Flyin' Back To Saigon

It was about time to fly back to Saigon. Started the day off with another bowl of Pho! i can't get enough of this stuff! This bowl was particularly good. The place we went to was packed with vietnamese and it was away from the touristy area so it looked legit. The broth did look a little funny but it still tasted delicious. View of Saigon from the window. The flight back to Saigon was pretty freaky. Had the worst turbliance. Like bad enough to start praying. My seat was in the very back of the plane so i guess if we crashed into something i'd have the best chance of living. Plus i could always grab a small child and hold it up infront of me for extra protection.
Between the runways of the airport you can see these old school hangers that were used by the U.S. military during the war. Not sure why they kept them up.
Are these Ginko leaves? They look like them but you can never tell. This is the back of the seat infront of me. Whether or not they are ginko leaves it still reminds me of ashley.
Once out of the airport my dad and i grabbed a taxi to the hotel to meet up with my mom. We then headed to the market to get something to eat. We sat down at little shop (kind of like Reading Terminal in Philly but not..) where they served up bbq on noodles. My mom got some crazy duck soup.

Without asking me, my mom ordered some massive whole shrimp. i thought it was bad enough for my mom to de-shell the shrimp for me..its even more embarrassing when she asks the cook to do it for me.

Too bad the picture i took turned out horrible. These things were huge! Like little lobsters!

Here is my crazy noodle dish with more shrimp. It was very good.

Had a lemon soda thing to drink too...soda chanh?

Right before dinner my mom wanted to pick up some cook books and my dad went to travel agency to get our tickets to our next diving location.
Dinner was on the street, literally. They block off this one street so businesses can put up tents and run a restaurant until late just to pack up again by morning!

My mom was told the fried fish was the best dish so she ordered that. It was okay, nothing to write home about.

To help wash it down i got an avocado shake!

Our other main dish was this crazy sea food fondue.

i asked my mom was the funky yellow slithers were on the plate and she didn't know. We then asked a waiter and he told us it was sea slug...oh boy.

i'll be honest, i was a little nervous. It didn't taste bad at all! Actually it didn't really taste like anything...

The squid on the other hand...it was awesome!

Chefs in action....grilling up a storm.

Heading to Chau Doc in the morning!!

More Diving in Nha Trang!

Woot! Got certified in using nitrox! Now i just had two 'fun' dives to do. For breakfast i wanted to get a good amount of fluids so i got my usual apple juice along with an iced coffee and yogurt!
i got the same sandwich i had the morning before but this time with 'toasties'. They toast the sandwich and press it so its like a hot pocket. It was pretty lame, i should have gotten straight bread...none of this 'toasties' business.
Got my fins on in this picture! Too bad i didn't get a photo of my fins the previous day as they were blue and matched my wet suit and mask better..lemon.

Between dives we're served some delicious snacks. Two kind of sandwiches, tuna and egg. There is also this crazy bread cake junx which is also good. Apparently Vietnamese can bake some serious bread.
There is fruit too! Pineapple and watermelon. Not your typical watermelon though...its the retarded kind that only gets so big hence the crazy small disk shapes, but doesn't make it any less delicious!
You have no idea how good this bread is. You could stick anything and i mean anything in a roll of this junx and you would eat it.


After our last dives my dad wanted to walk around Nha Trang for a bit. We walked aimlessly forever. While walking he mentioned earlier he walked into a dog thinking it would get out of the way but instead it growled and bit him...so he probably has rabies or something now.

Apparently the Miss Universe 2008 pageant was held in Nha Trang. There were like a million signs everywhere for it. i should totally try out for the next pageant.
After walking around forever around town it was finally time to get some dinner. My dad's instructor (ken) recommended the Sailing Club. The owner of the Sailing Club also owns Louisaine Brewhouse so we were looking forward to it.

After all those dives my ear was hurting pretty bad. My dad had gone to a pharmacy for some ear medicine but i knew all i needed to make my feel a little bit better was some booze. First drink was a sailing mojito. Basically your regular mojito but with sambuca. It was a little crazy. Too many flavors going on and really sweet. Should have gotten a regular mojito.
The next drink was San Miguel, Filipino beer! The stuff i grew up on! i've been drinking this stuff since i was in fourth grade. Well, the non-alcoholic kind. Its so much better with alcohol in it but i wouldn't mind drinking the n/a because its very refreshing.

