This morning we were given the option to ride with local drivers on scooters to our first stop. I was hesitant but I decided to try it, in fact everyone opted in (impressive considering the oldest in our group is 85). A very nice older gentleman picked me and helped me put on my helmet and adjust the strap. He was very cautious, driving slow and trying to avoid bumps, but I was very nervous. The whole way I was thinking that I’d switch to the bus at the first stop.
Our first stop was at a bird watching cafe. Many men have pet birds. Mai said her ex boyfriend had a pet bird. She was very jealous of the bird because he seemed to love the bird more than her, which I gather is typical. The men drop their wives off at the market to do the shopping and take the bird in a cage on the scooter to the bird cafe where it can socialize with other birds while the man drinks his coffee. The men were very surprised to see us at the cafe. While we were enjoying the birds we watched as men would move the bird cage from one spot to another so the bird could have multiple social interactions. There was a pit in the center of the bird watching cafe where Mai said they would hold cock fights (yuck) in the past. Here is a picture.
After the bird watching cafe we had the choice of getting on the bus and going directly to our next stop or getting back on the scooter and stopping at a rice paddy along with way to take pictures. My desire to go to the rice paddy trumped my fear of the riding on the scooter. It was happy to have made that choice because I felt quite relaxed on the next leg of the journey and even released the driver from my death grip.
The rice paddy we stopped at had been planted about 2 weeks ago. The rice sprouts were about 4 inches tall. They plant the rice by scattering the seed in the paddy and once it gets a little bigger they pull it up and manually transplant it into rows. This far south they can get a rice harvest every 100 days or 3 times year. The paddy we stopped at had not been transplanted yet.
We continued on to Xóm Gió, the village we were visiting. We talked to several people as we made our way to the chief’s house. The village has about 2,000 people and is known for making things out of bamboo. We stopped to talk to a woman who was chopping the bamboo into useable pieces. The bamboo looked hallow except for every 15 inches where there was a seam. She was cutting out the seams. Our next stop was ladies making bamboo chopsticks. Some food facilities use plastic chopsticks but there is a move to eliminate plastic and move back to renewable materials like bamboo. The ladies were manually making chopsticks and could make about 125 pairs per day. We bought a package of 10 pairs for $4.
We were warmly welcomed by the chief who was 80 years old. First thing he did was show us his ancestor altar. There we lit three pieces of incense to honor the ancestors. Then he showed us the kitchen where we met the chief’s wife, Off of the kitchen was a “rooster” hotel where they made extra money by boarding roosters for cock fighting.
After talking to the chief for a while his family served us a delicious lunch. It’s amazing the quality and amount of food they can fix in a basic kitchen. After lunch it started to rain so we rushed to the bus and returned to Nha Trang.
After a little down time we headed out to Ponagar Cham Temple. This is a Cham temple very similar to My Son but it’s more intact because it wasn’t bombed. The temple is an active Hindu and Buddhist temple. This temple was built in the 7-8th century and is a precursor to Angkor Wat which was built from the 11-13th century. It was dedicated to Ponagar, the goddess of Agriculture. Here are some pictures.
That evening we didn’t have a dinner organized by the tour so Mai recommended we go to the Sailing Club. It was right on the beach. They had three kitchens,Vietnamese, Indian, and Western. Rick and I both had Indian food. It was delicious!
