Month: April 2012

Days 111/112, Tuesday/Wednesday 24/25 April, 2012, Nha Trang

Up early again for a repeat of yesterdays breakfast at Salut and then off to Angel Divers shop for the pickup to the boat. It was a similar group to yesterday so I knew we would have a good day.

There was one other advanced open water diver with the group so I got paired up with Louis for the first dive, which was at Madonna Rock again. We did a deeper dive than yesterday with a more difficult swim through, having to swim down under a shelf and then up through a shute, loads of fun. We also repeated the best swim through from yesterday, Louis was behind me and filmed the swim so I am hoping to get a copy of the clip. We spent a bit of time trying to find a big grouper that lives around the rocks, apparently much bigger than the one we saw yesterday, but to no avail sadly. Visibility at depth is not great which is a bummer.

For the next two dives I was alone with the dive master Michael, a guy from England and an avid Arsenal supporter. He has taken my email address and said he will see if he can hook me up with one of his mates who has corporate season tickets to Arsenals home ground, Emirates stadium, in the new season. Now that would be cool !

The second and third dives were variations of dives from yesterday, with similar sea and coral life to look at. We did come across a massive school of fish that seemed to be doing a swim past a metre from my face, we followed them around for a bit which was fun, but then air was running low so we called it quits.

Like yesterday the in between dives was spent mucking about in the water, diving and jumping off the boat, pushing people in – it was like being a teenager again, and for me really added to the enjoyment of the day.

Selfies under water, in a wet suit with no weight belt are not easy.

Bird nesters homes.

Once the dive was over and we were back on shore I spent a bit of time cooling down and relaxing in my room before meeting Dave, a diver trainee I hung out with a bit over the past two days for dinner at eight (way too late for me !) . We met at the dive shop and as he was the only diver booked for the dive tomorrow they mutually agreed to have a day off. We had a beer at the shop and went off in search of pizza and more beer.

After pizza we went back to Why Not Bar – one of the two big backpacker bars in Nha Trang, we had a couple of drinks and were joined by JC, my dive master from yesterday, who also works part time at the bar. At midnight when JC’s shift finished we moved to another bar with a few of the guys and girls from the dive shop and then back to Why Not at 2.00 AM to watch Chelsea v Barcelona in the Champions League football. I got to bed at 4 am, fortunately I did not drink a huge amount, so was not suffering too badly when I got up !

The bar was interesting, this was my first time in a backpacker bar late in the night, it wasn’t packed at 2.00, but there were quite a few people – the majority of which were pretty drunk. The people watching was fascinating. We assisted one extremely drunk Greek guy who was on his own, completely incoherant and had no idea where he was staying. The dive shop guys were concerned that at closing time the bar staff would just put on the street where he would likely get robbed. Fortunately a couple of girls recognised him from their hostel so we bundled him in a cab and sent him on his way.

It was a good final night in Nha Trang, hanging out with a good bunch of people always makes for a great time.

I woke about 8.00 and tentatively opened one eye after the other, realising my head was not going to fall off I praised myself for the wisdom in drinking beer slowly, though I was up almost all night so there was definitely some wisdom lacking when I made that choice.

I did very little for the morning, went to the dive shop to see if they had the video footage but the camera card reader was not in the shop so I wandered off for breakfast instead and hope that they email me one day.

At 12.00 I checked out and went to the lobby and shared a taxi to the train station. I hung about with an Aussie family at the station until the train arrived forty five minutes late at about 2:15. The ride to Da Nang is approximately ten hours.

This was my first sleeper car ride so I boarded the train with quiet expectation. I was in a totally different carriage to the Aussies, and after a brief moment of confusion found my bed – number 5.

I am fortunate in that I have a bottom bunk as I least I can store my pack under the bed. There are only two of us in the room and I am sharing with a middle aged Vietnamese soldier who appears to have no English at this stage. The room is pretty grubby, though we do get a supposedly clean sheet which is a bonus.

