April 5 - Nha Trang, Vietnam

This is a tender port and our tour wasn't until 12:30 so we didn't get onto the tender until about 10:00 am. There was a complimentary shuttle into town (15 minutes away) so we took that. Since we had to be back at the pier at 12:20 we only had a little time to walk around a bit. The tour was good, but a lot of on and off the bus. Fortunately there were only 12 of us and everyone was nimble and on time. We saw a temple dating back to the 13th century and then took a short boat ride to a village  where a man made the clay pots used in traditional cooking.  We went into a typical local house and visited the community hall. Every place is dominated by the shrine to the ancestors. The village was what you would expect. I was struck by the very sickly looking chickens pecking around. There were plenty of dogs but not a single cat to be found.  And not many people around since they were all working. Children go to school starting at 1 year old, but our guide said education isn't free, even in the elementary grades, which is not what our guide said yesterday in Ho Chi Minh City.   She said that you didn't pay for the school, but you had to pay for the uniforms, books, supplies, etc.   Maybe that's what he meant by "not free".

Again this is a city of contrasts. It is a lovely beach town with many beautiful hotels and resorts along the beach and fishermen eaking out a living around the corner. We saw the remains of the bunkers built into the hill by the Americans next to a new water slide park.   We ate with a fellow who was here with the navy during the war and remembers they would say at the time that Nha Trang would make a great beach town after the war and now he was able to see that come to fruition.

As before the scooters are amazing to watch. We saw a few with 2 mothers and 2 children on the same bike coming home from school. My favorite was the 2 men with the fellow in the rear holding a piece of window glass on his lap that was about 3x4 feet big. But it was ok  because they had their helmets on!  One of the passengers commented that it was safety glass, so no worries. 😉

There is no Uber here, but Asia has Grab ride sharing service. I believe there was something in the news the other day about Uber investing heavily in Grab.  You see the Grab drivers on their scooters with green jackets and helmets with the logo. Passengers have to wear the Grab helmet too.  It works the same as Uber with the app and set price and is becoming very popular.