10/17 Nha Trang Vietnam

Dear Bleaders – the abbreviated blog has been suspended for this entry. A couple of reasons: 1) I’m just so amazed that we are here, in Vietnam of all places (don’t ask me why – it’s the same as the Russia thing I think), and 2) we just had an incredible day that I really wanted to get down on paper – or at least in cyber-bits! So enjoy……

It’s hot! Hot and humid. And while we are saying, oh, Richmond is hot and humid, we’ll be used to it. Unh uh. This is way different – the type of humidity that makes you soaking wet in a few minutes. Brutal. We’re up early and walking the deck anyway. We’re on a tour of the Nha Trang countryside today with 6 of Cruise Critic friends – it is in a mini-bus, so we know we won’t be getting too much exercise in port.

As we sail into port, we are really surprised by the beauty of the landscape. Very lush and tropical with hills surrounding the bay. There is a cable car that runs from one side of the bay to the other – ending at what looks like a resort under development. We can’t go directly into port because of the cable car, so we’re anchored in the bay with a great view of Nha Trang and it’s surroundings. All the literature says that Nha Trang is a developing resort town, and we can see some high rise buildings in the distance. Should be an interesting day. Our first in Vietnam! Wow!

We meet downstairs at 8 and managed to get on the first tender all together. A quick 10 minute ride (way better than Hong Kong!) puts us ashore early. We head outside the port and after a few minutes of confusion – with about 20 girls/ladies pestering us with t-shirts, ball caps, postcards or whistles all for only $1 – we find our guide and off we go.

We have a modern 16 passenger van for 8 people –which is fabulous. Tons of room to stretch out and get comfy while we are riding around. Our tour starts off down the main road in Nha Trang along the waterfront and beachfront promenade. Hotels on the left (Best Western and another one just being built), parks and restaurants/cafes on the beach side. It reminds us a lot of Hawaii –except for the traffic. Holy cow! The scooters and bikes! They are everywhere – scooters buzzing by inches away, bicycle riders pedaling along sedately right out there with them. It’s pretty incredible! But supposedly nothing like what Saigon will be like!

Our first stop is the Historical Village (the shopping stop for the tour – guess everyone’s got to have them!). Here we are shown the embroidery “factory” where 50 or 60 women are bent over their needlepoint masterpieces sewing away. They create the most amazing things – the artwork is phenomenal. Landscape scenes, portraits, animals, florals….it is all just stunning work. Some larger pieces can take up to a year to finish. You can see why, when you see some of the detail! While I’d love to take a ton home – the prices – and the sheer logistics stop me from buying anything. But boy was it fun to look at everything.

Next up – we’re off to see the Long Son Pagoda with its accompanying huge Buddha sitting up on a hill. We drive through city streets with endless small shops set up on the ground floor of every building. You name it, you can buy it in any one of these little places. There are food stalls, hardware, convenience foods, clothing, bike repair, scooter repair. The list just goes on endlessly. There isn’t one big business or chain here that we can tell. It’s all these individual people selling their wares. It’s hard to explain – and these pictures don’t do it justice – but the visuals were pretty amazing.

The temple was beautiful with ornate carvings and the requisite dragons protecting the entrance. To go inside the Pagoda, you needed to remove your shoes. Fine – but there were 20 little Vietnamese ladies there to help you – even when you continually shooed them away. I took my own shoes off thank you – but made the mistake of not taking them with me! We looked through the Pagoda, took our photos, then went back out for our shoes – which had been moved and were being protected by a couple of shoe “helpers”. Needless to say we “donated” $1 to each of the ladies who helped us put our shoes back on.

We marched up the 155 steps to the big Buddha (being followed by all sorts of young girls this time, selling postcards and drinks). We had a great view of Nha Trang from atop the hill – and a close up look at the Buddha – which was really quite breathtaking. (Just as breathtaking as the stairs in the humidity!) By the time we got to the top, Ed had picked up a little friend who had accompanied us up the stairs trying to sell us water and postcards. Ed said he’d buy water on the way down, and she kept us company the whole way – because there was another vendor at the top that wasn’t hers – and she wanted to make sure we bought her water!

