Back in Saigon

Dear Ethel, Family and friends,

We are now back in Saigon after our 2 week Sojourn in Nha Trang. We had a great time and thoroughly recommend it as a mid to long term destination and defiantly a ‘must stop’ on your way through Vietnam. The Beaches here are fantastic. We have said many times that as we live on the Sunshine Coast in Australia, it is hard to impress us with a beach. It is equal to anything in North Queensland with the tropical feeling, beautiful green rolling mountains in the back ground and lots of Islands dotted around the Bay. There are no real waves but it is a paradise for swimming, snorkeling, diving and sailing. Yes I finally got out sailing, only on one of those resort style hobiecats but lots of fun all the same. Although I prefer to spend my time on top of the water sailing, I decided to go diving as well.

The day I went diving was a miserable day, It was raining when I got up and driselling on our way out to the Islands. The diving guide made all the usual jokes about it not raining underwater to cheer us up. I have been diving a couple of times before on assisted dives which are great, as an experienced diver takes you down and guides you about. My guide was a young French girl named Marie who spoke perfect English but with that sexy French accent. Despite the rain, it was wonderful under the water, after my first few seconds hesitation, I remembered how to relax and breathe underwater. I was really amazed by how much coral and the number of fish down there. The group of 5 Islands off Nha Trang is a marine park so I did 2, 30 minute dives and It cost me about $60AUD.

There is a huge cable car connecting the Mainland to the first main Island, taking you to a gigantic theme park, Vinpearl Land. Although it’s not very ecological or attractive from the mainland as the land has been carved out of the side of a hill, the theme park is an amazing engineering feat, the sheer size and scale is astounding. The most amazing thing and more impressive than the cable car itself, is the aquarium. It is the size of the Darling Harbour aquarium in Sydney with an underwater tunnel walk with airport style conveyor belt. It has a large collection of Sharks, Stingrays, Turtles, Eel’s and all the fish you would expect. A waterslide park is another part of the park and I tried as many as were open. One in particular, the sink hole didn’t really agree with my neck, however after the masseur walked up and down my spine that afternoon the damage was repaired. There is also a collection of outdoor amusement rides, a great roller coaster, the chair ‘O plane, Pirate ship and one that I could only call the spasmatron (whirls you around, upside down 50 feet in the air) and some great inside amusements including a 4D movie cinema, a 3D cinema with moving seats. It all makes a really good day out but there were only about 50 in the place and more than a couple of hundred staff.

We caught up with our friend Diana again on her way back to Saigon. We took her to all our favourite restaurants in Nha Trang, French and Spanish being the best. We also caught up with another TESOL Graduate from Australia, Wheelie Pete. He is one admirable man, tackling Vietnam in a wheelchair he has recently completed a 5000km journey around Vietnam and Laos on a motorbike and is currently teaching English in Nha Trang. He took us to a great beach 20km south of Nha Trang where we lay around on a beach similar to Noosa North Shore and ate seafood.

Poor Louise is almost over her cold now and has spent most of the 2 weeks getting over it. We caught the train back to Saigon again and are now in our favourite Hotel the Hao Hoa . We have caught up with a few groups of students so far with more to go this evening and more to eat I guess. We have some job interviews on Monday and Wednesday and will be flying back to Australia on Thursday night. If we get some serious offers we will come back as we still have the return tickets, if not we will stay in Australia for Christmas.

All the best for now
Ric & Louise