We had to make the best of our time here, because all aboard was 1:30pm….so not fair, since this city is a nice place to be able to tour as well as linger over lunch and beer in the afternoon. We figured we could do what we planned if we got an early start.
Breakfast in the dining room was first. We kept it as light as we could, because that lunch with beer was on our minds. Not too many people were here at 7:30am because the ship's tours that were 4 to 5 hours had to leave early. Friends Rich and Peg, who always sit across from us, said they were heading off early in hopes that the free shuttle bus would begin earlier than the promised 9am. We all hoped they would start early, so we left shortly after they did, went back to our room, and gathered our stuff. We had to make sure we took the landing cards they issued a couple of days ago. They would be stamped as we left the ship by the local authorities. Without them, we would not be allowed off of the ship. It is proof that we have our ship-purchased visas. Still don't know how much we were charged, since we never received a statement of our account for this segment.
We got off the ship around 8:15am, and realized that we had missed the first shuttle to town. No problem, another bus was there and would go off at 8:45am. It filled rather quickly, and we left for the 20 minute ride to town. The walk to town may have been do-able on foot, but we did not have the pleasure of time to do it. Not sure if things would be opened in town this early, we found that the city was quite busy already.
Nha Trang is one of Vietnam's most popular seaside resorts, with 5 miles of white sandy beaches and a gentle green-blue surf. Towering mountains were in the backround, but with the haze, they were hard to see today. This area is sometimes referred to as the Mediterranean of Vietnam. Over 300,000 people live and work here.
It was also a popular spot for US servicemen during the Vietnam War back in the 1960's. As far as we can tell, there is no mention of the war these days, as most of the current population of Vietnamese people are too young to remember it.
Today, this city still has the feel of the fishing village it once was, with the presence of dozens of blue and red boats in the harbor. They are used as fishing boats as well as ferries. Years ago, we took a tour on these small boats that took our group up the river to see how the locals live. Now we see international resort hotels, souvenir shops, restaurants, and chic bars. The number of motor scooters is unreal….they almost outnumber the people that live in the city. Cross a street here? You take your life in your hands, as no one stops, especially those on the scooters. We learned years ago, that you just continue walking, and the motorbikes will go around you (full speed). Yikes! Perhaps the taxis and cyclos (a one-man- driven bike for two passengers) will slow down in case you are looking to hire them for a ride or a tour. Stop lights are a good thing here too. Drivers have to stop at these.
Speaking of taxi rides, the drivers will always get your attention by offering rides for $1. They do not know where you want to go, but it will be $1. But when you get in the cab, suddenly it is $5, $10, or $20 per person to go anywhere. Like other areas of the world, it is just their way of making a living, so as long as you are aware of the practice, you cannot get mad. We just laugh, and say, yeah sure….$1.
The 5 miles of beachfront is across the street from most all of the nice hotels. People that stay in these hotels will come across to the sandy beach for the day, enjoying the sun, lounges, and swim in the water, which did look clean. If not, they have the option of using the hotel pools. No need to go far for food, since there are hundreds of cafes and restaurants in town.
The shuttle let us out at Tran Phu Street Shopping Mall. The bus would run until 1:15pm, coming every 20 to 30 minutes. From this drop-off point, we were halfway to the Cho Dam Market, the city's largest open-air market selling clothes, fresh food, and local handicrafts. On the way there, we ran into friends Shirley and Jack, who were already walking back towards the shuttle. They always get off as early as possible, and walk as much as we do in most ports. Having visited here as many times as us, they were also doing the quick-tour today.
We passed the Dr. Alexandre Yersin Museum, which was the Louis Pasteur Institute back in 1895. He was the doctor famous for developing pasteurization of milk, as well as many other things.
Following the ship's map, we navigated or way to the Cho Dam Market, not realizing that we had a group of fellow passengers following us. Guess we sort of remembered where we were going, but these streets are not simple to figure out. A taxi driver, trying to get us to use his services, pointed out the correct street to find the market.
They sell everything at this open-air market, but the most interesting was the food part of it. This time of day with all the locals shopping, it was a demented ant nest. Cramped for space, this market is loaded with stalls of fresh produce, with the center portion reserved for the wet food. That would be the pork, fish, and fresh produce. Chickens and ducks were for sale, freshly butchered and plucked clean. Never saw so many varieties of fish, small to large, and mostly smelly. You have to have a strong stomach to view this, because at some points, we were walking in water on the concrete that was mixed with fish blood.
