One last update from the land of steaming noodles and non-stop motorbike music.
I have decided to divide my last 5-6 days into subsections, as I unfortunately lost a rather lengthy blog due to the dodgy internet connection here...so my blog diligence ran rather thin...
Nha Trang - The Blackpool of Vietnam
After finally rousing ourselves from our idyllic beachside stupor at Mui Ne, Dave and I caught a very comfortable bed bus 6 hours along the coast to Nha Trang where we would be able to learn to dive. Mutually decided that the place was a bit of a shocker, with a giant rat problem which even the Pied Piper would struggle to deal with - it is nevertheless a perfect place to learn to dive, with a Brit-run school called Rainbow Divers.
Dive, Dive, Roll

Four days for my Open Water Diving Course...very much pushing myself out of my comfort zone as I learnt to breathe underwater, as well as:

• clear my mask of water
• take my mask off and swim without it
• breathe alternately through my snorkel and my regulator
• hover buddha-like underwater
• take my breathing apparatus off and on
• take my weight belts off and on
• etc

All very diligent and thorough, with 2 mornings spent in the classroom studying, 3 afternoons spent in the most revolting Vietnamese public swimming pool (hotter than my bath and defiitely filthier), and then 2 mornings spent out at sea in my first open water dives! Dave, my very patient young instructor, taught me how to read a compass (which I struggled with as I got distracted by flute fish and all the Nemos swimming round), make an emergency ascent, and all the other multitudes of skills you need to learn as a novice diver. But I can now say that I am fully qualified and a whole new world has opened up!
So yesterday morning (I would love to be able to tell you what day this was, but I am afraid to say I have no idea), Dave, Michael (a german friend we made at the dive school) and I went out for our first free dive, relieving as all from our various duties (poor Michael had spent 4 days as a rescue diver rescuing hundreds of the staff who seemed incapable of staying onboard the ship!), and we were led by a Vietnamese diver called Hoang, who not only had great English skills, but also had an eagle eye for pointing out scorpion fish, nudibranches, christmas thingies - all of my undersea knowledge is based on The Little Mermaid and Finding Nemo, so it is very exciting to see all of these things for real. As you might be able to imagine, I was like a kid in a candy shop, zooming round and staring at the next new exciting fish. I can't wait to go diving again!
Alas this will not be a clever, witty blog, as I write from a little cafe in Ho Chi Minh city, having arrived back here this morning on a (remarkably comfortable) night bus. Diving absolutely completely wipes me out, only apparently revived by a) a thrilling speedy cyclo ride (Dave has remarked that I seem to look my happiest when zooming along in either a cyclo or a moped - I am obviously more of a speed monkey than I had realised) or b) singing karaoke at the top of my voice in the dual-purpose, rather dodgy karaoke bar a bunch of us went to the other night. Other than that, without signifcant sugar inputs in the form of coconut shakes or even sometimes red bull, I have been flopping round like a rag doll! Officially the ideal way to get me to shut up for a few seconds.
I will try to cobble together photos from different people, as my camera has completely given up on me. This may take some time....
Food Fiend
*salt water. lots of it.
*oh and coconut pies, which they fed us in between dives on our glorious boat! The optimal way to work up an appetite!
*more of the same - pho, etc