Nha Trang

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Nha Trang is the biggest beach resort in Vietnam. I got to Nha Trang in the evening and then went diving the next morning. The diving here is the cheapest I've ever seen anywhere - $40 for 2 dives. The dive site is about 40 minutes from the shore and is quite nice. A lot of different coral - some I've never seen before. Some nice marine life as well. My favorite are the cuttlefish and I've seen a lot of them here. Anyway, I liked the diving and the crew, so I signed up to do my Advanced Open Water certification with them. It was only $255, so I think that's even cheaper than Thailand. So for the next 4 days I dove during the day, then went to the beach. Followed by dinner and drinks at night. At first I wasn't crazy about the city, but it quickly grew on me. It has a nice feeling to it. The beach is nice. The water is way cooler than in the Gulf of Thailand, so was quite refreshing. During the day, the beach is dominated by tourists, but at around 4 pm as the sun is getting weaker and the locals come out. They crowd the beach. I didn't have my camera at the time, but it's quite a sight. It looks like the whole city descends on the beach. They swim, play soccer or volleyball, fly kites, bbq and just hang out. Amazing. Quite a change from Thailand where the locals hate the water. Here the people love the beach, but they still hate the sun. Anyways, life is really cheap up here. I paid $10 for a nice AC hotel room right by the beach. Food and drinks are really cheap. Some places have beer at 7000 dong per bottle and at 19000 dong per 1 USD it's really a bargain. So I was talking to the instructor about maybe doing my dive master certification there and he said he is paying $100 USD for his hotel room there a month! Incredible. Most ATM up here have a limit of dispensing 2 million dong per transaction - about $100 USD. I've never seen limits so low. So one day I was sitting at the beach, watching a soccer game and a college kid came over and asked if he can talk to me. He wanted to practice his English. So we got to talking and I asked how much people make over here. He said that most people make about 2 million dong a month - about $100 USD. No wander the prices are so cheap.
Anyways, I really enjoyed my stay at Nha Trang. Got my Advanced Open Water certification. One step closer to Dive Master if I choose to go that route.
Next stop Hoi An.

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