Monday, March 23rd This morning was the first two dives of our Advanced Open Water (Advance Adventure) course. Our instructor's name is Tri (pronounced Chi) and he had us swimming through hoops, literally! The first dive was at Moray Beach. To perfect our buoyancy we had to hover in the water at a stable depth for one minute (not using your arms or legs at all) then on our backs, stomach and upside down for 30sec each. After that we had to swim through three hoops, one on top of the other, without touching them. This sounds easy until you factor in that everything looks bigger and closer under water, you have this big cylinder on your back and your gauges, LP hose and alternate air source dangle beneath you. We finished without much trouble then ... read more

Thursday, March 19th While jogging this morning we realized how much our way of breathing has changed since our dives. While under water we breathe slow and deep and as a result we seem to be using more of our lung capacity outside of the water as well. Cool! After breakfast we looked at extending our visa for 30 days. We were expecting to pay another US$100, but to our delight our hotel could arrange it for only US$50 in total! Now we don't have to leave Vietnam yet! We battled to upload another blog then went and booked another two dives for the next day. We can't wait! We've made friends with the dive shop staff, especially a lady named Tu. Talita had her laughing till she nearly cried. She was laughing so hard she ... read more

We would like to say Thank You Very Much!! to everybody sending messages & comments on the blog. We enjoy all you precious words a lot and it makes us feel closer to home. Keep it up! Sunday, March 15th Today is the big day, the first day of our scuba course! We met with the manager, Simon, and our instructor Amanda. Simon is an Englishman with a quirky sense of humor, lots of tattoos and gold teeth who's been living here for 8 years. Amanda is Canadian, fresh from the snow (she only moved here a week ago - She started with a milky white skin but it's rapidly turning red). We watched the first three DVD's and both got full scores on each of the three tests. After a break for early lunch we ... read more

Wednesday, March 11th We didn't sleep much last night. Our sun-scorched bodies and the mosquitoes didn't allow for more than a few hours of rest. After an hour long early morning (1am) mosquito hunt we finally got some sleep. We spent the morning packing and watched a movie in bed. We were like zombies all day and after lunch we laid by the pool waiting for our bus at 6pm. While Ferdi went in search of an ATM, Talita went for (what she thought was) a bikini wax. There was no "wax" involved. The beautician used one long piece thread that she doubled up, then twisted into a spiral. She would then roll the thread over the area to be "waxed", thereby snagging a few hairs in between the spirals and then pull them out! Ouch! ... read more

Sunday, March 8th We rented bicycles and went to the beach! Oh, how wonderful to have our feet in the sand and the waves breaking nearby! The water was great but we hadn't taken our swemmies cause we had to go back to the hotel at 12 to move to another room. After a fruit shake and some lounging on the beach we cycled back to our hotel where we had a swim followed by some more lounging. We are loving Vietnam! We're even getting used to the hooting. When we first arrived in Hanoi we weren't impressed with the noise and the chaos and how expensive everything was. But Hanoi is most certainly not a true reflection of Vietnam. Hué and Hoi An is the cheapest places we've traveled so far. Our current hotel ... read more