April 21- Nha Trang, Vietnam

Today Jessie and I had one of our best travelling days.  We arrived at Nha Trang, Vietnam early in the morning and soon departed for a day filled with touring.  In Nha Trang, we had to get ashore via tender so we grabbed our tender tickets and were soon making our way onto the mainland. 

Our first stop was just on the pier… the market.  Jessie and I spent some time shopping and looking around at the local goods.  We (of course) bought some more pearls because they’re so cheap and beautiful here.  Another interesting product most vendors sell is different liquors and wines which are infused with snakes, scorpions, sea horses and other creepy creatures.  They’re pretty neat to look at but I wouldn’t try to bring them over the border. 

The temperature in Nha Trang was a whopping 34 degrees and it didn’t take long for sweat to start pouring off of my body.  Luckily we found some charming fans and bought a couple… they were a godsend and kept us relatively cool for the rest of the day. 

After we had our fill of shopping, Jessie and I walked up the pier to a nearby aquarium.  The entrance fees were about 70 cents each so I think it’ll probably be the cheapest aquarium I ever visit.  The aquarium itself wasn’t too exquisite.  Many of the tanks were cloudy and growing copious amounts of algae.  I felt slightly bad for the fish, but I guess life’s harder out in the ocean.  Later we came across a cage with two seals.  The seals were so cute, but the cage was terribly small.  I likened it to Jessie and I being trapped in our ship staterooms for our lives…. I’d go insane. 

The aquarium had it’s good points too.  There were quite a few large sea turtles which were really nice to watch.  There were also tiny tanks holding many different species of fish (typical aquarium stuff) but then we came across a whale skeleton and a preserved ______.   The aquarium is also a marine biology school so we were able to walk through an area that held thousands of different bottles preserving various forms of aquatic life.  It was pretty neat to see.

Around noon, Jessie and I decided to go back to the ship to grab lunch.  We were close to the pier and thought that it would be better to eat free ship food than food that might have questionable sanitation levels.  We scarfed down a quick meal, dropped off all of our goods and then made our way back out to the pier where we were picked up for our tour. 

Our tour was called the Cham Tower, Rive Cruise and Rural Village tour.  We began with a scenic drive along the beach that lead us to the Cham Towers.  These towers are a collection of temples and gardens that overlook the Cai River.  It was interesting to look around the area because there were many Vietnamese people who were using the temples to worship and to be an observer was very neat.  The gardens were also quite beautiful and being able to look out at the various fishing boats on the river also added a nice touch. 

Next, we went on a small boat for a river cruise along the Cai River.  Our tour guide, Tom was able to give us a wealth of knowledge about Vietnamese life and culture.  Along the way, we saw several boats taking sand from the bottom of the river.  This is actually illegal, but there’s decent money in it and apparently police can be paid off.

Our first stop on the river cruise was a clay oven workshop.  This is a family business and the ovens are small and made by hand.  The Vietnamese people believe that there is a kitchen god that lives in the ovens.  Today, many houses have gas range ovens, but every family still keeps a clay oven so that the god of the kitchen can be present in their home.  The ovens range from $1-$3 and are purchased by everyone at the beginning of each year.   It’s good luck to smash your old oven at the Lunar New Year. 

We got back into the boat and soon arrived at another destination.  We were greeted by a family who served us fresh coconuts.  There were things for sale and also a few monkeys in a nearby tree.  Jessie and I enjoyed sitting back in the garden and watching the monkeys. 

As we journeyed along the river, we came across a narrow, bamboo bridge.  We were told that the citizens couldn’t afford to build a big cement bridge to get across the river, so they constructed the bridge out of bamboo.  It breaks at least once a year, but the people always build it up again.  It was neat to see how people can improvise here and make things work with what little they have.

Our last stop was to a rural village where we went into a ____ year old house and were able to see how people lived in Vietnam.  Here, we were served a plate of various fruits including pineapple, watermelon, bananas, dragonfruit and rambutans.  There was also live music being played.  Jessie and I spotted four young boys who were playing on the property.  We went over and presented them with some Canadian souvineres that we carry along with us.  They were so excited to receive them. 

Driving back to the ship, Jessie and I were both impressed by the tour.  We had a fantastic time and were able to experience a glimpse of Vietnamese life.  We arrived at the pier late, and the crew were urgently ushering us to the tender.  After we arrived on board, the captain made an announcement and we departed.  Next stop- Hong Kong!