Nha Trang: A Beach Town, A Family and Too Much Food

I have been procrastinating this post because I had such an unbelievably good time staying with my friends' parents in Nha Trang, I don't really know how to talk about it! It was kind of like the perfect dream in many ways. Here goes an attempt at least:

I rode into Nha Trang in the morning and went straight to the beach. I had to gander the lovely coast line I had heard so much about and it was really lovely (more lovely than My Khe in Da Nang, in my opinion). Whereas My Khe looked out on industrial Da Nang and bridges and such, Nha Trang looked out on islands and mountains and lovely open sea. It was the stereotypical coconut palm lined tourist area, but if you could get your mind out of that, it was truly a lovely place. It only got better from there.

Nha Trang is a pretty busy town, but not too too crazy with the horns and such. There are a lot of motor bikes and, surprisingly, a LOT of electric motor bikes. I took note to check with my local electric vehicle dealer to see if they had ever heard of these brangds: Asama, *****EDIT ADD BRAND NAMES HERE*******. I learned that they only cost from $500-1000 in Vietnam, which should translate to $1000-2000 in the US. They have a range of about 20km, which is not too far, but if you run out of juice, they have pedals and a crank and ride just like a single speed bike! How's that!

To sum it up without too many words, I stayed with my friends sweet sweet parents and sister-in-law for five or six days. Hue, the dad, is so much fun to be around! He speaks and understands English due to time spent fighting along side the Americans in the South Vietnamese Army during the American-Vietnamese War. This also means that he has sooooooo many stories and I just delighted any time he shared. We talked a lot about family, his time in the army and then in prison after the war (he spent 10 years in "re-education") and life after 1975. He has such a brilliant sense of humor and is such a giggler! He's very very gregarious and makes friends with people wherever we go with his humor---I didn't understand anything he'd say to others, but I'd still laugh because his giggle was so funny and others' laughter was so contageous! He is truly a fun soul!

The family not only invited me to the honor of spending time in the small apartment on the third floor of their home which is dedicated for use only by their kids (and me...I guess I'm the only one who has stayed there besides their kids!) when they come home for three weeks each Tet; they filled my time with interesting cultural experiences and the pleasure of experiencing their day to day lives. The first day I was there, Pappa Hue took me with him to a family wedding! This is something I had longed to see as I watched many wedding processions drive by on the roads! The following day, he took me to a memorial service for a relative who had died the year before (which included, consequentally, 200 other monks and visitors paying respects on that day and a WHOLE LOT OF GREAT FOOD!). Each morning, I woke at my usual time and then went with Hue for his sunrise walk on the beach. This was my favorite because he would share stories and I could ask a million questions! He was so patient with me and I delighted in our walks and his stories. Afterwards, they would take me to these little hidden holes in the wall where we'd get the most delicious breakfasts for next to nothing! I ate so many different things I hadn't even known existed. Each evening, except when we had something else going on, I'd travel with Hue to watch tennis matches at the local tennis courts. Apparently, up until ten years ago (he turns 81 on March 30), he played tennis with the same club of men who we watched each evening. I loved the banter from the sidelines from the onlookers and the competition was pretty good at times as well. Hue was definitely a dominant personality in the crowd of hecklers!

Hue and his daughter-in-law's brother, Minh, and I went on a few small trips in the area. We all took a Mamma Linh boat tour and LOVED it!!! So much fun! I was on a Vietnamese tourist boat, so the tour guide only spoke in Vietnamese to the crowd. Again, I experienced the Vietnamese heckling and it was just like a great big riot to watch them all cracking jokes and laughing the boat ride away while the tour guide introduced the history and ecology of the area. Hue would translate some things, but most of the time, I just enjoyed watching the tourquoise water slip by. We stopped for snorkeling with a boat load of Western tourists and I rented a pair of fins to go with my face mask and got to experience the best underwater scenary yet! The corals were vibrant and the fish were colorful and plentiful. The floor was down at like 3-7 meters and I delighted in being one of very few people cruising around the depths (most people just floated in tubes above drinking beers). Mamma Linn knows how to run a good tour! It was CHEAP (120,000 dong or $7 US), they took us to great places and they fed us SO SOOOO WELL! The best spread of food to date (excluding the wedding, which was ultra-special)! The snorkeling was great. Then, after lunch, the English speaking guides on the Western Boat brought out impromptu style instruments (including a bucket drum kit!) and an amped electric guitars and they proceeded to embarass people from every represented nationality by calling them up on stage and having them sing a popular song in their language in front of everyone! AND, the guides knew the songs in Spanish, English, Italian, French and Russian. To see the foreigner on stage light up when the song began and after hearing the guide speaking in their native tongue was such a treat! It was a hoot of a time. Happily, I noticed both Hue and Minh really enjoying themselves (and, luckily, I didn't get pulled up to sing "Yellow Submarine"). Very fun, very funny and I DEFINITELY recommend it!

Another day, I took some time to pedal around town and see tourist sites. I took in some temples and other spots, but relished finding a little hidden beach where only Viet on motor bikes were present just outside of town and the tourist areas. It was sweet, quiet and had not a single taut!

Another day, Hue, Minh and I went to a local mud bath! This was great! There are a handful of natural mud and hot spring resorts around, but the one we went to was really really nice. (I promise to ****ADD PHOTO HERE*******) We rinsed off in hot mineral water showers, soaked for a while in warm mud baths, rinsed again in warm mineral water showers before heading into the hot tubs and then on to the hot swimming pool. Hue had been to one of these places before, but for Minh, it was his first time and I could tell he was really enjoying himself! Unfortunately, the sun wasn't out, so we couldn't get the mud to dry into a hard shell around us before we rinsed off, but it was still lovely. I'd definitely return in the future and bring a book! Very relaxing.

The remainder of the time was spent relaxing, talking, sharing photographs and stories and eating. Nhon and Chung (mom and daughter-in-law) took it upon themselves to make certain I ate enough. But, they were the ones to define what was "enough'! Dinner was always comical when Chung would load up my rice bowl with a heaping pile of rice. I'd finish it and she'd ask for my bowl again. She wouldn't take "No" for an answer and would heap my bowl again! Then, they would just laugh at me! They were so sweet!!! Chung kept wandering to the market each morning and coming back with a different fruit I'd never seen, heard of or tasted before and offered that for desert after dinner each night. What a treat! I tried several fruit that were in season just for a short while. Hue taught me the names in Vietnamese (and/or French), but didn't know the English names for each one. I tried bread fruit, durien, longan, the best mangoes I've ever eaten, a fruit that looks like the scales of a dragon I still don't know the name of and a fruit called "vu shur" in Vietnamese (which translates to "Milky Breast" in English, Hue informed me) among several others. WOW!

I really enjoyed my time with Hue. I really enjoyed hearing his giggle at the tennis courts or in the kitchen when his wife made some wise crack comment. Mom made me promise that when I return I will speak some Vietnamese. Visiting with the family reminded me again how sad I am that I still have not yet followed through with my long time desire to learn the language. Perhaps this will be the final impetus to push me over to get the audio tapes or take the night language course at the community college, FINALLY.

Hue finally helped me negotiate the train station to get my bike and gear and myself to the north of the country. The famly came to the train station to see me off and was waving to me through my window as my train pulled away. This made me very sad to leave, because I had most certainly fallen in love with the family!

I do hope to fulfill my promise and fulfill it soon! After all, we're all not getting any younger.

So, off I went to Nam Dinh, Hue's "Motherland," to pedal through the "Halong Bay of the Rice Fields" in Ninh Binh and then on to Hanoi.