Homestyle Nha Trang

Welcome to the coast of Vietnam!  The first glimpse I had as we sailed into port was this hilly island.

Nha Trang (nya [short a sound] trang), was a tender port, something we hadn't had in a while.  Immigration was pretty slow clearing us to leave Serenade so everyone was antsy to get on the first boat out.  Thankfully we had tickets for Tender #1.  We heard later that those without tender tickets or a Royal Caribbean excursion had to wait and hour and a half to get off.  We hustled across the parking lot here in search of our guide, Xuan (Swuan).

Always good to have a sign pointing the way, there was no terminal here.  This was our first glimpse of the town itself.

We met Xuan and crossed the street to another parking lot to wait briefly for our van to show up.  Not sure what the building here was but it had this cool fish statue in the front.

We were going to see a lot of people of scooters while in Vietnam, it's the transportation mode of choice.  More on that in the next post.  Today we saw this family of four crowded on the scooter.  Note how Dad has the helmet but none of the kids have one, the norm here.

Xuan told us we'd be going to visit four different families during the day to see different businesses locals have in their homes.  The first stop was to a home where they were weaving mats.  The material they use to make them are the leaves of the sedge plant.  This one is just for show, there are actually swaths of them that grow along the edges of fields or hillsides.

Xuan is showing us a bundle of the dried sedge that the weavers would use in their looms. 

They will dye some of it to make their colorful designs as you can see from the bundles on the left.  On the right you can see how the weaver sits in a lotus position with the loom in front of her, she moves the bar back and forth after the addition of each piece of grass.  The bar is tilted forward for one row and backward for the next.  

After a little bit of explanation the weavers asked for volunteers to come try it.  I was game but you'll notice there's no lotus position for me, my wonky hip said "no way!"  It was a bit tricky to remember which way to tilt the bar after I pulled it back, and I also found out you actually had to slip the end of the piece of sedge over two threads and then back through one to knot it.  I don't know haw they do this so fast!  Years and years of practice I'm sure.

We weren't surprised that these lovely finished mats were for sale but we were surprised by how inexpensive they were.  We bought a three foot one for a table runner and a couple of the placemats and it cost us $12.  They can make one of the placemat size ones in about 40 minutes and only make about $1 profit.

The weavers were both so adorable and kind.  Great first stop!

Just outside the entrance to their home was this banana and egg stand.  Xuan bought some of the local bananas for us to try.

Oh my goodness was mine perfect!  It was the best banana I've had in over four months!

We're driving along on the way to the next stop when suddenly the road is closed for some kind of construction.  There was no warning, it was just all blocked off.  Good thing the driver knew his way around.  It was a little tricky getting the van turned around on the narrow street but he managed just fine.

As we were making the turn I took a photo of this small store.  It was typical of many that we saw.  The reality was that almost as soon as we started driving the streets in Nha Trang I felt like I was in India again.

We had come at the end of  a rice season here.  All the harvesting had been done so now some of the paddies were being burned to help fertilize the land for the next crop.  They get just two crops per year here.

I could see this enormous Buddha on the hillside long before got to the Tong Lam Son Temple Lot  It stands a towering 144 ft high above the pillars and small temples onsite.

One of the temples on the site.  Most people in Vietnam don't claim any religious affiliation.  There are some Hindu, Catholic, and other Christian religions but around 65% believe mostly in ancestor worship.

The Buddha here is still a lovely white because it's only been in existence since 2012.  It really did have a benevolent face.

Another of the temples with one of the many plumeria trees that were there.

Some were the typical creamy white and others this lovely red.

The stonework on the pillars was really nice.

Tong Lam Son's site sits atop a hill, overlooking this lovely valley and the hills beyond.

Another Buddha and disciples was displayed nearby.  We were the only ones here at the time we went so it was really pleasant and quiet.  It was however, warm and humid, which is exactly what you are supposed to expect from the southern portion of Vietnam pretty much any time of year.

Next stop was in the home of this cute little grandma, she was the same age as me.  Here we learned how they make the conical hats.  Xuan told us that in years past there were around 15 families who lived near here who all made the hats, now there are only three left since most hats are made by machine.  She's showing us here how she strips down the thin rods of bamboo to made them flexible enough to circle her hat frame that you can see on the center left..

She then uses a small piece of what looked like sedge again, to tie the ends together.  There are two layers of the palm leaves sewed onto the frame, then the outer one is sealed with an oil to make it waterproof.

These hats were a great bargain, on $2.50 each.  Karl wanted one for gardening and wondered if I wanted one as well.  I told him we could share.  Turns out we should have bought a few more for souvenirs requests.

Here's Jane modeling her new hat.

