We were glad to get away from Dalat, even though we had a pretty good tour with the Easy Riders.
Nha Trang is approx 4 hours from Dalat, and is a very big city - several million people. On the beach front lies the tourist area, and where we stayed.
We really enjoyed this town. Great weather, nice locals, and lots going on. We decided to enlist in an Open Water PADI Dive Course. $210 US well spent. After three days we were properly drilled in all sorts of emergency proceedures, and felt confident enough that we could dive safely in the future.
At one stage I was watching Lauren underwater, roughly 8 metres deep. What most people dont realise is that the lower you go the less bouyant you are because your body and lungs and bouyancy device compress to a smaller size. The reverse is also true, and this means that if you go up say 5 feet then you become much more bouyant and you have to adjust by releasing air from your bouyancy vest. This is what Lauren tried to do but she pushed the wrong button and ended up jetting towards the surface. There was air everywhere, and then she was just gone - poof - just in the twinkling of an eye. I looked at the instructor, and I was pissing myself laughing through my regulator cos it looked so funny. However I shouldnt have laughed because it can be quite serious if you dont give yourself time to decompress whilst surfacing.
Anyway so Lauren was intent on not getting left behind by the instructor, and so she swam extra close. So close in fact that her visor kept on hitting the instructors fins. This happened not once but approximately 4 times, so that the last time it happened, the instructor turned around furiously in the water and the gave the thumbs down signal and to definitely not do it again! Very funny. Enough said, Lauren says that writing things like this is very mean. Sorry.
Also whilst in Nha Trang Lauren turned 30. I must admit up to that point I hadnt organised a birthday present. The main reason being that I didtn want to get her anything tacky - which theres lots of here. Then it hit me.... the day after her birthday... better late than never I suppose. Anyway she ended up spending 1.5 hours getting her head washed and massaged, combed, and professionally styled. Then I took her to a health Spa where she spent 4 hours getting nails, feet groomed, and all sorts of massages. However, I forgot about her and didnt realise that she was hungry. So when I arrived back there at 5 pm she was REALLY hungry! Ooops. So I got her a burger and Coke and she was good for another hour whilst they continued their treatment. Shes also got a beautiful little pearl bracelet to remember the ocasion by.
We were enjoying ourselves far too much to want to move on, but there was still so much in Asia to see.
