Through the eyes of the Fish

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Still in Nha Trang, but it's my last day, getting on the overnight bus to Hoi An in a few hours' time. I've well overstayed my planned two days but am not beating myself up about it; I've had a ball. After four nights of drunken debauchery I was ready to leave as our group began to disintegrate. However I then realised this would be almost my last time to go SCUBA diving and, at 150 pounds for an Open Water Course (the basic 3-day course for divers internationally) I would be a fool not to do it. So I've ended up here for over a week!
Although the Gap Yah crew broke up a few days ago and I've moved from the hostel which is at the centre of things I still hang out there with the guests (I'm abusing the free internet right now), which has been great. After a while it's nice to get out of the British teenager bubble! Among the weirder of this group was a Finnish guy (I've met a few weird Finns, maybe it's the lack of sunlight) who, drunk, didn't understand the rules of our drinking game and would periodically shout 'ERUPTION' and jump around all over the place manically he was, we decided "Unleashed from the forested depths of Finland to wreak havoc on the world". My last night drinking was the infamous (around here) 'booze cruise' which is four hours unlimited alcohol- on a boat. You might expect the captain to be an insane Irishman or mad party animal but he was actually this really friendly, really mild middle-aged Minnesota, as someone put it "who you might expect to run a flower shop". Needless to say that that night was far from mild and the next morning put paid to any desire to drink again (for at a least a day or two that is...).
Anyway, ' I was so wasted' stories only have so much mileage so I'll stop there. Though not drinking, for the last few days I've eaten amazingly. We were with an Australian of Vietnamese descent who can speak the lingo and knows about the cuisine. This was a godsend. It's quite easy here to spend a relatively large amount on fairly indifferent food, if you're lazy and go to cheap tourist restaurants. We, instead, under his leadership, went to some quite posh Vietnamese ones but ate 'family style' whereby s few dishes are shared by everyone and every gets some rice as well. This is a brilliant way to eat and possibly cheaper than ordering a lacklustre pizza just for you. Last night I ate what can only be described as a feast. Spring rolls, not greasy but wrapped in a crispy filigree, wafer thin beef to be barbecued at the table, baked fish in banana leaves and then a Thai hotpot of sweet and sour broth into which you added fish, squid, prawns and vegetables. All this with rice and greens, any one course would be a full meal and we were all stuffed. In the spirit of adventure and Orientalism I ate the fish's eye- it was a bit like how I imagine it is to eat a paintball bullet for anyone who's been. The inside was a bit like iffy fish the consistancy of frogspawn, which was bearable, the tough and chewy outer sclera, however, did take me by surprise I must say and was rather unpleasant. Other than this willing detour the rest of the food was utterly delicious. We ate similarly the night before and both times the bill, with drinks, came to less than four pounds each; probably the best money I've spend all trip and from now on I'll always try to eat 'family style'.
The only fly in the ointment (a pretty massive fly) is this ash, we're all following it closely over here as lots of people need to get home or have friends meant to be coming out here. I've met various people who are going to be stranded in different places, Bangkok, Tokyo, Dubai, who won't have enough money to stay there necessarily. I'm lucky it hasn't affected me directly but fingers crossed it won't be the boat home from South America... (Don't worry I'm pretty sure it won't be).
My main activity besides drinking, eating and lounging on the long and beautiful beach, has of course, been diving. It's very strange at first and it takes a bit of practice to get steady in the water and go through all the skills you have to learn. At one stage my air was turned off to show how it feels, which was horrible, but the trick is to always stay calm, because, if done properly, it is pretty safe. That said, the video I had to watch did freak me out a touch with all the horrific things you can do to yourself if you do it wrong! All this was worth it to see the beautiful fish and coral and enjoy just floating around down there, the feeling of weightlessness itself is also great fun. I didn't see anything that remarkable to anyone who's dived much before but I was impressed, seeing a Moray Eel a baby Lionfish (very poisonous apparently) and a host of other psychedelic fish in the alien world beneath the waves.
Heading to Hoi An next for suit-making (not ME doing suit-making mind you) via a joyous 11 hour sleeper bus. I've had itchy feet for a few days, the diving being the only thing keeping me here (though it is both fun and breathtakingly beautiful, being framed by the brilliant blue sea, with green mountains rising both out of the hinterland and the ocean). Looking forward to being more of a backpacker than a tourist again also, as Nha Trang is definitely a holiday resort and us 'travellers' need to flatter ourselves we are doing something more profound than a giant holiday (which is pretty much exactly what it is) and call it a 'life journey' or the like, so hopefully I'll be smugly donning my walking boots soon!
Hope all's well with all etc.

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Comments

[annie ruff]

Fergus,
This is getting on my nerves now fergus.....cant you go into more detail, I feel left stranded!! Give me more information!! Annie xx Love it as you know, so interesting xxread it again and again stay safe, its the maternal in me