We spent a couple of days in a small town by the beach in Ninh Thaun Province of Vietnam called Phan Rang, as the second ceremony for our friend's wedding was to be held here. Phan Rang is often described by tourists as "nothing to do, nothing to see." That, by itself, made it very attractive to us. No crowds, lots of relaxation and plenty of quality time together. We did face a language issue but it wasn't anything that a Vietnamese-English dictionary did not help resolve. Phan Rang has a twin city called Thap Cham, which is slightly bigger but since we are averse to cities, we stayed put at Phan Rang even though the beach was murky and the sea was a tad too rough. Until we discovered that the time to go into the sea was just before dawn. The otherwise-deserted beach came alive with local swimmers and fisherfolk.
Take a look!
Or view a slideshow on Flickr.
Sunday Snapshots: Setting off to Sea
Labels:
Faces of Vietnam,
Photography,
Sunday Snapshots
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6 comments:
Those are called coracles Manisha. Did you sit in it and did you do a spin?
It always surprises me to see commonalities between people in different countires and how they live. Here in Southern India coracles are used for transportation on the rivers and streams. They are shallower than these Vietnamese ones.
I am wondering how the coracles can last in the rough sea. Probably they don't go too deep with those.
Sharing here a scene on the banks of the river Kaveri at Talakad, India from our trip.
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_kTkRtOg43QA/Sp1rQKxlVXI/AAAAAAAAGfY/3Bnw-JjDPKU/s1600-h/Image260.jpg
and us enjoying the spin in the coracle.
http://youtu.be/pwezamz93XU
That coracle-thing is so well crafted! Did you get a miniature as a souvenir?
That is the coolest! Like cups!
Anjali, I just found out that the Vietnamese word for these round boats is thúng chai. Language was a problem in Phan Rang/Thap Cham. But even so, there were several fishermen who offered to take us for a boat ride but the seas were too rough and they had no life-jackets for us, so we opted out. Apparently, you have to row correctly else you will go for a spin! Obviously, these fisherfolks knew how to row cos none of them were dizzy after being out at sea! Thanks for those links!
I don't know how deep the sea was but they did go far but probably not as far as the bigger boats can.
Oh and Vietnam totally reminded me of India, in more ways than one!
Anita, my pictures are my souvenirs! We thought they were made from coconut shell but apparently, it is bamboo.
Pel, yes, like huge cups. I wonder if Alice would have used these environment-friendly cups and gone for a spin in the sea instead. ;-)
I have two more photo stories. Very similar but I'm going to post them anyway.
Basket boats. What a fabulous thing. I bet it's great fun to spin in them.
Gabi, maybe I will be more adventurous on my next visit!
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