Finally, some fibre! (Jan. 31/09 - Nha Trang, Vietnam)

Yes, we finally found some cereal for breakfast. It seems everyone eats eggs and baguettes or noodle soup in the morning, and whole grains and dairy are nonexistant. So the prospect of granola and yogurt today was borderline exciting. It doesn't take much to please us anymore!

After getting our bearings in the daylight, we found a dive shop and asked some pointed questions before signing up to go tomorrow. We wanted to be somewhat sure that the reefs are healthier here than they were in Phu Quoc, which left us disappointed. But the photos looked promising and a two tank dive was only $40, so we went for it. The other "chore", if you can call it that, was to get online and book some flights out of Hanoi for next week. After looking at the calendar and all the places we were hoping to go, it became clear that we were going to have to make some compromises in our trip itinerary. We've heard some wonderful things about Laos, but we feel like we would need at least a week or two to do it justice, so we will have to save it for a later trip and spend some time in Chaing Mai and the mountains of northern Thailand before heading south to diver's paradise.

With that out of the way, we walked down to the beach to see what it was like. Something like an Asian version of Mazatlan (but without the metre-tall margaritas and hangovers), a long stretch of beach fringes the bay, with pounding green-blue waves, shady cabanas for rent, and people everywhere. There seemed to be a ton of locals and tourists still around on holidays, but farther down the beach there at least was sand and speedos. Nine islands sit a few miles offshore, the biggest of which is home to the Vinpearl Resort and amusement park, which has basically ruined the view from Nha Trang with its Hollywood sign replica of its name plastered on the hillside and 3km long cable car strung between town and the island. No sooner had we spread our stuff out on a big empty patch of sand, when we were joined by a crew of guys who picked the spot ten feet from our blanket to use as their parasailing launch pad. They unfurled a parachute and hooked two kids up to it, and the sand they kicked up as they took off went straight into our faces. Five minutes later when they came in to land, the water dripping off their shorts landed in our laps and we had to jump up to avoid being suffocated by the falling parachute.


The rest of the afternoon was also lazy, wandering the beach and the town and checking out the random lotus flower-shaped observation tower / slash half finished art exhibit. It was nice to have a lazy day in a new town, especially since we didn't have to spend it on a bus!