So Vietnam is interesting, to say the least.
The first day was awesome, then a little rough.
I left for the airport from school around 4PM and met Paul who came 15 minutes late. It's not a big deal but I thought he had died because you know, he's never late to anything. Anyway, once we finally met, we headed down to the "express" subway and took that to Gimpo airport where we transferred to the airport express train to Incheon.
Originally, Paul and I had been iffy about the whole trip because of typhoon Ketsana killing a bunch of Philippinos and crashing through Da Nang but.. we decided to brave it.
Apparently though, tropical storm Parma is chilling in the Philippines.
I check the weather everyday... and it looks like this.
The angry red thing would be Parma, and Paul and I are right to the left of it in Nha Trang. Woohoo~
Also, weather.com is a big fat liar because it told me it would rain everyday here, but we have yet to see a drop of rain.
Not that I'm complaining, of course.
So when we got to the airport, we had a pretty exciting moment. When we boarded, we found that we couldn't find our seats. But that confusion turned to excitement when we realized
we were in the wrong section! Yeah!!
So we decided that getting a free upgrade is pretty sweet.
Access to USB and power outlets is pretty grand not to mention the excessive leg room
and ginourmous TV screens.
A good time was had by all.
When we got to Vietnam, that's when the fuss started :(
We had a 6 hour layover in Vietnam so we arrived around 10:20 PM in Saigon (or Ho Chi Minh City). Little did we realize that the airport SHUT DOWN AT NIGHT. So after finding that we had no place to go, we called around a few places, got ripped off by the cab driver a little bit (OK at least we didn't fall for the guy who wanted $50 to go somewhere 10 minutes away) we ended up in a little guest house. The bathroom smelled a little like urine but we had hot water, and more importantly an A/C.
OK, so early the next morning, we got in the cab again, and flew down to Nha Trang where we waited for a cab that was supposed to be arranged for us...
but then after 15 minutes of waiting, asked for a phone.... and found out there were no phones in the airport (WTF??). We got in a taxi,
borrowed the driver's cell phone, and called the dive shop.. but not before the cab driver called a hotel who claimed to know our dive guy and that he wanted us to stay at his hotel.... anyway......
Well, we made it to the dive shop in one piece and everything got easier from there on. The dive shop guy yelled at our cab driver who tried to charge us too much then got us situated. BTW, the word I would use to describe all of the dive instructors at Scuba Dive Vietnam would be.... trés Français... OK so two words. Paul and my dive instructor's name is Jérome who operates the shop with his partner Richard (pronounced Rishard). They are DEFINITELY French. Jérome was a French chef for 15 years (10 of which he owned his own French restaurant in the D.C. area) who then decided he wanted to scuba dive for a living... so he became an instructor. He stays in Nha Trang 9 months out of the year then spends 3 months in New Caledonia cooking and saving up for the next 9 months. O.o I told you... very French.
Nha Trang is BEAUTIFUL. The skies are blue, the weather is hot, and everybody drives around a motorbike. Communist propaganda is as bountiful as palm trees. Living is very cheap.
There are tons and tons and tons of diveshops here. On our 2 minute walk to our dive shop, we pass 3 other dive shops. Diving is also incredibly cheap and good. If anyone wanted to get certified, I would hands down, suggest Nha Trang.
The first day was pretty slow - Paul and I stayed awake for a 4 hour video then did a few minutes of class with Jérome. We then had lunch, then headed over to the pool to test our skills in the water.
Paul had a little difficulty with his ears. I didn't have any trouble at all with mine, which surprised me... maybe my condition is improving!
We then headed home where Paul and I did a little bit of exploring.
We saw some chickens on display at a store... maybe for eating?
and a store with a stuffed ostrich and crocodile
We also had a bit of a feast at one of the local restaurants
where apparently, every hour is happy hour (we each got a free beer for eating there).
There are also fun lizards here which Paul loves.
Can you find the little guy?
Today, we woke up at 6:30 and headed for the dive shop @ 7:30 AM. Paul decided to wear a T-shirt with a french man standing on top of a whale, thinking it is an island, and putting a French flag on top of it, for the irony.
but no one understood :( What a shame.
At the dive shop, we met other divers and headed over to the pier where we got on a fun boat
and headed over to the diving spots!
The view from the boat was breathtaking.
On our way, we saw a fishing village
and a German ship registered for Monrovia?
We finally got to our spots
where we put on our gear and headed for the water. Jérome then conveniently told us that he does underwater photography so there will be fun pictures for people to see tomorrow when Jérome gets those pictures to us! :)
The first dive was a little scary, I have to admit. We felt, unprepared and moving around was pretty frustrating. We also tried not to get too close to anything because our flailing usually ended up in a big sand storm.
When we got out of the water, Jerome talked to us a little about what to do and what not to do and gave us a few pointers. We then snacked on delicious delicious dragon fruit and home baked goods.
Our second dive was AMAZING. We finally got our bearing in the water and went a little slower. Paul, who had been frustrated as anything after the first dive, calmed down and enjoyed the dive. Oh, the reefs were so beautiful!
On the way back, we were all smiles
Again, the evenings were free so we spoke to Jérome about his life then headed for another look around the city where stray dogs are abundant.
Stay tuned for more!~