Nha Trang

Last night we boarded our train to go from Saigon to Nha Trang at about 10:30. When we located our sleeping compartment, we found that we were sharing it with a large Vietnamese family. There were at least four people on each of the lower bunks. We said hello, and crawled up onto our upper bunks. We whispered to one another asking how it was possible that they were able to put more than one person per bunk, that could be a real money saver we thought. They seemed friendly, though we didn't talk much with them because they didn't seem to speak much English. Just before the train departed, all but two members of the family left to other compartments on the train. Many local people are traveling right now, returning home from their holiday travels. People around here save their money all year for the Lunar new year travels. The average local wage for a worker in Ho Chi Minh City is around $50 per month.
The beds on the train were comfortable and clean, and we thought we were in for a good nights sleep. Unfortunately, as the train got up to speed, it sounded like we were stuck in a tornado.

We arrived in Nha Trang about 6:00am this morning. We were to find a certain cafe where the diving company was to pick us up at 7:00am. When leaving the train station we had no idea where we were going. The funny thing is, you cannot let on that you don't know where you are going around here. So, we confidently walked through the lineup of taxis, cyclos, and honda-oms down a street that we had never walked before, as if we new exacltly where we were going, so that we could avoid some of the haggling. When safely around the corner, we quickly pulled out our guidebook to figure out where we were, and where we were going.
You can get just about anywhere within an hours drive for a dollar or two around here, but for some reason we keep on walking. After being lost for quite awhile, we found the cafe, probably 4km from the train station. Unfortunately, there was no diving bus to pick us up. I went out in search for food while Larissa tried to get information about the dive trip from a travel agent in the cafe. Neither of us were very successful in our tasks. I walked up and down the street, and returned sheepishly with only a bottle of water. "It'll only be a few hours until we can get back for some food" I assured her, feeling down on my abilibty to provide for the family. As she tried to approach the travel agent, a near riot broke out in the cafe due to the fact that a bus leaving from that location had filled up far before it could accomodate everyone who intended to board it. With bigger problems on her hands, the agent was far from helpful.

Finally, around 7:30, someone showed up from a dive operation. We piled into a van and headed out. We drove up and down the streets of Nha Trang until all the seats were filled, and then headed for the port. It was a dreary day today, and the ocean looked cold and uninviting as it came into sight. We were quickly escorted to the diving boat. It was not your typical dive boat. It was a large wooden boat, crowded with people, looking like one of those refugee boats you see on TV. We were glad to find out that the majority of the people on the boat were snorkelers. We don't like to share the water.

We started our 45 minute trip out to the dive sight. I spoke with the divemaster, trying to get an idea of what to expect. He told me that the visibility would be very poor due to the windy conditions. He said, "If you look closely, you might be able to see some coral." That was really encouraging. Smelly and tired, we were hardly in the mood for any but the best news.
I then went about the task of trying to get someone to connect my dive computer to a regulator. All this requires is a few turns with a wrench, but before I knew it, the majority of the crew was standing around arguing about how it should be done. I made a couple of feable attempts to grab the wrench that one of them was holding, so I could do it myself, but they weren't having it.
About ten minutes later, the computer was attached. I was disturbed at the fact that the computer seemed to be the envy of all of the divers on board. To help cure my anxiety, I checked it periodically to make sure that it hadn't been snatched up.

We donned our gear, and jumped into the water. I let out a bit of a girly squeal, as the water was shockingly cold compared to what we were used to. The visibility wasn't good, but it sure beats the Oregon coast.

As we began following our guide around the reef, we noticed that he wasn't much for stopping and looking. It seemed like he was just trying to see how fast he could swim. We tried to keep up at first, but after awhile we just stopped to look for however long we wanted. He would disappear off into the distance, and then awhile later would return at full speed to see if everything was alright. I thought it was good for him to burn as much of that extra energy as possible.

Besides our being quite cold, the diving was very enjoyable, even despite the poor visibility. We saw several lion fish out in the open, an octopus, a big cuttlefish, and some unfamiliar species of anenomefish. There was an amazing population an variety of anenomefish. They were bigger and more aggressive than those that we found in Palau. They repeatedly bit my dive computer, I guess they wanted it too. Oh, and just in case you were wondering, we saw lots of coral, beautiful coral.

So, remember in the last post, I mentioned that we were to go out with a company called Rainbow Divers? Well, after our first dive, we noticed a big boat (nicer than the one we were riding on) that had "Rainbow Divers." Confused, we looked at the side of our own boat, and at the shirts of the crew, and they said "Explore Vietnam." "Uh oh," we thought, "we have been hijacked by another dive company." We thought back to when we were picked up. A lady approached us and said, "are you diving today?" I told her that we were, and we followed her to a bus. Since we had already paid for the tour (diving here is about half the rate, of the half-rate we were getting in Palau), we were concerned that Explore Vietnam might not have been the ones that we paid, and we wondered whether they would be expecting some payment at the end of things. No wonder they did not have us on their list of divers, we thought back to when we got on the boat, our names were the only ones missing from a dry erase board.
We decided to remain as inconspicuous as possible, while planning our escape.

The second dive was better than the first. The day of diving was good, but I think that the diving here could be really good. There are some islands around with reefs that are almost left alone. This time of year is said to be the best time to dive Vietnam, we just got unlucky with conditions.

After making the return trip to the port, we were shuttled past the Rainbow Divers dive shop, to the Explore Vietnam dive shop. There they fed us a nice meal. Midway through, I made put all of our bags in a position for a quick escape. We finished our meal early on purpose, and said small innocent good-byes as we hiked away.
We still don't know what happened, perhaps Rainbow divers subcontracts with other operators. We were in no mood for the hassle of finding out.

We don't like Nha Trang all that much, so we have decided to leave tonight. We will board another overnight train to Hoi An. After diving, we rented a motorcycle. Not a smart thing to do. Two liters of gas and a 6 hour motorcycle rental costs around 4 usd, unless you want to hang around and bargain a bit. In some parts of vietnam, like Phu Quoc, it is only $1 per day. As we drove away from the rental shop, weaving back and forth, I realized that we should have rented a bigger bike, or an automatic moped. My feet are too big to shift very effectively. We planned to tour some side roads, but before we knew it we were on a 4 lane highway, with traffic weaving around us. Larissa mentioned that we should have looked into getting helmets, though no one on the roads has them. Luckily, we came across a side road, and made our way to the beach, where we sent up a prayer of thanks that our lives were spared. Then we went for pizza, and then to an internet cafe, where I am writing this from. Internet rates are very reasonable here, less than a cent a minute. We did not do a good job of documenting the day photographically. That is why this entry is pictureless. It is pouring rain right now. The ride to the train station might not be the most enjoyable.

We were hoping to read your comments today, but we cannot seem to view the blog.
In regard to the videos, I think I did something wrong with creating the hyperlinks, so I am assuming they didn't work. The problem may be fixed now, but I can't tell you for sure because, again, we can't view the blog.

Thanks to those of you who are helping us with Madagascar-replacement options.