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June 03, 2005
Vietnam | Nha Trang | 26-30 April 2005
Nha Trang, being the primary beach and diving location in Vietnam, was always on my must-visit list. I skipped it on the way down from Hanoi as I figured that Kelly and I would visit it after Dalat. And so it was the next destination for me –visiting there for a week then coming back to Saigon via Mui Ne (halfway between Nha Trang and Saigon) for a party weekend with all the Saigon guys fit in well with my 2 month Vietnam visa and leaving plans.
I decided to catch the train to Nha Trang as I wasn’t altogether excited at the prospect of another 12 hour bus trip (after the 26 hour one, I wouldn’t mind not doing any more, thank you very much!). Fortunately, the train wasn’t too much more expensive than the bus and I got an overnight one so I avoided another night’s accommodation expense :). I booked into The Perfume Grass Hotel, which was recommended to me by someone (not sure who, but I’d written it in my Lonely Planet). It had a great feel to the place, a very laid back, comfortable feel, with classy, locally-made furnishings. It wasn’t the cheapest place around, but for a few days, but at that stage, it wasn’t such a big deal – I was going home after all. I got one of the cheapest rooms, but in hindsight, it would have been better to pay even just a few dollars more and get a nicer room (they go from $10 to $30, $15 gets you AC, mini-bar, nicer trimmings and furnishings).
I spent a couple of days chilling out, relaxing, walking on the beach, eating fantastic curries and seafood from the restaurant downstairs, and generally lazing about.
Having gone to Nha Trang for the diving, I decided I should book myself in for a trip! However, during a heavy clubbing night the previous Saturday night, I had fallen over – I don’t remember it – I was told I had fallen over – the end result being that I had seriously hurt my coccyx. Thus, even walking fast or jogging pained me, so I didn’t want to rush into diving lest it be too painful and become a wasteful exercise. That was part of the reason I was lazing about, as well as not rushing to book my diving.
I finally felt good enough that I booked a day of diving for the Thursday. I went with Jeremy Stein’s Rainbow Divers, marked as the best diving crew in the area. It wasn’t too expensive, although having only done diving courses (Open Water and Advanced Open Water), the cost per dive was significantly more than previous dives. We went to two dive sites during the morning that were quite interesting, and I had my own Instructor-in-training, so we were able to just wander around at our own pace, looking at cool coral, fish, even an octopus! The second dive was significantly colder and noisier (with Party Boats cruising around overhead), but equally as pleasant to meander through.
I have to say I wasn’t blown away by the diving I did – the colours weren’t brilliant, probably due to the overcast weather, and I guess I was expecting more from the location (I hyped myself up a lot before I got there!). It was still worthwhile – after not diving for 8 months it was great to experience diving again :)
That night I went out partying with Justin (a guy I met on the dive boat) – from the Rainbow Club (yes - café associated with the dive shop) to the Sailing Club (‘the’ place to end up most nights in Nha Trang – a very trendy, lively bar/nightclub right on the beach, even having beach-chairs to chill out on).
The next day I went out with Jason and some girls he had dived with on the island hopping Boat Trip – with Boat Number 4!
These boat trips are notorious for being party boats, where much drinking, dancing and general havoc-wreaking occurs. This one was no different. The guys running the boat were absolute showmen, firing off jokes and laughs the whole time… We visited 4 different islands, had plenty of snorkelling time (we even snorkelled in one location that I had dived at the day before!), plenty of ‘lets jump off, or be pushed off the top of the boat’ time, had a huge feast-like lunch, before getting settled into the climax of the boat trip – the floating bar!
Our host singing away (Number Four Boy Band!)…
The floating bar was a home-made ring-style floating device, with our host sitting in the middle, pouring us warm mulberry wine while we floated around him (on inner tubes) with our feet dangling over the bar – Impressive look! (shame I didn’t get a pic) We played a drinking game, whereby if anyone said the word ‘no’, then they had to drink from the open bottle… As you might imagine, various interesting questions and conversations started up, each of us (especially our host) trying to trip each of us up!
By the time we got back on the boat, the case of wine was all gone, and we were all struggling to climb up the ladder…
After the drinking session, we went to the third island, where we were given a couple of hours free time. The beach on the island was covered with the tourists from a dozen other party boats, sunning themselves, relaxing, playing sport and engaging in paid water-sports. Having lost my inhibitions through a single utterance of the word ‘know’ during the floating bar event (not ‘no’, but it was claimed to be close enough to be worth a drink), I decided to go Jetskiing (for the first time) – which was absolutely awesome (just like a motorbike on water!).
Even more exciting than that was going parasailing! $15 and a matter of seconds after being on sand, I was shot up into the air, attached only to a parachute and a speedboat! It was a very short lived, but incredibly exciting event! I can’t wait to do it again, hopefully somewhere that they actually tow you around!
After the incredible (and incredibly touristy) time on the beach, we got back on the boat, headed for the last island (where the opportunity to get in one of the circular boats with a fisherperson was offered, but none of us were too excited about), before being dropped home…
What an awesome day!
That evening Justin and I had dinner with Jody and her friend (sorry, forgotten name!) before going out for some drinks and foosball (table football – I’ve been given a natural gift at this game…). The next day I caught a bus to Mui Ne, where the next party was about to begin…
Posted by Dan at June 3, 2005 01:10 AM