AMAZING day (they are all good, but this stands out): 28th August
I booked an all day island tour and boat cruise out of Nha Trang. You could not beat the price and lunch and at least some beverage during the 'floating bar - happy hour' claimed to be included. When the bus came by my guesthouse to pick me up, I was a little nervous seeing as the bus was full of Vietnamese. What tour did I sign up for I was thinking to myself (which is a 'odd' thought in itself, why do I want to associate with and find comfort when traveling with white westerners?). We eventually picked up a father/daughter pair from Israel and two German girls, but the other were Vietnamese. One of the Vietnamese families had a 6 year old girl, Christina, who spoke very good English. The rest of the family barked at her questions to ask me in Vietnamese. The whole family was interested in me so we had the typical: Hello, my name is Mike, I'm from California...etc. converstation. Using the 6-year old as the translator. Somehow I soon became the babysitter for the 2-year old, Kevin (English name) andwe had not even boarded the boat yet. On the boat another bus joined our bus group, making it close to 40 people aboard with probably close to 10 Westerners. We snorkeled at the second island. It was incredible. I saw a fish stuck in 1982 - the bightest neon yellow, pink and green I have seen since gaper day on the ski slopes. There was so much interesting coral and fish species. It was great. From snorkeling, we went to the next island and ate lunch on the boat. It was family style, but there was plenty of food. The good was great, I love Vietnamese food. After lunch, the tour guides broke out their musical instruments (drums, bass, guiter and tamborine) and had a concert. They were pretty good and did a decent job with Suize Q. Tons of fun. As we motored to the 4th island the alcohol was busted out. I do not know what they call it, but I can only describe it as a watered down whiskey with orange hints. It was not good. But I drank a lot of it, and it seemed to just keep coming. I played cards and made friends with the other westerners; Thomas from Holland, his hot girlfriend Lora from the UK, Bek from Australia, two German girls, Irvin, Aysa and Vanessa from the UK and Verna from Australia. Good times.
After the boat trip, I was slightly burnt, a bit intoxicated and high on life. I made plans to meet up with the crew for dinner and drinks later on. In the mean time, I headed to the beach to have some fun with the locals (or I guess they could have been Vietnamese vacationers). I played in both a pick soccer game and then a beach volleyball game. Such good times.
Honestly, dinner and the night out was uneventful. But I do have to say it was great to have a dinner conversation. I have eaten by myself way too much on this trip, so it was great to share a meal with others.