My roomie promptly turned his radio on and the lay down and was snoring loudly well before 3.00 – this could be a long ride. I used the laptop (wrote some of this) until the battery died and then kind of mooched for a while with headphones on to drown out the snoring – this would be a feature for most of the next ten hours !

I heard the snack cart goes past the closed door and nipped out and bought a can of 333 beer and a packet of biscuits, as nothing else really appealed. I shared a few biscuits and a smile with my roomie. At around 6.00 we stopped in a town and got another passenger in the room, he didn’t say much either so it was not going to be a long chatty ride like the one to Nha Trang. My roomie got off the train and came back with a meal of rice, fish and eggs and two cans of beer which he shared with me, very cool. We had an enjoyable meal over our small table, though we did not say much !

After dinner he slept again and I drowned the noise with loud music on mp3 player until we arrived in Da Nang late at 12.45. I took a motorbike taxi to my hotel and had to bang on the locked door to be let in.

Day 109, Sunday 22 April 2012, Nha Trang

Up fairly early and out for a walk around the streets near the hostel and down to the beach. The beach looks quite nice and like the beaches near Da Nang there was a number of both local and western people taking advantage of the cooler temperatures and getting a swim in.

I walked for an hour and my first impression of Nha Trang (yet to be changed 36 hours later) is that it is a fairly soulless place. It is a beach town full of hotels, souvenier shops, bars, restaurants, travel shops and massage spas. There is no character and limited vibe to the place, Ok it was 6.30 AM, but Nha Trang makes no pretence to be anything but a beach and party town, and its main source of business is Russia. Some restaurants do not even bother with Vietnamese or English signs !

I stopped for breakfast and a great filter coffee at one of the local cafes – things are cheap here but not cheap cheap, however I have not moved out of the tourist area yet.

Mum – one of these filters is on the way to you in the post, but you may not want to use condensed milk.

On the way back from my walk I found a small barber directly over the road from my hotel and decided to check them out later for a shave. The last shave I had was about sixteen days ago and that was a tough one, so I thought I would leave it all up to the pros ! It was a good shave, took ages and I tipped almost as much as the cost of the shave – and still less than $5. Sure beats shaving myself : )

When I got back to the hotel I moved to my proper room, last night I was given a free upgrade as they “had a nice room free as long as i didn’t mind moving in the morning”. the proper room is just fine !

[edit] The recpetionist in the hotel didn’ recognise me when I came in this afternoon – she said I looked a lot younger – I sense a tip when I leave ! credit where it is due, the service in this hotel has been fabbo [end edit]

The rest of the day was spent relaxing again – I am starting to get a bit more energy back, and I after a bit of research I booked myself three dives with Angel Divers for tomorrow. I also booked a train ticket to Da Nang for Wednesday mid-day.

I planned on heading to the night market to suss it out and try to get some cheap street food for dinner when I spotted Ollie, one of the English guys from last night, walking into the bar almost over the road from my hotel so I decided to pop in and say hello and have a swifty beer. Six hours later I emerged from the bar to go back to my hotel room and prepare to get up for my dives in the morning….

Fortunately it was not as bad as it sounded, I did have a few beers, but kept it quiet and watched football with some mad keen West Brom. Fans – West Brom beat Liverpool, so happy days. It was a good night with Ollie and Gabby, Tom, Chris, Pa ddy – and I cannot remember his partners name… I had a nice chicken chilli for dinner but it was damn small and I went to bed hungry.

For not a lot happening it was a good day, I am glad I got a day of rest as I am starting to get physically and mentally tired, the diving should be fairly relaxing – in an active way ! I am really looking forward to getting under the water again.

Day 108, Saturday 21 April 2012, HMC – Nha Trang

My last night in Saigon was OK, a wee bit of sleep was had and I woke up feeling OK, so not a bad start to the day. I went down for breakfast quite late by my normal standards at 8.30 – longest lie in for days. I was in no rush this morning. Had a good breakfast with an Aussie couple who were heading back to Sydney – luckily they had not watched the league test last night : )

I took everything out of my pack and gave it a shake to clear the accumulated dust out and then wondered how the hell it was going to go back in again – and why I have three full cans of warm beer to lug around (now only one can of cold beer in the fridge).

