8th February, 2017

Well that bit of catching up was a bit pathetic as it is now 14th Feb and I have a lot to tell you about. First of all our trip to Nha Trang. Val woke me up nice and early as we has a sunrise, which I am sure you will find to be a nice change from those interminable sunsets, though it is pretty much the same, but in reverse.

We were picked up at a very civilised 0900 and taken first to the National Oceanographic Institute, which was established in 1923 and housed in a colonial mansion. It is generally referred to as the Seafood Museum among the locals apparently! All good fun and of course those fish make great photos!

It was not just an aquarium and there was an excellent skeleton of a whale someone dug up from their rice paddy field some years ago and an extensive collection of things in bottles…

Driving north back up the coast, Hanh, our guide, mentioned that his wife worked in an embroidery shop and asked if we would like to see it. Well, we could hardly say no, so we stopped off there. Now I must confess that I thought it would be a a few napkins and the odd tablecloth, but oh no, these were serious works of art that sold for thousands of dollars. And Hanh’s wife was the manager and very kindly showed us around. I just wish I had taken more photos of the pictures they do, but you can see what it is like via this link: http://www.xqvietnam.com. I am not sure the photos would have done justice to the craftsmanship that goes into each piece. Anyway, I hope this gives you a flavour….

Of course we had not been near a pagoda for a while and the withdrawal symptoms were starting to show, but help was at hand as we made our way to the Long Son pagoda. First though we visited the local Catholic Cathedral. Having been a French colony, there’s quite a large Catholic congregation in Vietnam, somewhere between 8 to 10 percent of the population. The cathedral was quite impressive, at least from a distance, until you discovered that the stone was actually a sort of breeze block. Good location though!

Next it was off with the shoes and into the Long Son Pagoda. It is really quite nice with the usual capering dragons and a very white and very large Buddha up some 180 steps. Also in the grounds there is a monument to all the monks and nuns who gave their lives in the struggles against the very Catholic regime in South Vietnam, including Thich Quang Duc about whom I wrote from Hue.

A few shots of the fishing fleet (and some random chillies) were permitted before our last stop…

Our last stop for the day was the Po Nagar Cham Towers. These were constructed between the seventh and tenth centuries and reminded Val and me very much of Bagan in Myanmar. Only four of the estimated ten original towers remain, but still very lovely and very popular with the locals.

Back to the hotel and a dip in the pool – it’s a good life!

Tomorrow we are on the high seas…….