A really long, full day wandering around Nha Trang with an award winning local photographer. Really cool to see the city through his eyes and get to see all the local spots.
Photo Gallery: https://pics.mattichan.com/-uwc133
Tendering
Tendering was a little bit of a mess (logistically). Even with tender ticket 1, was waiting on the upper decks, cause I’ve never understood why people feel the need to congregate right by the stairs when we already have tickets and groups. They specifically hadn’t called any of the groups, and we were waiting for word and announcements, when someone randomly said group 2 was about to go.
I went down to ask what happened to group 1, and they were confused why there wasn’t an announcement. Apparently what happened was the Shore Excursion tender boat wasn’t full, so they just loaded most of group 1 onto the ShoreEx tender and didn’t tell anyone or make any announcements. Communication could definitely be better — basic queuing theory here, and was causing all sorts of chaos for the staff with the guests all congregating and causing congestion.
The Tour
Made it to my guide (https://mailocphotographer.com/about), and we set off to explore Nha Trang.
Fishing Net Repair and Pink Poui
We came to the first stop down a street lined with pink flowers (pink poui) that were in bloom. Really picturesque setting. Under the trees there were tons of green nets that fishermen bring to these folks who sit there and repair the holes in the net, and stitch them back up.
This woman was kind enough to let us take some photos of her. Loc knew her (and all the other locals) really well. I was amazed by how many nets there were just lying around everywhere.
Some puppies came running down the road toward us as well, and were just playing with each other.
Over on the main road, I noticed that there were flags everywhere being flown. After asking for a bit, discovered that it was an anniversary for them and they’re allowed to fly the flags under certain restrictions and conditions during the period.
Some other scenes around as well, down the side street.
Behind the wall, there were some really nice street art. Honestly could’ve just spent a couple hours just wandering around this space as it was kind of a photography playground, but we spent a little bit of time, and continued on. Really nice to get away from the hustle and bustle of the port and all the cruise passengers, nice and quiet here. It was also super hot, so glad to retreat to the car and the AC.
Community Center
Next stop was at a community center that Loc knew of and a lot of people hanging out there. On the way, we saw fish being dried in the sun with all the spices.
We got to the community center, and they were having a break and lunch, so I wandered around for a bit just looking at stuff around the place. Found some homemade go karts that were charging that looked like fun.
Some lovely flowers around the center as well which had some birds chirping as we waited.
After their break, they got back to work and it was fascinating to watch them take all the new netting, and they were sewing in anchors and weights into the new nets. Really picturesque setting with all the flowing green nets.
At one point, one of the women asked me to take off my sunglasses, and when I did, she goes “oh so handsome, are you single?” then proceeded to ask “I have a niece, do you want to join my family?”. Loc was laughing as he translated for me.
Lovely people, and they even fed me some really nice fresh fruit.
Quán Phở Cồ
Next, we headed to grab some lunch, which was one of the things I was really looking forward to. As we got to the restaurant, it looked like it was completely full, and there was no where to sit, but Loc just walked to the back, pulled out one of the tables and set up a new table for us and we sat and ate. At one point it got really quiet, and I looked up to find that the whole bus of mainlanders (I’m assuming, cause I could hear them speaking in Mandarin) had reassembled on their bus and had departed and it got kinda nice and quiet.
The pho was SO SO SO good. Could’ve had another bowl (it was already huge, but it was THAT good).
Ponagar Temple
We got back in the car and headed to Ponagar Temple, which was ok, but I’m not a huge temple fan (I’m too sensitive to the incense and makes my head hurt).
Had some nice views of the ship, but this was also one of the stops where like half the ship was there, so I didn’t particularly enjoy being with everyone all crowded and packed back in.
Some nice views of stuff as we climbed a couple flights of stairs.
The main temple building itself was pretty big. Some nice architecture and details.
Also appreciated some of the flora around the temple grounds.
Wandered a bit and took some photos, but mostly tried to stay away from people and from the incense and enclosed spaces.
Some locals were out having a picnic, and Loc was explaining that their culture is a little different (they have their own language as well).