There was barely enough room between the plastic tubs filled with produce and fish and meats for the people to walk. But you add the motor scooters racing through, it was impossible to see everything. You always had to watch your back, because the bikers were right and left and everywhere. Most of them were women with little kids, buying their food for the day. We did get some fantastic pictures with the vendors smiling and showing off their products. Time was getting away from us, so we had to move on.
There was more we wanted to see on the way back to the beach road, so we checked out the menu at the Sheraton Hotel, and the patio café where we had lunch two years ago. As it was only 10:30am, the kind waiter said to come back at 11am or later, and there would be pizza for us. Good deal….yes, we would be back soon.
From past tours, we remembered there was an embroidery shop on this street. So we walked and walked until we found it a mile or so up the road. The walk was nice as we strolled the beach where flower stands were lining the park side facilities. Special signs were in place due to the fact that APEC was meeting here in March. Many folks were enjoying the clean sand and fresh seawater. All along this stretch are underground public restrooms, which may have a slight charge, but it is convenient for the sunbathers. From what we remember, many food vendors come to this area with Vietnamese food they have prepared at home to sell to these tourists. With a new sign posted on the beach, this practice may be illegal now.
We finally found the XQ Historical Village, where a modern and air-conditioned shop displaying the embroidered art was located. And it was full of "sticky" people from the shop, or the bus people on a tour. They all have the bus number stuck on their clothing. This place is always a stop on every tour. It was wonderful to go inside to take advantage of that cool air. It had heated up to 90 degrees outside, and the humidity was getting to one of us.
The framed pieces of art included seascapes, flowers, birds, portraits, and countryside scenes…all done with the finest silk thread in beautiful colors. The work is all done by young skilled girls, working upstairs on the second floor. Bill went up to watch some of them do this tedious stitching, bent over a canvas, working with single strands of silk thread on their projects. They have to be so exact, that they are literally inches away from the piece. Must have really good eyes to do this. For that reason, prices are steep, but understandable when you realize the time involved in completing the art. Smaller size art goes for $400, and that is without the frame. If you purchase a piece, the fabric is taken out of the frame, and rolled carefully, then put in a long tube. Many of the large displays were thousands of dollars or millions of Vietnam dong, their money. Can you believe that it takes 23,000 Dong to equal $1 US dollar? So, all we took were photos today.
Time for lunch. We made our way back to the restaurant at the Sheraton Hotel called Toastinos. We ordered Tiger draft beers first, followed by a most delicious margarita pizza. Two years ago, we discovered this outdoor patio café, and were delighted to find pizza so good. It is all in the dough, which they do well here, because they also excel in French bread making. The first bites were wonderful…..hot cheese and crispy dough….doesn't get any better. We had to add two more beers, since it was so hot. The bill ended up being under $25 US for everything. Best lunch so far. An hour had flown by, and we had an hour to get back to the ship.
But before we left, we had one job to attempt. Our Kindle Fire had games that needed refreshing. Knowing that we needed to be online to accomplish this, the waiter connected us to the Sheraton's internet for free. Then we figured out how to refresh the apps. Now we are set to continue to play games for at least 2 months now. Good deal.
So what did we miss seeing today? The Po Nagar Cham Towers are a temple complex dating back to 781AD. Also, we missed Long Son Pagoda, originally built in 1886, and re-built after a typhoon destroyed it in 1900. Two hundred and eight steps will take you up a hillside to the large white Buddha. We had to pass on numerous museums, and a picturesque bridge over the Cai River. Lastly, there was no time for French bread with seafood in clay pots, baked shrimp, noodles, lemongrass chicken, lobsters, crabs, scallops, prawns, and BBQ pork. Just not enough time…… but then we have been there, and done that.
Wanting to check out the pier shopping, we jumped on the waiting shuttle bus, but not before buying two large bamboo fans on the way. They make the best ones here and they were $5 for two…..another good deal.
