Nha Trang, started out as a sleepy little fishing village, that has, in recent times, exploited its beautiful white sand beaches and gorgeous scenery as a tourist destination, including Vietnamese who like to travel here. We had visited here last year, and done the tours for the day, and were not interested in any others. Vietnam is still incredibly poor by world standards, (the currency exchange rate is $1 US to 20,000 Dong), but there is hard evidence that they are enjoying some economic growth. Nha Trang is a city of motorbikes. Everyone rides one, and every parking lot is filled in hundreds of them. The cars on the road are quite upscale, and compete with the traditional bike carts used as taxis.
We docked near the cable car that goes over to the island where the VinPearl resort sits. Like last year, there was a huge market set up on the pier for our ship and at 8:a.m., when our ship was cleared, there were hundreds of people already combing the stalls for bargains. We got off just before 8:30. The first tables are laid out with a huge array of high quality knock off sunglasses and watches. I left Barry to negotiate a white ceramic one for me, as I had missed out last year. When I got back on the ship later, some of our ship friends had also fallen for the white ceramic models, but different from mine. Barry got quite a good price. He also bought himself his knockoff Versace shirts that he got last year - and was pretty pleased with himself at finding ones that fit him. I picked up some crystal beads.
Then we hopped on the free shuttle that was taking us into the centre of the city. We had separated from Karen and Leslie for the day, as I wanted to spend the day with Barry, and he was game to do a little bargain hunting, as we all remember this country being the best of the bunch due to that unbelievable exchange rate. We joined up with Art, Nona, Bill and Gaye, who were also going in the same direction as we were, and when we got off the bus, it was clear that walking several kilometres in the 88F heat and humidity was not an option. We picked out an extended golf cart type taxi that could hold all 6 of us and they drove us to the large indoor market.
One reason we like to go to markets, is not just to shop, but this is where you see the real people, and you can get a flavour of what they eat, what they wear, and how they conduct themselves in these small businesses. This sometimes is better than getting the official tour guide version as you can see it with your own eyes. Like all South Asian countries, this market was a hive of industry, with stalls set outside, cars and bikes jockeying for position in between all the pedestrians - everyone vying for your attention. Entrepreneurialism is alive and well there - from the very young to the very very elderly. Many of the local women, who are by the way very tiny, wear a mishmash of patterned panama type clothing, the old style straw hats, and face masks to keep out the dust from their eyes and noses as they ride their motorcycles. The market is also filled to the rafters with "stuff". This two story building is so crowded and so hot and humid, even early in the morning, that you must have empathy for those whose life work it is to be here amongst the stalls of fabrics, clothes and crafts, because the small fans hung everywhere don't do much except move the heavy air around.
The fabrics were just beautiful and I had to talk myself out of buying it as we certainly don't dress in the elaborate style that would be demanded of such finery. I did find a brown T shirt for our safari - pretty pedestrian comparatively speaking. Vietnam is known for its river pearls and there were stalls galore of those and other jewellery, but I felt that the best pearls we had seen were those of The Philiippines.
After one and a half hours of exploring we were worn out by the heat, and we made our way to a little outdoor stall where we could get a $1 beer (Barry: very good!), at seating that expanded simply by the waitress putting out two new small plastic childrens' chairs and tables, which Barry squeezed into. I am not a beer drinker, especially in the morning !!! - but it certainly quenched our thirst. Our friend Steve who is as big as Barry popped in for a beer on his way to his tour bus.
Our little group met up at noon, then we taxied back to the shuttle bus location where we decided to eat a little Vietnamese lunch. The hotel had a banquet hall which had white table cloths, and chairs dressed in linen, and no one there. Miraculously someone appeared and we found a lovely spot next to an open area draped with hanging vines and a cool breeze wafting through the hall. We all ordered different soups. One thing of note, is that most of the people don't speak English, and those that do, it is pretty rudimentary. Barry and I enjoyed vegetable soup and shrimps, tea and a beer for $6 total for both of us. As one of our ship friends Addy remarked - " I am not buying, I am stealing".
Back at the pier, business was still brisk, as the vendors started to bargain hard knowing we were all leaving. I had enough and went to the ship to shower, relax and get ready for dinner. Another terrific show, with an impressionist singer/comedian from Las Vegas, Jonathan Clark - who had the entire place singing and howling with laughter. He had a very original show. Check him out when you go to Vegas.
Tomorrow I am going to skip my yoga, to get caught up on the blog, go to a lecture and meet Art for some watercolour time by ourselves in a corner of the Crow's Nest as the class is so jammed it's not any fun.
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