Nha Trang, Da Nang

I swore to myself I wouldn't procrastinate and would finish our last two blogs right after we got home. Well, it's been 3 weeks! Stretch made his contributions, now I'd better.(Becky blue, Stretch black and white)

 

Nha Trang is known for it's incredible white sand beaches, but besides that we wanted to visit an ole Alaskan friend that had returned to Vietnam 15 yrs ago, loved it and stayed. It was great to see him (Mike) and meet his partner Lan and bum around Nha Trang.....Plus they knew all the killer restaurants.....

Mike & Lan  at Ganpati Indian Restaurant 

Only one temple in town, so out of habit we visited and found one of my favorites the sleeping (reclining) buddha.

Buddha is happy.....warm and napping

Incense for the temple....

Rode a bicycle out and around the city to take in the sites.  View to the south

looking back over the heart of the city.

Fishing boats all painted the same.

Rub a dub dub, 4 men in a tub!

Delivering  fish on the beach..fried, stir-fried or raw.....

Life guarded section of the beach.

Salad fixings?

Peaceful to watch..but what is with the tiny chairs?

The bamboo boats where awesome and no one cared about bow or stern

We hung out in Nha Trang until Mike & Lan were ready to head up to Da Nang to visit our other Alaska friend (Suel). Mike and Suel came over at the same time and Suel  spends 6 months each winter in Da Nang.

Kuan In, goddess of mercy. One of the few female goddesses we saw represented.

Buddha Belly...it looks like good luck, just rub it.

We rode motorbikes to Hoi An for the afternoon to have a look around.
Very picturesque World Heritage site.

From our lunch spot looking out over the beach umbrellas as the 
fishermen motored back and forth.

Suel and trouble

We stopped by the roadside and visited a basket boat builder.

Later, we enjoyed "che che", as our friends called it, small clams cooked in herbs, garlic and butter.  Here the varieties are kept fresh in tubs with air hoses.

Another use for blue tarps: drying shrimp on the sidewalk.

Swing bridge and locals pulling nets in Da Nang

"Che che" and some stir fried rice to go along with our beer at a sidewalk in the sun. For some reason the tables and chairs were all kindergarten size. The locals were smaller than us, but not that small!

The whole dang crew in Da Nang with Chuck...the food at this spot was average,
but the company was excellent.