Vietnam has over 2000km of coastline so the obvious choice for our company trip last week was a seaside destination for 3D2N in Phan Rang which is 6hours by bus northeast of Saigon. We stayed in the sprawling Long Thuan Resort on Ninh Chu beach.
Sunrise at Ninh Chu beach:-
Sunrise at Ninh Chu beach:-
Ninh Chu Beach in the afternoon:-
I was most delighted to see "basket boats" or "thuyen tong" as its called in vietnamese (thuyen meaning boat) at almost all the beaches we visited during the trip, as this was the first time i saw them for real instead of just in pictures.There were hundreds of them dotting the beach in some fishing villages:-
They may look small but the "tongs" which are unique to this corner of South East Asia can be used way out at sea like any 'sampan' would be:-
It was fascinating to see how the locals could deftly manouver and swiftly move around in these oddly shaped boats:-
It's probably because they start practicing rowing these "tongs" from a very young age:-
Public transport ala the coastal regions of Southern Vietnam:-
On the morning of our full day there we were taken to this beach by boat (normal boat ah, not the "tongs"):-
After a morning swim there were a multitude of unique and exotic sea creatures on the menu for our brunch!!!:-
And most of it was "harvested" on the spot like these urchin like creatures:-
After brunch the boat took us to see some rock formations along the coast nearby:-
The area we were in was also home to a substantial number of Vietnam's ethnic Cham minority who occupy the town of Thap Cham. The main landmark there was this 13th century Cham tower and this was the first time for me seeing one of Vietnam's historic Cham sites:-
Coming from a 600 year old hometown I am always delighted to see something which dates back even further so i went a bit overboard with the pics :-
The tower was on a hill which gave us a great view of the surrounding countryside:-
And of course every group tour is sure to include the local handicrafts and it was interesting to see that Cham weaving was very similar to Malay Songket:-
Another first for me was seeing saltpans where the locals "harvest" salt what else :-
As with all beach vacations it was over too soon but i am sure i will have lots more to come during my time here in Vietnam :-)
