Nha Trang has possibly the worst kept beach outside of North Shields. The sand and the surrounding reefs and rocks are covered in trash. I was very sad to see this as they have a beautiful bay and water that hovers around the 29 degrees celcius mark. Also,there are some great places to eat. We had freshly caught lobster one night, and beef in lemon sauce wrapped in fresh spring roll paper the next and all sorts of tasty snacks and morsels in between. Wespent a lot of time on the beachand cavorting in the warm sea. We tooka boat ride out around the bay where we were served Mr Duongs '"#####' Mingin'" wine as we swam (his name for it, accurate as it turns out). But I think for both of us we will remember Nha Trang for our Scuba diving trip. Laura is an Advanced Open Water Diver already. This means she gets to go deeper and farther out than us plebs and also had some responsibility for her own kit. She loved it all though. Plus she looked pretty good in rubber too. But I digress. It was my first time and as such everything was done for me. All I had to do was kick my legs which I dutifully did. My guide 'Nam' held on to me for the whole time to make sure Ididn't sink too much or float more than I should and I got treated to 2 of the most wonderous experiences I have had. Diving is maybe the nearestwe can get to flying in that you are floating through an environment that is absolutley not your own and the usual rules of gravity are somewhat blunted. I soared over the reefs, Nam in tow, plunged through clouds of tiny irridesent blue fish and swooped down on clumps of rock that revealed all manner of peculiar and beautiful fish to me. I found Nemo on my second dive which I was pleased about as Laura had seen him with her group and I felt left out. My favorite spot was coming face to face withan angry looking Moray Eel. It was pretty damn big and looked like it would jump forward at any minute and attach itself to my nose but mercifully I think it had already eaten. I had been told when we booked the dives that we 'wouldn't be jumping into an aquarium' and probably wouldn't see many fish. But I saw load. Stripey ones, yellow ones, blue glowing ones, green ones, a remarkable one that seemed to change from blue to yellow to green while it went about its business and the detail of the reefs as you flew above them was stunning. I had been snorkelling before in these waters and loved it but to get to eye level with this world was beautiful. The footnote for this is that I fear for the future of this marvelous place. The lack of care shown above the water in disposing of trash seems to transcend to the fishy world too. As well as this pollution the reefs are not adequatley protected and you can see huge swathes of it have been destroyed by dragging anchors from commercial vessels. I wonder what the local government and business are doing, if anything, to safeguard such a wonderful asset. Unfortunatley I believe it may not be much.

Chris