I did some more photo uploading up blog writing and thank God I am almost caught up and then it was time to go down to the street and get my motorbike taxi to the station for the train to Nha Trang. The ride was ‘interesting’, first pillion ride in Saigon traffic, crazy.

I have decided to train this leg and if this works OK I will train to Da Nang. From Da Nang I will take the easy route and fly to Hanoi. The train is slower and more expensive than the bus, but I am expecting it to be safer and probably more secure.

The train left on time, yay for socialism – things are pretty reliable here in Vietnam. I was lucky and got a forward facing seat for the eight hour ride. The other westerners all had rear facing seats which must have been pretty awful.

The journey started slowly through the suburbs of Ho Chi Minh City, I was sitting next to a very grumpy man who had the window seat, I don’t think he liked a westerner sitting next to him, so I didn’t lean over him and snap pictures. However, the train runs so close to the walls of the buildings that any photos taken in the city would have been a blur, not that there is anything wronh with that of course. The line starts off (and may continue) as a single line so we frequently pulled into sidings to let other trains through, and vice versa. At one stop we were inundated with hawkers yelling and screaming to sell their wares, mainly fruit and drinks. The train however, sells plenty of food and drink – as i soon found out. We were soon out into the countryside and I grabbed a couple of snaps while my neighbour went for a smoke. The weather had packed in and we had quite a bit of rain for a while.

About three hours into the ride, after I had just finished a book on my Kobo e-reader (I cannot recommend an e-reader enough if you like books, these are a must for travellers !) I was just kinda drifting off in my seat, when the guy in front passed me a beer poured into a bottle (in case I don’t like drinking from a can !) and introduced himself as Tam and his friend over the aisle as Duam (I think that is how it was spelt). Duam lives in HMC but has a wife and a son in a village 14 hours away by train. It was his sons first birthday tomorrow so they, plus Duam’s grandmother were heading up to the village for the celebration. Tam had pretty good English and Duam only a little, but they shared a good few beers with me and bought me some noodles and vege for dinner when the dinner trolley came past. Once dinner was over they introduced themselves to some English travellers sitting a few rows opposite and we all moved to the diner carriage so the poms could smoke. Tam bought a case of beer and we all sat down and drank it. Occasionally we were joined by the security guys on the train for a swift glass of beer and then my seat neighbour showed up as well. Apparently he is a ‘big boss’ not sure of what, but the guys all deferred to him – I don’t think it was anything bad/criminal, just he was an important man, elder or some such. He was pretty friendly actually, shook my hand, and later on gave me a glass of his beer.

Tam and I, I am not as drunk as my eyes or the healthy glow in my face suggest !

It was a good time, we drank many toasts to train friendships and being able to share a beer with strangers for a few hours and have a good time. And soon enough we arrived in Nha Trang where all us westerners bade farewell to Tam and Duam and left the train.

I am sure that these things can end badly for us naive tourists, being scammed or robbed by “friendly” locals is something that happens all too frequently. I even left my (locked) bag with Duams grandmother while we went to the diner car. Call it foolhardy or risky, but I did spend a couple of hours with these guys first and they felt OK – yeah I know the scammers do to. But, sometimes with risk comes reward and i had a great time, they were nice guys on the way to a birthday.

A good night, and one that will go down as a highlight of my trip.

From the station I took a motorbike taxi (see my comment reply to a previous post 🙂 ) to my hotel. I chose a hotel as they are so cheap here, $14 a night for aircon, TV, hot shower and fridge. I was even upgraded for free tonight to a room with a bath, which I had and would have enjoyed if I was five foot tall !

Today is Record Store day in NZ (possibly everywhere else as well) I got an email from my favourite record shop advising that as a one off, never to be repeated special they were releasing a limited edition vinyl recording of a Toy Love gig from 1979. Toy Love were an old NZ punk (ish) band and a favourite of mine. The release would be 400 vinyl pressings, no CD/DVD or digital release, so miss out on the vinyl and that would be it.

