Tet flower market
Fresh flowers are essential to any Tết festivities! Here are some pictures from the flower market at night in the city. Mừng xuân nhâm thìn!
treasures!
I recently went through a batch of old photographs my maternal grandfather left behind in Vietnam at my cousin’s house. These are such moving and precious portraits and snippets of my grandparents, mother, and uncles. Here are some lovely ones that I want to share.
This photograph dates back to 1963! My grandparent with my mother in the middle (the only girl in a family with six boys) and my four other uncles. My other two uncles were not in this picture.
My mom with her brothers and nanny. Undated picture, but I estimate that it was photographed in 1966.
Undated picture, probably in 1960 or 1961. My mom and my uncle. When I emailed my siblings this picture to show her, she gleefully shared that she was eating a banana. She has been reminding me to bring all these photos back to her.
A photograph of my dashing uncle! My mom’s oldest brother.
A beautiful shot of my beautiful mother in the ’70s.
My resilient and beautiful grandmother in her 30s.
A sampling of the food in Nha Trang
You’re probably wondering about the rapid posting of my recent blog entries.. it’s because right now I have limited access to the Internet, so when I do post on my blog, my entries are from what I’ve been writing and saving on Word.
In any case, one of the many perks of traveling alone is that you can eat whatever you want whenever you want. I forgot to take pictures of a lot of my meals, but here are some that I did manage to catch.
Xôi gà – chicken over sticky rice with julienned pickled carrots, cucumbers, and daikon. The consistency of the sticky rice was a perfect complement to the savory chicken. The pickled veggies added a welcomed touch of tanginess and spice to the dish.
Bánh canh chả cá – Round noodles with slices of fried fishcakes; these noodles look like udon noodles, but they do not have the same chewy texture. They taste like a thicker and softer version of vermicelli noodles. It’s a very comforting soup on a cool day, especially with an extra helping of chilli.
Bò bía – Originated from the south, this is a type of spring rolls wrapped with sautéed tôm khô, strips of scrambled eggs, steamed thinly sliced jicama, and lots of fresh herbs and lettuce. It is dipped in a peanut and hoisin sauce mixture, with freshly grounded peanuts and fried onions on top. Light and refreshing.
Bún cá – Vermicelli noodles with two types of fried fishcakes and tuna fillet. The light soup was fragrant and sweeten by the fish stock. A handful of fresh beansprouts, lettuce, and banana roots adds more zing to the soup.
Bánh căn – This was my first time hearing of this dish, and thus, my first time trying it. As shared by my friendly eating neighbor at the table, this grilled savory cake dish is a traditional treat enjoyed in the countryside from all three regions. The flour mixture is poured into a small waffle-like container, and can be topped with eggs, seafood, or beef. I tried all three, but only remembered to take a picture of the egg one, which came out first. Bánh căn is then dipped in a concoction of beef broth and fish sauce with a meatball and a generous offering of green onions. To add a tangy flavor, you could either put in young green mangoes or squeeze a slice of lime into the broth. This is a fun and interesting mid-day snack.
Cá viên chiên – Fried fish balls with slightly ripened papaya and fresh herbs. Another delicious mid-afternoon snack. The crunch and very light sweetness of the papaya and the tartness of the herbs balance out well the fried fish balls.
After reading positive reviews about Omar, an Indian restaurant, online, I was considering getting it for my last to second dinner in Nha Trang, but decided to go for a cheaper alternative. The address for the restaurant, as listed on the reviews I found, was on Trần Phú, so I decided to walk the opposite direction on to Nguyễn Thiện Thuật. Around the corner on NTT, however, sits Omar! The manager persuaded me to take a look at the menu for its dinner special. The special consisted of vegetarian samosas, chicken vindaloo, garlic naan, rice, and beer. The dinner special was all for 120,000 VND which is a little bit less than $6 USD. I ended the delicious dinner with a delicious and comforting pot of chai tea (which was extra, but totally worth it).
Another wonderful perk of traveling alone is that I got to frequent lots of coffee shops! Space to enjoy coffee, take a break from walking, people-watch, write, reflect, and use free Internet.
an open yet binding sea
I took a day-tour of several islands near Nha Trang in the beginning of my trip. Although the trip was quite short, I had the privilege of meeting many interesting souls: a woman from England who is visually impaired, has worked in Hue at an NGO the past six years, and speaks fluent Vietnamese; a Chinese couple from Germany, who were born, raised, and worked in Laos for over 30 years, and able to speak Mandarin, Lao, Vietnamese, German, and English; a family of seven from the Mekong Delta, including three adventurous sisters. Another person, who left a particularly strong impression with me was our tour guide, L.
With four generations making their living as fishermen, L’s mother was adamant that he would not follow in the same footsteps due to the precariousness of the seasonal harvest and the unknown lurking in the deep sea. As a single mother, she did not want her first child and only son to experience the same instability of working in the sea that generations past had experienced. Instead of being a fisherman, he became a tour guide, venturing from one island to the next with the open sea as his unconventional office space. In these waters, he finds solace, adventure, connection, and contentment.
After the tour ended, I went to the beach to enjoy the last few hours of sunlight. L joined me later.
Overlooking the horizon, he pondered.
“Do you see the big resort on resort on that island? The selection of the resort staff is very selective. They get paid much higher than we get as tour guides. They start easily with 3 million VND a month (~150 USD), while we make only 1.5 million VND. But I don’t want their job. There is no stability in that job; they usually only get to work for a year, then the hotel managers could recruit and train a new cohort again. The hotel management does that so it doesn’t have to offer benefits that a regular contract would include.”
I know that staying at that resort costs hundreds of dollars a night.
He then talked about how much he enjoyed working with his colleagues. There is a team of seven people per boat, so they know each others’ quirks, as well as strengths and weaknesses of one another to fill in for each other.
There has been a lot of discussions among political elites and business players to develop Nha Trang into a city—like HCMC, Hanoi, and Da Nang—directly under the jurisdiction of the central government, not the provincial government, which is its current status, L shared. As a city evolves and grows, it has to be attuned to the different needs that would arise due to the changing political, social, and economic climate.
L is very keen about the conditions that his community faces, the disparity in terms of what workers get, what and how outside developers profit, and the salient issues that are by-products of tourism. He hesitated a bit when I asked him what are some major social issues he sees here before stating prostitution. He spoke of the incredibly high prevalence coupling between Vietnamese women and white men here. He had seen a lot of unequal and exploitative relationships, but he also had to remain mum as a tour guide.
Despite his incisive understanding, he also possesses a matter-of-fact attitude about these conditions. That acceptance, however, could also be seen as resilience. Given these circumstances and conditions, what can he do to support his mother and sister? Outrage certainly won’t feed anyone in the most immediate way. Low-wage earners here face urgent problems daily, in which intellectual inquiries and lofty ideals cannot be the cure-all antidote.
“As Nha Trang seeks to be a more developed city, are the wishes of the community being considered?,” I asked L.
“Well, whatever tourists want, for example, if they have certain requests to have more resorts, or if they demand something else, then we will try our best to accommodate them,” he responded.
I pressed, “but I mean, what about the wishes and aspirations of people who actually live in Nha Trang?”
L paused, “oh, our main interest is economic. If the demands of tourists open up opportunities for us to work, to make money, to support our family, then we will do our best to satisfy them.”
In these same waters—where he finds comfort and craves adventure—he moves with the natural ebb and flow of the sea, yet he is also bound to the whims of tourists and exploitation of developers.