As we left and descended back down the flights of stairs, I ran into a family with some Lotso merch (represent!). An ok stop, but I’d probably skip it if I go back, too touristy for me.
Trường Sơn Craft Village
For our last stop, we stopped at a Craft Village, and unfortunately, a lot of the ship people were here as well, so I mostly wandered away on my own and wandered around the village and gardens to get away from people.
In the entrance way and path to the main area, there were a bunch of activities. A giant abacus and some musical instruments with instructions to play jingle bells.
Lots of new year decorations with the year of the dragon as well. We got to the main area which was set up for a show (it appeared), but nothing was happening, and after a little bit they said they were waiting for the big bus of cruise passengers to get there for the show, so of course, I bolted and left.
The gardens themselves were a lot of fun, lots of nice plants and got to just wander and take them in.
The crafts themselves were absolutely stunning, but I didn’t need more stuff in my life, and I don’t know how I would even bring stuff back on the ship.
Really like these glass tables that were made over the sand art, but again….they’re huge.
Custom guitars as well, which was pretty neat to look at.
I also loved watching them create their little trinkets and stringing all the pieces together, its so much work, but the final products are lovely.
LOTS and I do mean LOTS of cranes and fish that were strung together, fascinating and beautiful lines.
Stopped for a quick break from the heat as well to grab a drink and there were snacks as well. I asked what flavor this fanta was, and Loc just kept saying Sarsi — after trying to figure out what it was (a fruit?), I finally googled and discovered its just a completely different flavor. When I got back to the ship, I asked Mom and she knew what it was as they had it back in Hong Kong growing up as well. It was pretty good! Don’t really know how to describe the flavor, but just like another type of fruit.
Set back out after my quick break to find some rice sifting going on as well. Fun photo shots here.
Finally, the shows started, and I went over for a bit to listen. This was ok. The performers didn’t seem too interested in it, and it felt more touristy as well — like it was just thrown together for the cruise ship.
Very much felt touristy here, specifically a sign for cruise tourists which was fascinating to me as well.
Final Thoughts
Overall, it was a fine day. Good to meet Loc and exchange info. He wants me to come back to the north part of Vietnam to see real nature and wildlife. I think I just confirmed for myself that I just don’t really care about cities and people (at least to photograph them), as you can tell, I took a ton of photos, and they’re fine, but they don’t really bring me joy or peace like nature and wildlife do.
Some of the other folks on the ship would’ve been great at this tour though and I’d highly recommend it, just not 100% my cup of tea.
Port and Views
We got back to the port, and as I headed back to the ship, found some passed out pups which were pretty adorbs.
Made it back to the port right before all the buses came back, but the line for tendering was super long (the line behind me was insanely long). People had to line up in the sun and were mostly grumbling (I mean…apparently people on this cruise just LOVE to complain). We weren’t going to “miss” the boat as we were already at the port, but it did take a while to get back. As our tender boat made it back to the ship, I heard the tender driver ask “so am I supposed to go back to the terminal?” and the officer responded “well, there’s like 300 guests still over there, so yeah….”
We were probably in port for an extra hour before we actually departed and left again. People on all the bus tours were waiting for quite awhile in line (I’m so thankful I made it before all of them).
As we waited though, I went up and got some shots of the views that we had from the ship.
One of the options for the day was this amusement park over on one of the other islands (that you take the gondola / lift over water to get to). Didn’t actually see a ton of people over there, but It was interesting. As sun set as well, we could see it was lit up and changing color.
The semi-clear skies revealed the moon was out in almost full force again as well.
Food
Grabbed some dessert at the main dining room (mostly to catch up with Shangam and Sunita), but we had known it was wing night as well, so we headed back up to windjammer after and grabbed a bunch of wings. Between Nate and myself, I think we had about 7 bowls of wings (in our defense, they were also about to throw them away — at the end of the night).
Vibe Check
5 parts joy
Feedback
Leave a comment or question if you have any thoughts! Anything you want to know about as we go around the world? Any things you want to share as feedback, or any images that particularly spoke to you. I’ll try to read all of them as time permits!
Matti 
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