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Last day in Vietnam :-( First thing we did was sleeeeeeep in. If you catch my drift. Next up we headed to the market for some last minute gifts, like the cards on the left and sort out Matt's suit. He had his final fitting and arranged to pick it up in the morning before heading to the airport. Headed round a few tattoo places before I settled on one, emailed my design, shaved my chest and settled down to get my first tattoo! It's a peptide chain of Leucine, Iso-leucine, Phenylalanine and Glutamic acid (LIFE). Already thinking about my second one. I definitely want something in Korean, but need to make sure I don't end up with nonsense! Afterwards we got lunch at Lam and went home to pack.
Dinner was an expensive but delicious buffet at Buffet Rinh, kinda expensive at 280k but definitely worth it for the hot stone bbq, fresh fish and lime chilli sauce. Grabbed a few Beerlao darks and headed to the nearby park to check out the new years eve stuff. There were a few stages, traditional vietnamese theatre as well as singing and dancing. So much delicious food at the market there too - even saw a "Seoul Deli" although only one person there who was Korean and the makgeolli was super expensive.
Tuesday - we got up bright and early and exchanged presents. Enjoyed the sunrise from the balcony and the hot weather while eating a quick snack breakfast. A van picked us up super early then to head out snorkelling. First stop on the way was a pearl farm - I hadn't realised that they open them up when they're young and insert a "nucleus bead" around which the pearl shell forms. After a couple years they open them again, remove the pearl and insert another bead. That's it for this weeks Pearl Farming Lecture!
Next we hit the boat, headed up to the top to sunbathe and went out to a few floating villages. At one we stopped and hopped onto a floating market boat which had big nets floating out in the water full of fish. Our guide got us sea urchins and we headed out to this lovely bay to fish. For first time fishermen Matt and I weren't bad - he caught 2 and I caught 4! Guess the little fishies wanted to be on my little dishie!
It was a first for me snorkelling too, felt great to be out amongst the reefs and to see all the fish in their natural habitat. Lunch consisted of honey glazed fish (including those we'd caught) and sea urchin (if you don't know it's that prickly thing). I don't know whose idea it was originally that the animal inside might be delicious with peanuts if you manage to cut it open without spiking yourself in the hand. It was certainly tasty. We moved around, saw more floating villages, scuba diving and then landed back on shore.
Last stop for the tour was the south-eastern tip called Sao Beach. It was spectacular, took a couple funny panoramic photos, had a beer on the beach and relaxed. A little swimming to cool off and it was back to the main town.
Again we went to the night market, met up with a fellow traveller (he'd got himself in a motorcycle accident and definitely needed a beer!) and enjoyed the best fish and chips I've ever eaten. Walked along the beach at sunset and booked a moped for the next morning. Update: Worked out how to upload panoramic photos. Enjoy!