Inside the base of the big Buddha was another temple, and we went through the same ritual with the shoes. Inside was incredible with wooden carvings all over – panels on the walls as well as a large column in the center of the temple. Back out side to be helped on with our shoes, only this time it was a younger girl who couldn’t really tie shoes – and was being given quite a lot of grief from the other kids up there selling cards and whistles!

Back down we went – stopping to buy water from our “guide’s” stand, buying her postcards – and then another girls’ cards that were “different, different!”. They’re quite the little sales folks – this lot!

Back on the bus, we head for a traditional house so we can see how the Vietnamese live here, and taste some of their local fruit and tea. As we arrive, who is there to greet us, but the same postcard, hat and sunglasses vendors that were at the Historic village and Buddha stops. Great! Those scooters go fast! The house is traditional in the sense that it has 3 main rooms – the shrine/altar room that all houses have with the incense for the gods, the bedroom at one side for the parents and the living area at the other side. If there are children, there will be another wing built off the side of the house for the kids. Everything is basic, except the altar. The bedroom area is very small with only a bed, no other real furniture. The entire house is open air – to allow the “fresh air” to circulate. The kitchen is outside, out back, under a roof, but completely open air. The bathrooms are now converted for tourists, so we have no idea how or what they would do in a true “traditional” house.

After our short tour, we sit down at a little round table and sample green tea (in a “cozy” made out of a coconut), and 5 kinds of fruit. We had pineapple, mango, dragon fruit, papaya and another variety that was good, but we had no idea what it was! The garden where we ate (surrounding by about 30 other tables – thankfully empty of other tourist when we were there) was beautiful with lush green foliage, fountain/ponds and interesting plants and trees.

After our little respite, and walking the gauntlet through our trailing vendors, off we go, out to the country for the rice paper factories. I was thinking we were going to see some large industrial complex. Oh no…we’re going to a village area where everyone makes rice paper, in the back streets of Nha Trang, through country lanes (read “dirt paths”) and in between alleys. We’re let off in this derelict part of town and led through an open shed like area where they are cooking some sort of food, then out and down an alleyway between houses and past the pig pen (hey, did you know pigs are nasty? I think they were trying to charge us. Yeah, I’m glad they’re in a concrete pen!). We’re corralled into a walled off courtyard area with a roof, where a family is making rice paper. There are huge buckets filled with rice soaking in water, then other buckets with the “sludge” looking product that results from the soaking. A huge industrial size mixer is then mixing the sludge into a batter of sorts which is poured into some scary looking machine that hoses out the “batter” onto bamboo mats for drying. Since it’s been raining, they aren’t drying these outside (like the ones we saw on the side of the road), they are putting them in a huge kiln fired with sawdust. And we thought it was hot before! And they’re in there with long sleeve shirts! Argh!

The work is divided into mixing, setting the batter, then cooking/drying in the kilns. It’s all outdoors, under a tin roof, but with ¾ cinder block walls. It’s just amazing the work and the production. And there are little “factories” like this all over this area.

Next we head toward the Noodle “factory”, this time we drive along farmland and back through little streets with villages of people riding their bikes in the pouring rain. Also tons of “Billards” places, little more than tarps over lean to’s with pool tables. One of them quite big – they had about 6 tables in there! How do they keep them level and right? We finally go off road (in the 16 passenger bus, mind you!) and drive across a field to stop in front of a house with a little front yard and fountain/pond. We trundle up the beaten path, look at a very nice little pond area with the bonsai tree (which our cute guide Hui says everyone has), then walk around the side of the house to the factory. Up three steps to the covered porch and then to the open area at the rear of the house – where here again – the whole family is soaking the rice, mixing it into a thicker batter, then pouring it into this big sieve where it is placed into a smaller little canister and then pressed out in the form of thin noodles over boiling water. Again, long sleeves in this heat – and they just keep soaking, mixing, pressing and boiling all day long. They produce 1 kilo mounds of noodles that sell for about 50cents US. People will come to the factory and purchase them for personal use, or for restaurants or special occasions. Just wild!

