport was stupidly busy and sold out. This meant I had to wait for a couple of days for the next available bus. I didn’t do
much whilst I was here because I knew I would be back before flying out to Singapore in two week’s time so I just soaked up the pre-new year build up that was happening everywhere. I stayed in a hostel called My My Art House, it was nice but to get to my room it was 100 steps each and every time (yep I counted them because it was so exhausting), if you stay here get a room on one of the lower floors!
Following a twelve hour bus ride I finally got to Nha Trang and made inroads into booking my open water diving course, I managed to find it for a great price with an instructor that seemed knowledgeable and enthusiastic so I was very happy. But again because of the New Year and everything closing down my three day course became five days which was fine because it gave me more time to revise for my up and coming exam at the end of the course.
The first day of my course was completed in a swimming pool, I was more than happy with this because I was very nervous, there is something about being
a long way underwater with just a cylinder, hose and mouth piece that scares the sh*t out of me. After a safety briefing we made our way down to a whopping 1.5m and I was breathing like it was my last breath! Huan my instructor tried to calm me down but I just didn’t feel comfortable and had to bail out and stand up. Thank god I wasn’t in the sea at this point. It took a hell of a lot of encouragement from Huan to get me to relax and go back down. He had the patients of a saint and I’m very grateful for his nonstop reassurance and support to ensure I didn’t give up. After a couple more shorter attempts I was feeling happier and we began with the training, everything went very well from this point forward and I had gained confidence in myself, my instructor and my equipment and felt a lot happier but it did take a little bit of time to reach that point.
Day one completed and I had passed all the emergency and safety exercises, the following day I would do my first dive at Mun Island, again I was
Nha Trang - New Year celebrations
I just love the fact their mopeds are glued to their butts!a bit nervous because we would head down to 9meters, I know this is not much but it’s double the 4meters I did the day before. The boat ride and the scenery on the way to Mun Island were beautiful, it was a perfect sunny day so things were looking good. I got ready, completed the pre-entry safety checks and jumped in. I headed down to the bottom of the sea under the careful watch of Huan. Once at the bottom I had to complete all the safety exercises such as throwing away my regulator, losing my mask, using an alternative air supply, emergency ascents and removal of my cylinder. With everything completed I got to swim around and see the beauty that hides beneath the water. It was incredible and I was mesmerised just looking at everything for ages in complete amazement. Sorry I have put a lot of photos up from the dive because it was so incredible so please forgive me if you get bored looking at them.
After the first dive I then had to do it all again including the safety exercises before calling it a day, I was so happy and best of
all there were no problems with my ear so a double bonus.
I had two days off to celebrate the New Year and revise for my exam. New Year is a big thing out here, everyone seems to head home to their families and it’s a huge celebration and party time followed by several days with families being together and just enjoying the time off work which I’m sure we can all relate to. I went along to the New Year celebrations in the city and also the hostel had a small party with some complimentary food and drink, it was a great night and very interesting to see how another country celebrates the end of a year and the start of a new one. They have a tradition here of giving something called lucky money and I was obviously not expecting to get any but I was touched when our dive company presented us with a small token of lucky money in the traditional red envelope on my last day of diving, it was really very kind!
Well with the New Year celebrations completed it was time to finish my training with two more dives, this time
I would be going down to 18m and would have to do two more additional safety exercises at this new depth. By this time I had confidence in myself as well as Huan so although I was nervous I was also feeling good about the dive. We hit the bottom and I successfully completed all my routines and with this I got to just swim around and enjoy diving for what it truly is. With the dive complete Huan shook my hand and said the final dive is just a fun dive so enjoy, with that we both jumped in and went to explore, as you can see from the photos the colour of the fish and coral reef are incredible, I enjoyed every minute of it just floating around between the reefs and admiring the fish that seemed to want to investigate you as much as you did them. With the dive completed we headed back to the office, I sat the exam and I’m pleased to say I passed with flying colours. With my certificate in hand I’m now ready to head to Oz and dive at the Great Barrier Reef. I simply cannot wait, thank you Huan!!!!!
That brought about the end of my time in Nha Trang and it was time to head back to Hoi An where two months back I was stuck in floods, I would spend three days there exploring the ancient town before heading back to HCMC to fly to Singapore. My time in Hoi An was much more “normal” this time, there was no rain or floods and everything was exactly how I had hoped it would be. The town is very beautiful with some wonderful traditional architecture and a real French feel to it. Most of my time here I just explored on foot but I did take a bus/boat tour to the ancient ruins at MySon, meaning Beautiful Mountain. It was an old temple complex in front of some picturesque mountains. It was very nice but I think Angkor Wat has now prevented any temple complex getting my interest, but the boat journey back was lovely just slowly cruising down the river taking in the sights.
With Hoi An completed all that was left was to get back to HCMC, well that should have been easy enough, but no the New Year madness meant there were no
trains, buses or flights because everything had been booked weeks in advance so my only option was a business class flight! Bang goes my travel budget for Vietnam but I had no choice. Although I begrudge paying such a high price for a one hour flight I have to say it’s rather nice as I’m currently sat in the business lounge at the airport being spoilt with all the free food and drinks whilst writing my blog, so it’s not all bad.
Other than a stop and drop in HCMC that is the end to my time in Vietnam and the surrounding countries becauseI head to the civilisation of Singapore and then Australia. I have a really sad feeling in my stomach that the travelling in a way has ended, because most of my next stops will be very much like home, with hugely developed westernised countries. I just hope I haven’t become too used to the craziness and lack of systems and understanding on my part in these countries and can embrace the familiarities of my new destinations.
Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Thailand it’s been a blast and I’ve loved every minute of it!!!!! Without doubt I
will miss each and every place for their own special reasons. Until we meet again…………..Tam Biet, chum riep leah, Sôhk Dee Deuh, ลา,
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