Author: purespa

Pork seller at Vin Hai Markets in Nha Trang, Vietnam

One of my Vietnamese friends has given us an insight into local life and her daily shopping at the markets. My friend is a University student whose mother has passed away and she buys food for her Father, Sister, Uncle and Grandmother who all live at her home.

Every morning, I go to market to buy the food for my family. It is my habit to the same kiosk to buy the food I need for my family. This is the woman that my family always buys pork from. She has been selling here in the markets for nearly 15 years. She comes from Bac Giang – one of the provinces in the North of Vietnam. She came to Nha Trang with her family and got married to a man from Nha Trang. She lives here with her family.

Every day, she wakes up at 3:30am to pick up the pork from the wholesale market. She sell about 50 kg of pork each day, which includes all kinds of pork, bacon, pork ribs, pork bones… In the morning, she sells from 5 am to 11 or 12 depending on the number of customers she has and the amount of meat she sells. Sometimes, she doesn’t sell on the first and the fifteenth of the Lunar month because that day in Nha Trang, as in the rest of Vietnam, many people who are Buddhist only eat vegetarian so she doesn’t sell a lot of meat on those days and is not worthwhile for her. After finishing at 12 she goes home and takes a rest. She will then prepare for the afternoon market.

After a morning busy with selling pork, she sells chicken in the afternoon. She sells in the market from 3 pm to 5 or 6 pm every afternoon. Most of what she sells is chicken breast, chicken feet, chicken wing’s and chicken’s leg. When she finishes, it’s getting dark. She goes home to cook dinner for her family. Sometimes, she watches a film on TV or goes to sleep early so she can get ready for the new brand day tomorrow.

Whenever I go and buy pork at her kiosk, she gives me some advice about what kind of pork is good today, she asks me what kind of food I am going to cook today and then she give me the best price. What I like with her is that even though she has a busy day, she always smiles with all her customers, she doesn’t care that they buy or not. She is always such a happy woman! 

Went on a little trip on Sunday with a few of my friends.

We went to Chua Phap Vien Thanh Son. A Temple outside of Nha Trang set in magnificent farmland. It took around 50 minitues to get there on motorbikes.

We stopped off for Bánh ướt (literally “wet cakes”). A lady spreads a rice mix over a thin membrane of some kind of cloth. This cloth has boiling water coming through it and she puts a lid on top. Waits maybe 2 minutes and with a ladle scoops the rice noodle sheet off the steaming cloth and places it on a plate with fried shallots and we had some beans on top. This has a side of Cha Lua (Vietnamese Pork Sausage) and nuoc cham sauce and shredded green mango. We paid the princely sum of 3 000 VND per plate. This lady sits beside this steaming pot scooping rice sheets of for hours. We consumed quite a few plates between us though. It seems like a hard way to make money however it is delicious.

Back off we went. Eventually we came across the temple after traveling on poorer and poorer roads. It is an amazing site to turn the corner and suddenly at the end of this dirt road you are there.

This Pagoda is quite extensive. It is on a hillside and has many levels to it. The wooden carvings, stone statues and gardens certainly show a flair for the beautiful with lovely gardens thrown in.

There were 2 peacocks as well as lots of fish in the ponds. The peacocks were putting on quite a display.

It seems to have a bit of a mix of Hindu with Buddism. I have heard this Pagoda referred to as the French Pagoda. I believe it was started in 2006. I don’t know a lot more about it.

The surrounding countryside is spectacular from the Pagoda. Rice crops, a duck farm, fruit trees are all visible. Unfortunately there was quite a haze so the photos are not as good as they could have been.

It was a great morning out riding and getting to see the countryside with the bonus of a beautiful Pagoda. 

Hon Chon is a collection of rocks that form a Promontory just off Tran Phu Street. It is over the bridge away from the tourist area in the north. It is only about 7 minutes away from Thap Ba Ponagar so it makes sense to combine these two attractions if you are going to go.

You can climb around on the rocks but once you start getting out to the Promonatory you might get ushered back by the guards as they want you to go to the top of the hill and pay a small fee of 22 000 VND to access the area. You do also get to go through a room with artifacts. The landscape is very beautiful. There are two coffee shops. I know some of my friends with children prefer the bottom coffee shop so their children can access the beach and rocks but I prefer the top one as the views and breeze I think are far superior. It is very easy to sit here and waste an hour or two at a very cheap price.

There are local legends surrounding this area. There is a meant to be a hand print on one of the giant boulders out the front of the Chon promontory. In comparison to other places there is almost no tourists.

About 300m south of Hon Chong (towards Nha Trang) is tiny Hon Do (Red Island), which has a Buddhist temple on top. To the northeast is Hon Rua (Tortoise Island), which really does resemble a tortoise. The two islands of Hon Yen (Bird’s-Nest Island) are off in the distance to the east.

The area here is called Fairy bay. The water is calmer than at Nha Trang Beach. You can sometimes see men using fishing nets around the rocks and on most mornings there are a few fishing boats that pull in and off load their catch and sort it on the beach. Great photo opportunities but around 6 – 8 am depending on the weather and their catch.