And our cute hostess wearing the one we ended up buying.  Look at that sweet smile.  This hat making tradition has been in her family for ages, her mother kept making them until she passed away at age 99.

Here are photos of the mother with new generations of hat makers.

We posed Karl as a thorn among roses for the hat photo.

Next we were off for a rice paper demo.  We were a little leery of walking down this dusty, rubble strewn alley but on we went.

Once we rounded the corner we could see these woven mats with the rice paper drying on them.  And no kids, you'd never be able to dry food outdoors that you were going to send to a restaurant for public consumption in the West, but it works here in Vietnam.  These sheets are so thin they dry within a matter of minutes.

Here you can see how they were all lined up along the wall, with more and more coming out all the time.

Next it was into the sweatshop of a workroom where these young women prepare rice paper every day.  You can see the thin batter in the green bowl.  The ladle there is used. to pour a thin layer on the heated pan to the left of the young woman, which she then spreads into the oval/round shape.

They can make around 1450 of these in a day, all the while in a hot and humid outdoor room with a fire going.

The fire under the cast iron pan is fueled by the rice husks there in the basin.  The fan keeps the heat evenly distributed.  So while one woman is making the rice paper then putting it on the round table, the other turns the table then carefully removes the sheet to place it on a drying rack, while making sure the fire stays stoked.

The blackened and burned rice husks are then taken back to the rice paddies to be used as fertilizer, every part of the rice plant is used for something, nothing goes to waste.

After spreading the batter she put this iron lid down for a few seconds while it cooks/steams the rice paper.  You can see the steam coming out at the right.

I'm trying just a bit of the rice paper here.  It was pretty chewy but good.  It's pretty much just a mixture of rice flour, water, and a little sugar.

Xuan liked taking group photos of all of us wherever we went so we'd have a record.

More smiling faces despite the hot working conditions.  Amazing to me how they do this at home.

Here are some of the finished and packaged product ready to go to the restaurant.  They will get orders for 50,000 of the sheets at a time,. They will be used for making those delicious Vietnamese spring rolls.

Here's another shot from a rice field.  They will haul off the stalks to be used for feeding cattle or as fertilizer.

This field has some of the burned rice husks on it for fertilizer.

A massive pile of watermelons at a roadside stand,

which was appropriate since we were stopping for a fruit break and a happy spot, or bathroom break.  A "happy spot" meant sit down toilets rather than squatters. :)

This family's orchard/garden included jackfruit on the left, papaya on the right, 

and mangoes.  We had just missed mango season apparently,   These looked like eventually they would be large and delicious.

I liked the welcome mat here!

And we were happy to see that we could get some colorful magnets here that looked like our straw hats and said Nha Trang on them, perfect for a Christmas ornament.

We sat at a table with Laura and Bob,

while Jane and Mark sat with Shari and Brian.  This was definitely an excellent group to tour with.

There was a small plate of fruit prepared for each of us, complete with a small fork and covered in plastic wrap.                         

Plus we got some ice cold fresh coconut water, one of my favorites.

Xuan also introduced us to mangosteen, the white fruit in the purple husk/skin on the left, he called it the "Queen of Fruits" in Vietnam.  There were four to five of the little white sections inside the thick skin and you just pulled them out one by one with the fork to eat them.  Eventually one of them would have a pit that you spit out.  They were extremely delicious, sweet, juicy, and I see why they are so popular, I could have probably eat half a dozen of them.  The photo on the right is what they look like growing on the tree, this one isn't ripe yet or else that outer skin would be a purple color.  If you ever get a chance to try some of this fruit, go for it!

Also at the house they had some shrines for ancestor worship, many of the pieces of furniture had thsi gorgeous inlay of mother of pearl.

The shrine on the left is for first ancestor and for second ancestor on the right.  Ashes of the ancestors are in the blue porcelain pitchers.

We left here to go to the Cai River for a boat ride.

A shot of the little boat we went out in.

Here we are all again before setting sail.

There was a delightful breeze on the river which kept us cool but I did have to hang on to the hat.

Nha Trang has been a Vietnamese resort town for many years.  It has lovely beaches, you'll see one in a bit, and lots of hotels and condos for tourists to stay ine, some of which are in the background of this photo.

We did see one of the few Catholic churches as we rode down the river towards the sea.

There were tons of these colorful fishing boats anchored along the river.  Many were equipped with powerful lights for night fishing.

A lot of the fishermen live in these "steel houses" that are found along the shores of the Cai.  It's not a place for the wealthy.  I doubt that you'd be surprised to learn that their sewage goes directly into the river.  There's no water or sewer in these places, it's those who are pretty poor who live here.

A closer view of some steel houses.

You can see how the trash washes up along the shore as well.

