Firstly, sorry for the confusion over the 'Hell-bus'. To be specific, it is so-called because when you wake up you feel more than disgusting, you have to watch your bags for robbers, no sleep, bumpy roads, beeping- and on top of all this, you get to the new place at about 5.30 in the morning and have to begin the search for a hostel- heavy bags and all. Hence, the 'Hell-bus'.
Having cleared that up, we can now tell you about the past two days which have been soooo gooodd! Yesterday, we had our first ever experience of diving! We got up early and made our way to catch the bus. We were offered coffee by two, extremely handsome french men, an offer that Elodie could NOT refuse. Her love was confirmed when seeing the more handsome of the two, Olivier (you have to say it in a french accent)stand in Calvin Kleins on the boat deck changing into his gear. Unfortunately for Elodie, we were told on the boat to the island that Olivier would not be our instructor. Booo! Instead, we had Gilles from Marseille and Jesse (a man) from the US. They were both really cool and they really looked after us. After gearing up, we took the plunge into the very warm water and practised 'skeels' (skills). These included breathing and how to remove water from our masks under water etc. Five minutes later, they pressed a tab on our suits and we veeeery slowly sunk under water (it was quite scary the first time!). The first dive was indescribably good - the coral reefs were so beautiful and it was surreal to be swimming amongst the fish instead of watching them from above. Gilles showed us all the interesting anenome and sealife etc - some which looked like something out of a film (when he touched some parts they shook and then sank into the sand!). We coaxed some clown fish out of their home and Elodie even got an official Fire Coral burn! The hour that we spent under the water seemed to go on forever and our dive was made more relaxing by the constant checking and reassurances from Jesse and Gilles. At the end of our dive we slowly swam to the surface and got back on the boat where they had laid out an assortment of fruit and coffee - perfect! Elodie poured herself a cup of coffee whilst Zack helped himself to the mountain of lychees - now one of his favourite snacks. We then set off to the next dive site for our second and final dive. Gilles came over to talk to us and said that the first dive was really good and that if we wanted we could go to the underwater caves. Of course we both jumped at this opportunity and geared up again, this time feeling a lot more confident and raring to go. After doing final checks we started our descent - this time to 12 metres. We investigated the new area and found even more brightly coloured fish than before! The tunnels looked very small and claustrophobic and Elodie's breathing went through the roof. However, after some reassurance from both Gilles and Jesse showing her the light at the end, she went through with no problems. The next cave was longer and deeper than the first and required us to go down and up a couple of times (controlled by our breathing). Once again we went straight through and both loved the experience. On our way back to the boat we saw two other divers beckoning us over- they had found a turtle under one of the coral reefs! We swam over and marvelled at this amazing sight. Just as we were about to leave, the turtle started to swim away so we stayed to watch it for a while. When returning to the suface, happy with dive, the instructors we shouting to each other saying 'We saw a turtle!' (en Francais). What we hadn't realised was that this was a very rare occurance. One of the Divemasters had been here 5 months already and had only seen one other. So we were very pleased after that! And we gloated to all the other divers on board! Gilles was desperate for us to do the Open Water Padi course which lasted for 2 days. Unfortunately, we had neither the time or the money. However, we were pleased with the fact that as beginners, we had been taken through the tunnels which the other instructors agreed was not often done. During our lunch back in Nha Trang (it was included in the price), Gilles said that if we did the course we could sleep in their accomodation especially for their students whilst we did it. As we were not doing the course, we were disappointed. But then! He said we could stay there anyway for free!!! We gratefully took up the offer which was saving us a lot of money. That night we went to have dinner in a place that Jesse highly recommended called 'Something Fishy'. The Australian man who owned it specialised in barbequeing fish to perfection! We settled with a huge fresh tuna steak each along with the best homemade chips we have had! YUM! It was very reasonably priced too and this meant ice-cream for dessert!!! We went off to this place suggested in our trusty Lonely Planet where Banana splits were rumoured to only cost 15000 dong (50p!). Fortunately for us, the rumours were true! And the ice-cream was delicious. A quick walk around the tiny market was followed by a beer with Gilles before bed.
The next day after another early start, we set off on our boat trip. We were each given some snorkels and flippers and we went to Hon Mun, one of the biggest islands off shore and a prime spot for snorkellers. Again, the fish were amazing and we saw some we hadn't even seen when diving. A few jumps off the boat later, we sunbathed on the top deck and had a feast of noodles, prawns, squid, rice and an unknown fish steak which was lovely. We sunbathed some more after lunch and then swam before LOADS of fruit and more coffee! We gorged on the mango, dragonfruit, pineapple and a deleciously light sponge cake. We met some very nice people including a lovely Glaswegian couple who were a couple of years older than us called Ruth and Jamie. Unfortunately, they are leaving tonight for Hoi An (they are going up, us down). We are also off tomorrow taking the bus to Dalat, a very highly recommended small city in the mountains. It is apparently much, much cooler than everywhere else and is compared to the 'French Alps in the Spring-time'- quote from Lonely Planet.
So speak to you all soon from Dalat! xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Elodie- WE LOVE YOU ALL! Thanks for your comments, they are so good to come back to honestly! Claire, yours was HUGE! But we loved it and we are going to buy Toy Story 3 on DVD for SURE! And yes, yes i know i remebered all those cats- each hold a special place in my heart. Yes LOTS of stories for Croyde! You'll all be sick of it haha! Ma and Pa- Your comment made me reaaaaaallly laugh! And your email. The weeding sounds so good! And I like the fact that Mog was watching a film while you go blown away. Brilliant. But mum, that's what we do at the Chalet! We like watching movies in the room- it's cosy. I will email you back soon! Jamie and Emily- your online fight was amusing. And Emily haha for spelling it wrong second time. Jamie- you are so pedantic!!! LOVE YOU ALLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! p.s. Claire ahhahahahaa for moaning about how all your friends have gone bla bla bla and forgetting Emily HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH! Also I will have to meet Laura's bf, I want in on the partaaays! xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Zack- Yo yo yo! Thanks for all the comments people - they really do make us happy when we read them. Claire, thanks for your essay I'd say it was 95% classic you - the 5% missing was the lack of 'makes me want to die' although I can imagine you saying it for some things lol. As soon as we get to Saigon we are going to purchase a copy of Toy Story 3 lol. Em, have fun in Antigua and make sure you do loads of snorkelling! We can't wait to see you all and show you all our photos! Clo - I hope you are having an amazing time in Aus, reading your blog is making us consider it for next Summer or maybe the Summer after lol. I read loads of the comments on the wall but I couldn't see yours, never mind. Anyway, love to you all as always, take care, xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
