Nha Trang

The next two days were amazing as I did my first four scuba dives after getting my PADI certification. The diving was excellent, and the water was a cold 86 degrees.

After the two days of scuba diving and relaxing on the beach, we headed off to Hoi An on an overnight train. I slept like a champ, but Ryan did not, and he ended up catching a cold.

So, I spent the first day wandering the streets of Hoi An solo. It is a fantastic city with tons of charm. All of the streets are quite old and chill. You can get tons of clothes made there for really cheap, and they have fantastic food. They have a dish there called Cao Lau that is excellent. It is traditionally made with pork, but I went with the tofu version. (Mom, still a good jew!)

The next day Ryan felt up for wandering the city a bit. And, in the afternoon, we hit up the beach in Hoi An. It was much much better than the beach in Nha Trang. Unfortunately, in Nha Trang, they don't take care of their beaches and their is garbage all over the beach, and floating in the water, so much so that it doesn't look remotely appetizing to dive into the turquoise blue water. But, in Hoi An, it was extremely clean, and almost nobody around. In fact, there are over 30 KMs of beaches from Hoi An to Danang, including the famous China Beach.

This morning, we took a car up to Hue, and took a look at the marble mountains. There are some pretty cool natural caves. And, once we arrive in Hue, we took a tour of the city in a cyclo (a bicycle with a seat for a passenger in the front). This evening, we sat down for a beer and spring rolls on the Perfume River.

In closing, this country is outstanding. I can't say enough good things about it. Cheers!