During the monsoon season, which runs from May through November the river will rise suddenly with runoff from the nearby hills and these small homes will be flooded, every year, more than once.  Belongings get moved to an upper story or the roof.

The contrast of the kind of housing that was just across the river.

All of us enjoyed our boat ride!

These plastic bottles floating on the water aren't trash, they are markers for a fisherman's nets or traps.  We saw them in groups like this or just random singles out in the middle of the river.

Once we got to the mouth of the river we crossed to the other side to head for the famous Po Nagar Temple.

Before arriving there we passed by this small island shrine where prayers are offered up for protection on the seas.

One of the craziest things we saw on this little trip were the guys paddling around in these plastic buckets, or tubs.  We wondered how they kept from falling out.  It's the way they tender to and from their boats to fish.  How did they balance?!

Even crazier was our exit point from the boat.  as you can see here we just pulled up to a pile of sandbags.  After a few careful steps I was at the top thanks to a helping hand from Xuan.  My thanks for Jane for taking this photo!

I tell you I smile about that sandbag dock every time I think about it!

Once we did get back on concrete here was this guy sound asleep in this comfy spot.  He must have been really tired.

So many lovely flowers to see here, lots bougainvillea, as well as these pretty Yellow Bells and the Costus.

Xuan bought us some refreshing sugar cane juice.  It had cumquat juice in it as well to give it a bit of a sour taste.  Karl wasn't a big fan but I quite enjoyed it.  I got the first half of it and he got the second, no sense sharing our colds any more.  We were a little concerned about drinking street food with ice in it but we didn't have any stomach issues later on....thank goodness.  It was a great treat.

Po Nagar Temple was the first place we had been in any crowds all day, something of a surprise because we almost always see people we know from the ship as we're touring.  Today we were spoiled.

The tickets were interesting here because they were reusable.  I had thought they would make a nice souvenir since they were a heavy plastic but once you inserted the card for entry it was gone.  Thankfully Jane took a photo of hers before she put it in the slot.

Po Nagar is a Hindu goddess, the wife of the god Shiva.  In Vietnam they love to worship goddesses more than gods, which I found interesting.

The temples here were built sometime between the 8th and 14th centuries, they aren't totally sure because good records weren't kept by their builders, the Cham people.

The site itself is a beautiful one and well maintained.  The columns run along this walkway below the temple itself, a secondary site for offerings.

Just a reminder of where we were.

You can see what a beautiful day we had with the contrast between the blue sky, the red columns and the greenery.

There were sculptures and urns along the stairs leading up to the temples.

Just a few of the great signs around the site.

These antherium were gorgeous, I'd never seen them in greens before.

The name Po Nagar means "mother of the country".

You can see how the bricks have worn over time, 

as has this inscription plate at the entrance.  We weren't allowed to take photos inside of the temple.  You also had to have your shoulders and knees covered, no wearing hats, and you had to take off your shoes to go inside.  There was an idol in the center of the structure surrounded with offerings of incense, food and drink, along with some large floral arrangements.

Behind the temple at different intervals there would be a performance by these women and men playing traditional music and doing a traditional dance.

As you can see in this photo where I removed the crowds, there are three temples of varying sizes on the hilltop.  The largest is for Po Nagar, the middle one for her husband, the god Shiva, and the small one for their sone, the elephant god, Ganesh.

I got my photo of Serenade from atop the hill here.

We had a little time before we had to be back to catch our tender so we drove along the beach for a bit.  There were several of these signs celebrating the 100 year anniversary of Nha Trang as a city.  It's older than that but was only considered a small fishing village in the past.

We stopped for a quick walk along the beach, about 1 km, getting out of the van at this Lotus Building, one of the city's symbols.  Besides being a city landmark the building is also used as a performing arts venue. 

But we did take a final group photo of the day in front of it.

Despite the nastiness of the water in the Cai River the ocean here is lovely.  The water is shallow,

and pleasantly warm on your feet.

We both dipped our toes in!

Xuan got this picture of us heading back to the street to find a bench where we could put on our shoes.  It was then back to the port to await our tender, while Xuan flew back to Ho Chi Minh City in order to meet us there the next day.  We had a marvelous and unique day with him and were looking forward to another tour.

There is a large amusement park on an island just off the coast in Nha Trang called Vin Pearl.  We had a great view of its ferris wheel and colorful buildings from our balcony.  .  

To get out to the park - the equivalent of Vietnam's Disneyland -  you have to take the Vinpearl Cable Car.  It is the world's longest "over sea" cable car, running for two miles.  Here you can see just a piece of it.

Sail away was just at sunset so we watched the lights come on as we said goodbye to another wonderful day of adventures.  We are so blessed how they just keep coming!