nha trang - in an octopus' garden, in the shade, day 7

i beat the wake up call and have a breakfast and walk to coco diving company. run by ludo, a funny man from luxembourg and very knowledgeable instructor. along with us are 2 swedish ladies, karin and linn, who are traveling an extensive trip after graduating high school. we are immediately off to the island of koh mun and i go through the basics with a frenchman named ben with sharon. they take care of most of the movement on this first dive and i like to think it came very naturally to me.

in short, diving is a completely different world. the colors are so visceral and iridescent, sometimes, i think my eyes are tricking me. diving beats the living daylights out of snorkling! sure, it's more expensive, but to witness the gift of depth and not hurrying yourself while you are down there, you really experience the ocean for what it is. to me snorkling has become similar to reading about the moon and diving is landing on the moon and picking up some moon dust and showering yourself in it. the clarity is absolutely amazing and despite the fact ben is literally pushing me everywhere, the first dive blew my eardrums and mind. we have a little baguette lunch and then talk about the upcoming dive on a different site. this dive, my handler was the vietnamese gentlemen, whose name i forget. on top of pushing me around underwater, he is in charge of the underwater photos, so he is really relaxed about letting me go on my own. it's astounding to me how peaceful and calm i am when i'm underwater. the amount of energy necessary to maneuver is extremely low. the other awesome thing about diving is the hand signals. obviously, my accent is difficult to understand underwater, so they have sign language to communicate universally. the 'ok' sign, which is completely derogatory in brazil, means ok with a question mark and can be used as the response to the question. thumbs up is go up, down is go down, wishy-washy is something isn't good and you point to your ears or goggles; my favorite is the madonna-esque 'like a virgin' pose which signifies you are cold. the water is like bathwater, but at times cold currents come through and they can actually be freezing! the body can go into hypothermia at 95 degrees and you dissipates heat 25 times faster than in the air.

after the dive, the salesman at the shop recommends we go get a massage with the blind. apparently they think vietnamese massages are better than ones in thailand. i politely disagree. i've got a high pain tolerance when it comes to deep tissue massage, but this was a different story. the masseuse put thumbs into the small of my back and if i could have swiveled my head 180, i'd bet i'd see a handstand. my 14th vertebrae thanks you heaps.

i've been pretty accommodating to sharon's vegetarianism. she isn't my girlfriend; she's just someone i ran into on the plane who was headed the same direction. i don't think you can get a good feel for the food in vietnam if you stick to vegetarian food either. she starts in about how we won't stop being cruel to other humans until we stop eating animals and i decide to play devil's advocate akin to my philosophy days in college. i tell her that something must die for us to live, (she could have given the example of fruit in hindsight, but that's not enough to live on), and she can't come back with an actual argument other than you can't see/hear plants suffer. i can tell i've struck a nerve though.

nha trang beach with the locals

sharon is pretty eager to travel to dalat, and although it's close, i want to have another dive so i am certified. she makes a couple of weak arguments and i don't relent. i guess that was that and she headed up to dalat and i stayed in nha trang. safe travels, that's all you can wish a fellow traveler when you part ways.

i then go back to the hotel, shower up and go out for dinner. this night, a guy at a electronics booth convinces me to eat at the indian restaurant adjacent to his shop. i ask if it's really that good or if he gets a cut. he concedes it's a bit of both, as when he gets a diner to go there, he gets a free meal. i try it out and wasn't disappointed. i had the tikki masalla (sp? jay?) and it had lovely smokey flavor. sadly the nan was bland and buttery. onward to the sailing club, a dance party on the beach. it's pretty wild out there. i did hear of a fight this night and saw a fight the next.

the club is situated directly on the beach with a huge bonfire and fire twirlers. they specialize with drinks in buckets and they are cheap and strong. the dance floor gets loaded even though the decibel level is similar to what i imagine the who's concert where most of the audience and pete townsend went deaf. i'm getting used to these beach dancing anthems and it's good fun. i met an aussie dad taking his son on a trip around vietnam. we laughed and watched his blitzed son try aggressive dancing to lure a partner. i went out to take in the bonfire more and got asked to sit at a table with some girls, within the first three questions a not-so-meek hint escapes, 'you have money?'. yeah sweety... but not for you. walking home as a single guy in nha trang is physically and mentally challenging. their blocks give vegas a run for the money and on the way home, a solo gentleman of my stature is propositioned for 'ladies', coke, x and marijuana at least a half dozen times. the best thing to do is ignore them and keep walking. they don't seem to understand the word 'no,' even if it's in vietnamese.

i still have to study for my test, so i stay up really late and watch the dvd ludo gave me. then i pass out reading the book.