Time to re-charge the batteries.. We still did not find time to try out the rides at VinPearl Land but hope to perhaps next week one evening..

During this time we have been preparing for a small demonstration jump for Vietnamese VIPs on the morning of the 1st of March… After that we hope to speed the lifts up somewhat for all of our jumpers. Thanks for your patience so far as we iron out the kinks in our turn-around times.

We had some time to go shopping and take our Thai support team for dinner at a Korean BBQ restaurant Vietnamese style in Nha Trang.

We ate the place out of food!

Wendy Smith kindly organized a trip for our loyal skydiving participants of which we hope to post a few shots from when we have more time.

Hank took time to get some skin care products to deal with the after effects of a full shave and hair-cut, as well as the rigors of being in the sun all day…

Here’s a couple more shots from the previous days jumping…

Shots of the demo jump and tomorrows jumping soon…. Most likely in a day or so as we hope to jump our socks off and also have our Second Week Welcome Party tomorrow night, as well as video sessions each evening back at the VinPearl.

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It’s a real privilege to have the best at what they do working with us at the Skydive Vietnam Boogie… Over the next few days we hope to bring you some taste of the skies over Nha Trang filled with skydivers.. This first batch is from our dear friend Wendy Smith and also has some great shots of the people we met on the beach… as well as the fun we had in the sky.

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It’s late.
We partied, after jumping all day, getting a sunset load, and bidding a fond farewell to our first week Russian party..

Some pictures to show the mood of the day, and the amount of spectators who came to watch the fun..

Hank and Stephane (two of our organizers finally managed to get a jump in, and also some of our Thai Support team also jumped today… Stephen hopes to jump tomorrow)

Mi8 taken through glass of our manifest room.

Andrey our good Russian friend after his Tandem with Danniel Lee.

Canopies over Nha Trang

Landing at the V

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Skydive Vietnam Boogie - Organised by Extreme Sports Cafe & Mekong River Boogies
(c) International Skydiving Association. Nha Trang, Vietnam 2008.

A day of mixed emotions.. We got in the air for 3 wonderful jumps over the Vietnamese Landscape, and in doing so our participants, Extreme Sports Cafe’s staff and the Mekong River Boogie team claimed another World’s First. The first ever civilian skydives in Vietnam.

We are hoping that the storms predicted for the next few days are sporadic and simply allow us to take some breaks between more awesome skydives..

Our Mi8 chopper gave us around 11.5 thousand feet, and allowed us to jump over the coast of Nha Trang…

Unfortunately on the 3rd jump one of our participants had a small incident and landed hard. Luckily all of our jumps are beach landings, and despite some minor injury to one of his vertebrae he is in good sprits and on the mend. We wish him a speedy recovery and a safe trip home, and we’ll share a beer with him on a sunny beach somewhere in Asia again soon..

Here are a few pictures of the day to show the landing area and speedy setup for the first morning of jumping of the Skydive Vietnam Boogie.

A large number of people joined the ranks of our skydivers to do Tandems with Danniel Lee and Khun Winnai (RTAF).

First Skydiver Group

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The rain is easing and the forecast for the coming days is looking much better…

As the day progressed we took some time to welcome our Japanese friends to the boogie over a relaxed breakfast, and then do gear checks, and registration paperwork..

Tomorrow morning we’ll take a look at the weather and make a decision, but it’s very likely that we’ll be jumping on Monday, and perhaps even tomorrow afternoon..

In the meantime we had a pleasant second ‘welcome’ party for staff and participants at the airfield…

Stephane’s idea for Skydive Vietnam bandannas went down well this evening..

Khun Winnai.

Khun Saisak.

Our Vietnamese friends, Thai skydiving support team, and Kevin McCarthy.

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We are a little behind with blogging.. More details soon.

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What a hectic day!

The flight down from Saigon at 05:50 was a pleasant journey with Vietnam Airlines, marred only by the lovely Hank’s experience with excess baggage.. Please let us know if you have problems and we’ll do our best to help out.. It’s not quite as bad as it seems as once they tally up the excess baggage charge it works out extremely cheap. Hank’s 10 kilos of extra weight worked out to about US$6.


On the flight down the local paper had some info about Whale Watching.. This is apparently not related to Hank in Speedos, but actually may be worth a visit if we have any rainy days…

So we arrived at Cam Ranh airport, just outside Nha Trang, at 7am.. To 18 degrees temperatures and rain!

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Do please bring US$ or Euros if at all possible to pay any final balances, and to buy tickets etc. from the Boogie itself..

Take some time to familiarize yourself with the exchange rate.. At first glance the Vietnamese Dong seems like Monopoly money simply because such small values are represented by such large denomination notes.. and consequently simple things such as soft drinks and food seem really expensive. They are not, generally!

As a rule of thumb.. 1.6 Million Dong is about US$100.

Try not to get confused between 10,000 100,000 and 1,000,000 Dong notes as that can be a costly mistake!!

Here’s a currency converter to help out..

Currency Converter

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For the next two weeks we’ll be writing a daily blog detailing our adventures in Vietnam…

The Extreme Sports Cafe / Mekong River Boogie team is currently in Saigon making last minute preparations for the first ever Skydiving Boogie in Nha Trang, Vietnam.

For the next 24 hours this is our HQ in Saigon..

Crystal Hotel : 70 Nguyen Trai St. - Dist 1 - Ho Chi Minh City.

The Mall next door is super expensive, but there are some nice local shops round about for picking up sandals, and T-Shirts and so on… But if you’re coming to the boogie remember we’ll have some goodies for you, including T-shirts..

In case you need to get in touch Local Contact numbers are as follows..

Hank - +84 (0)933 99 1368
Julia - +84 (0)933 99 1395
Stephen - +84 (0)933 99 1398
Darel - +84 (0)933 99 1378 (Arriving 1st of March)

If you are already in Vietnam, or arriving today then why not give us a ring and come for a drink tonight. Last night the team sampled some of the local night-life and found that there are some really fun places to eat, and some super crazy bars to while away the hours in..

Crossing the roads is insane! Traffic is also to be seen to be believed. On the way from the airport we witnessed two or three minor accidents with people flinging themselves from mopeds under busses in the melee of motorcycles and taxis. Luckily no one was hurt.. but do be careful if you are driving yourself, or crossing the road! The best way to cross any road seems to be to enter a Zen like state and drift through the throngs of bicycles, trikes, mopeds and taxis!!

Tomorrow if all our work in Saigon is complete we plan to hop down to Nha Trang to continue setting up there.

More news and pictures as we have them… See you all soon in the skies over Vietnam.

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