Back at the ship, we strolled through the covered stalls, finding a four piece lacquer painting. Another good deal, although we were not planning on buying anything, it was too good to pass up. More bus tours were coming back by now, we decided to leave before we were mobbed. This is one place where bargains can be had quite easily. And the guests as well as crew were buying big time. By the way, all canned beers were $1 US.
Sail away was held on the lower promenade deck, because they felt it was too hot for most folks on the aft deck. Not for us, or many others who joined us back there. The ropes were dropped before 2pm, and we were off going under the gondolas that connected a resort back to this side of the bay. In fact, the Captain said that the cables had to be tightened up to insure the ship fit under them. During our exit, the gondolas were stopped until we left.
Thank goodness for the nice breeze that came up once we left. It had been a hot morning, but a most fun one. After we left the city behind, we headed back down to our room to work on the computer for the rest of the afternoon.
Dinner tonight for us was in the Pinnacle Grill at 8pm. Usually on a port day, this venue is never crowded. But tonight it was near full of customers. Even though we had asked for a table by the window, none were available yet. People sitting where we were supposed to, were lingering with wine. Who knows how long that could last. So we gladly took a table in the back room, and found it to be even nicer. There was no one who could stare at us through the window, while we were eating. Also back there were the two visiting Wine Guys, who we remember from last year's world cruise. They were dining with Jacques the wine sommelier, and Gene and Jody. Towards the end of their meal, one of the Wine Guys came over to our table with two glasses of a 20 year old port wine, compliments of him and his partner. Meant to be sipped with dessert, we thanked him, and ordered cherry Garcia ice cream to enjoy with sips of the port. The powerful aroma hit you before you even had the first drink. Not bad, even though we are not wine experts, it was a thoughtful thing to do.
Tomorrow's port is Phu My, but since there is nothing to do there, we probably will stay on the ship. We have gone to the city of Ho Chi Minh at least three times that we can remember. We will not be alone, since many others we know are doing the same thing.
Bill & Mary Ann
Blue and red fishing boat of Nha Trang
Other boats docked in Nha Trang Bay
Vendors on the pier
Cranes with fishing boats and ferries in the backround
Lots of treasures here
Cable cars to Vinpearl Resort across the bay from Nha Trang
Vietnamese greeter girls
Ferry boats
Amsterdam docked
Buses waiting
Shops on the way to downtown
Picture taken from the shuttle bus
Naval Academy
We will see a whole lot more of these scooters
Nicer shops
Lots of traffic
Traveling on Tran Phu Road
This road follows the beachfront
One of many beer gardens
Colonial backround
Dr. Alexandre Yersin Museum (Louis Pasteur Institute)
Palm trees line the beach
Turn left to find Cho Dam Market
Cafes along the way
Market could be this way, or not
Got to watch this traffic
Major side street
Street food vendor
Interesting wires overhead
Cafes and shops galore
Ladies sewing outside the shops
Popular way to pack things
Very few flower stands here – an extravagance
Breakfast food items
Entering the market from a side street
Selling produce from very littered alleyways
Dried fish
Assorted dried seafood
Outdoor market, but covered with a roof
All the locals shop here
Main entrance to the Cho Dam Market
Inside the building is more upscale
Welcome to Dam Market
Hats for everyone
Mangoes, coconuts, and papayas
Rambutan fruit and pineapples
So many vendors
They must sell all their produce daily
Not the cleanest place we have seen
All the produce was fresh
Vendor enjoying breakfast soup
Cleaned coconuts and lemongrass
Onions, garlic, and shallots
Pork cuts
Ginger and other seasonings
These are their coconuts unpeeled
Variety of eggs and rice
Bananas, dragon fruit, and mangoes
More produce
Carrots, tomatoes, and lettuce
Piles of freshly-made noodles
More pork
Green onions and lettuce
She was deep-frying sausages
Browning each one carefully
Potatoes and cucumbers in the mix as well
Eating outdoors on tiny plastic stools
No one cleans up the trash
Tight quarters
Bacon and chops
The fresh fish area
Chickens and ducks for sale
Fish were getting larger
All the fish vendors were women
Squid for calamari
Smaller fish
Notice the wet flooring
She wisely wore boots
Smelled very fishy here
Fresh catch of the day
Smallest fish
Crowded area
Parts of large tuna
Most everything is in plastic tubs
Pork roasts
Ladies sit here until they sell everything