My dad got some crazy berry drink..looks pretty gay but was good too.

Appetizer was raw swordfish with lemon and olive oil. Like an italian sashimi. Very tasty.

My dad also orderd ostrich. Apparently this bird is more like beef. Which is weird because its a bird...but i guess its a flightless bird so i guess that has something to do with it.
i had some crazy lamb curry josh or something. It was very tasty. Just wish there was more lamb in it. They have me like 5 pieces. Super lame...
After dinner i was greeted by a stray dog. i named him Remington. Not sure why, first name that came to mind. He was sweet. Licked my fingers and let me pet him for a couple minutes until a waiter came over and told me not to touch him. He then ran off looking for food.

After dinner it was time for our swedish massage! This place was fancy. The hour massages cost a whole 17 bones! Boy do you get what you pay for. This place was super fancy with incense, fish ponds, bridges, asian woman that don't hurt your eyes when you look at them, etc.

Once we arrived we were served some crazy tea and a towel to wash our faces.

i was pretty tired by this point but had enough energy to practice my karate kid crane stance...

The massage was amazing. The hour went by so fast! Of course it would have been more enjoyable if i didn't hear my dad snoring the whole time. i should have gotten a two hour massage, maybe a 3 or 4? i was hoping my back and neck wouldn't hurt anymore after the massage but it still did. My ear on the other hand did feel much better. Flying back to Saigon in the morning!

Gettin' High On Nitrox!

After a good nights sleep it was time for another day of diving! But this time with enriched air! When you breathe in air or use a regular tank it consists of only 21% oxygen, but with enriched air tanks...the oxygen can be up to 40%! With more oxygen means less nitrogen being absorbed in your body and having to wait for it to leave your body while oxygen just gets absorbed in your blood cells, woot!

i decided to switch it up for breakfast. Instead of the big breakfast i got a Australian steak, onion, and cheese sandwich! It was so good. The only problem was that it was small and i was still hungry. Luckily my dad had ordered the big breakfast and couldn't finish it so i helped him out.
Here is me getting out of the water with my sexy scuba gear. My instructor was Lewis on the left. He had a funny accent. Probably Aussie..who knows.
Its a myth that diving with nitrox doesn't exhaust you as much as diving with regular air. i guess there is some truth in that. i did feel more energized than the pervious day. But that could just be in my head...

i saw some cool stuff under water. The first was a spotted moray eel. Pretty much looked like that link. So scary looking. They're not scared of anything and will bit you if you get too close. The other interesting thing i saw was a cuttle fish! Ths thing was massive. Must have been two feet long and it was changing colors and junx blending in with coral and sand. i wish i could change colors.
Louisiane Brew House was our destination for dinner. i was excited to try some fancy beer. i saw that they had a ginger beer which captured the 'essence of Vietnam'...so i just had to have mug of that. To my disappointment they had run out of 'essence of Vietnam' and i had to settle for a boring Amber beer. It was still good, but was really in the mood for ginger.


i was pretty hungry by this point so we ordered two appetizers! Deep fried shrimp and chicken fingers. The shrimp was awesome. i could have eaten a whole basket of them. As for the chicken fingers, they were good too but i got kind of sick of the breading and batter they used to deep fry them after 3 pieces.

For the main course i would be having the beef and green with a side of rice. Pretty much exactly what my mom makes all the time. Kind of wished i ordered something else. i actually wanted the stir fry noodles with seafood...but my dad wanted that after i mentioned it and i hate ordering the same thing as someone else at the table. Next time i'm not going to tell him what i'm ordering so he doesn't pick it! muahahah!
My dad's noodle dish was amazing. The noodles were so tasty and so many veggies! Luckily he only ate three quarters of it and i finished the rest.
i was pretty full after that but decided to look at the desserts. Saw that they had cheese cake and there is always room for cheese cake! i was expecting plain cheese cake but it was kind of tangy with a hint of citrus. It was good, but i prefer my New York style plain.
My dad wanted some fruit for dessert but they didn't really have any. What the did have though was the tutti frutti sundae! i told him to get that. Looked pretty good too.

4 dives down, two more to go!