Sightseeing in Nha Trang and beyond
03/01/2009
What an interesting day! This morning I went with some friends for a visit in the countryside. The driver took us west and south about 48 kilometers to see some waterfalls. Along the way, we saw a number of small brick homes like this one, which are inhabited by one of Vietnam's ethnic minority groups. Usually they are in clusters, but this one stood alone. As I understand it, the government has built some of this homes for the people and the uniform look of these brick homes makes me think this is true. These people have a very hard life. Despite the green of the countryside, it is very dry, and they must haul all the water they need--for themselves, their cattle, and their crops--up from the river.
If I understand correctly, the hill country is protected by laws that prevent people from cutting down trees. We passed many fields of sugar cane, and also rice paddies, banana trees, bamboo, papaya, and mango plants. I was told that the banana tree is like a grass, and when you cut off the stalk (that takes 18 months to grow and produce a cluster of bananas), you can dry the stalk, chop it up, and use it for hog feed. Along the way we also saw a number of egrets, their white brilliance set against the lush green of the rice paddies.
Finally we arrived at the Yangbay waterfalls, which were beautiful and noisy. We hiked up a treacherous path that was moss and mist-covered, to a place where many people were having picnics (despite the signs that said (in Vietnamese) no food or drink). I don't see how the Vietnamese people who were here made the climb in flip flops!
On the return drive to Nha Trang we stopped at the "Old House," for lack of a better name. It was 180 years old, and had belonged to an herbal doctor. Descendants live there today and make a small living by letting people look at the house, the doctor's medical supplies/tools, and gardens. Upon seeing a Dragon fruit plant up close, I discovered that it is a succulent. The woman's husband carves intricate figures from the roots of trees and she explained what hard work it was to dig the roots from the ground intact. This, of course, made me think of the time Denise and a few others helped dig some roots from the yard of my house. He could not have done much with those those once we got done with them!
Our next stop was a mat weaving place. We arrived during the lunch break, but these women went back to work to demonstrate their craft. You can see an example of the mats they make behind my head. I think she said it takes about 14 hours to make the large size, and a place mat takes 1 hour. They invited me to try the loom and laughed a bit at my efforts. The loom is very simple in design, and the materials they weave are tall dried grasses which have been dyed. I really enjoyed this stop, perhaps because I miss doing crafts back home.
Our next stop was the Long Son Pagoda, where I have been before, but it is the kind of place you can visit many times. The last time I visited, my focus was the large Buddha, but this time I saw the thousands of crypts (if that is the correct word) surrounding it. If you don't know they are there, you can easily miss them. I walked down to the Pagoda and was told that it was okay to take this picture. As you can see, the interior is very ornate and beautiful and the chanting was mesmorizing. I could have stood there much longer, but it was getting warm and we were all hungry, so we traveled on to a little restaurant named Thuy Truc for some delicious bo ne (a thin slice of beef, a fried egg, and a pork ball on a sizzling cast iron platter. Delicious!
And that, my friends concludes some highlights from another day in Vietnam. There were more, of course, but I want to save something to tell you when I return!