I asked my nephew, Fraser if he would mind trying to get a copy for me. He has a great taste in music for a young person as well as being guardian for all my records, CD’s and turntable while I am away, and does like visiting the store. Anyway he secured me a copy me a copy and for that I am very grateful, as well as very happy !

Here is an old clip of Toy Love from the 1979, Chris Knox the lead singer is an icon in NZ alternative music and sadly had a stroke in 2009, he survived but his ability to make music was ended. It was a sad day for music.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8g2DBHNvLU

Day 107, Friday April 20 2012, Vung Tau – HMC

I had a terrible sleep last night, for some reason I could not get my body tempreture down, even with the air con blasting away I was hot all night long and barely slept. I had a lovely room in Chris and Trish’s house with the most awesome sci-fi shower, I took a photo, but it was crap!

I was up at 6.30 and had a brief chat with Chris befor he left for work, George was up soon after me as we had decided to go visit the Big Buddha together, and get out as early as possible before the heat got up. Apart from the beach Vung Tau’s (VT) key attractions are a big Jesus statue (supposedly bigger than the Brazilian one) a lighthouse and recently a big Buddha (competition to Big J. maybe ?) These are all located on small hills on the Sth China Sea side of VT. Each of the hills had old war time gun emplacements as well.

George and I were out the door and in a cab by 8.00 for the short ride to the base of the big Buddha hill, the hill also has a small amusement park type thing at the top, with a short cable car to get there ( a la Ba Na hills in Da Nang). The Buddha was Ok, there was also a cave underneath, which has been either recently built or recently renovated – hard to tell.

There was small zoo with some porcupines, pigs, ostriches and deer living in terrible conditions that would never be allowed in the west, some of the deer were in a bad state and I felt for the poor beasts. There was also a luge on a rollercoaster track which was a bit of fun and we had a few goes, I never made it down without touching the brakes though I am sure it is possible.

We caught the cable car back down and George went home and grabbed a motorbike taxi and got a ride to the base of the big Jesus via the lighthouse.

The lighthouse offered a good view of Big J. and VT .

I liked this graffiti on an old French gun emplacement on the hill, well i liked the fact that though I am 99% sure it was written by Vietnamese it is in English, this is quite common.

The walk up to big J. was gruelling, if it was NZ I would have run up it, but even at 9.30 AM it was hot, I just put my head down and ploughed on up, the Vietnamese and Chinese tourists struggled upwards and I passed a lot them sitting in pools of sweat on the way. You can climb up the inside of big J and the view from his shoulders was pretty big.

I had arranged to meet Trish and George for lunch so started heading back to the house on foot from Big J. I expected to be met by a motorcycle taxi within the thirty seconds of hitting the road but for a change this didn’t happen and I ended up walking along the water front for an hour, before one finally found me a hundred metres from my destination!

I went straight into the pool to cool down ! For lunch Trish took George and I (individually) on the back of her motorbike to a local cafe that specialises in Banh Khot, one of the local specialities. You get served a bowl of soup , which you soak some rice noodles, mixed with chilli paste that you add as you like, some local herbs, lettuce leaves and rice pancakes with a shrimp on top.

You then wrap the pancake, herbs and noodles in a lettuce leaf and dip in the sauce – very nice !

After lunch I picked up a USB flash drive from a local store and grabbed a whole pile of new music from Georges collection – so nice to have some new stuff to listen to : ) and soon after it was time to get on the ferry back to Saigon.

Many thanks to Chris, Trish and George for inviting me into their home and feeding me a wonderful home cooked meal. It was a touch of home that I missed and very much appreciated : )

Back in town I was sent off to a sister hotel as the Luan Vu was full (I expected this !) but it was a bit cheaper and just as good so no bother to me. The view out the window.

I wandered around Bui Vien and had dinner and then discovered the NZ v Australia Anzac rugby league test on a TV in a bar so went and watched, a depressing, final twenty minutes as we lost to Australia 20-12. Oh well….

I picked up a small bottle of whisky for about $10 bucks and had a shot while I did a belated blog post.

PS – I must learn to proof read before posting and not after…