We’ve one more factory to go – the conical hat factory –which we are all looking forward to visiting. We drive past bucolic farmland on small narrow lanes, blowing the horn every time we reach a corner or see another vehicle, bicycle or scooter. At one intersection we get to take pictures of a water buffalo and it’s baby, next to the road. Oh, and let’s not forget the postcard, hat and sunglasses vendors that are still following the bus! Persistent is a word they know very well here!

The first conical hat factory we try to visit is closed, so Hui has a quick conversation on the cell phone and off we go. We find another location quickly and again are escorted down a mud packed alley, to this little 2 room house where the women set up little stools for us to sit on, then proceeded to plop on the ground and literally weave and sew the hats by hand. The hats sell for $1.50US each, and the women can make 4 a day.  Geez!  Of course  we bought some – how could we not? This little house has a TV and stereo (hey – at least there are some amenities!), the every present altar, a little dining area and a bedroom lean to – that’s it. And this is their profession. It is simply astonishing to see this type of environment.

And the kids! Of course they want to see the “tourists” (I won’t call us what they do!). So here they come. Precious little ones of all ages, just coming for a look. Murray and Ro always bring treats – lollipops, candy from the ship – so when Murray starts handing it out, the kids just multiply. They are so cute – and you just have to wonder what will happen to them over the years. What a life.

We’re all a little quiet as we head to lunch at a floating restaurant. The drive is beautiful, along the river and through the fields. We arrive and are escorted onto a large open air deck, with just one other tour group and a table of locals there. Sitting out on the deck over the water, we sampled some fabulous Vietnamese dishes. Tofu with Shrimp in a spicy sauce, Grilled squid, Chinese broccoli cooked with garlic, soup, spring rolls (probably with that darn rice paper we saw being made!) and tons of rice. Beer and soda were extra - $1 each – who’s complaining!

We finished our meal and were relaxing when we noticed the locals had two bags of something writhing at their feet. Snakes! Oh boy! They took one up to the preparation area and began to get it ready for cooking. I was fascinated! So much so that I forgot to take pictures! But basically, they cut the head off, sliced it open (if anyone is interested, the answer is yes, it still wriggles when it’s being skinned), then – are you ready? Drained it’s blood into a big glass, set out 6 little shot glasses next to it – and took it over to the table to drink. It’s a delicacy and tradition to drink the blood. Glad I already ate thank you!

They continue to prepare this thing, disemboweling it, skinning it, then just as we are leaving, they take out the heart and the liver. The heart is still beating – I kid you not! We can see I there in the bowl. They say it’s good for a man’s “power” (read: virility) to eat the beating heart and liver. Oh my gosh! This is better than snake alley! The rest of the group is already trundling off to the bus, so I have to run to catch up – but man – what an experience to  watch….and to think about!

So – after that highlight we head to a mat factory where the women make woven mats and sell in the market.  Same scenario - we just stop on the side of the road at this open air house where women are weaving.  A couple of us got to try our hands at weaving.  Then we headed off for more temples.

Next up, the Ponagar Cham Tower, dedicated to the goddess Uroja (the symbol of weaving and agriculture). It’s a very picturesque temple – sitting above the river with great views. And bonus! No shoe helpers! You have to pay to get in here, so the little helpers are absent. We take a ton of photos and head back to the bus.

Last stop is the market where we wander, buy a Tiger Beer shirt for Ed and promptly lose Murray and Ro. After we’ve searched for them for about 10 minutes, we find them back at the bus (smart people!). We are all about whipped, so we enjoy the scenery on the way back to the port and join the huge line to get the tenders back to the ship. They went very quickly and we were back in our air conditioned luxury quickly, all the while thinking how lucky we are to be where we are, with what we have and doing what we do.

Have to say today was just really amazing.  And really eye opening in so many different ways.

Saigon tomorrow………