Good morning, Vietnam (you see what I did there?).
A beautiful breakfast view:
And then to the pearl farm on the “South Island tour”. An Aussie explained:
- only 2% of the world’s pearls are natural – they work their way inside the oyster, taking some 7 – 10 years to be made
- artificial insemination uses a seed (created from the crushed shells of oysters) planted straight in the gonads – the good part
- they’re put in cages and lowered 2 metres below sea level, identified by black buoys
- two metres is the optimum depth as there’s most plankton there
- unfortunately, barnacles start growing on the cages (weighing them down) and the oysters (so they can’t close, and that’s when a fish comes in and eats the pearl)
- so they have to clean the oysters and cages every 5 – 6 weeks
- even then, it takes two years to make a pearl 6mm in diameter
- that pearl will then sell for $10
Round here there are two varieties of oyster that are rarely found elsewhere (due to the chemical imbalances resulting from the rice fields upstream in the Delta). These can produce big oysters: as they secrete to feed the pearl, it makes the oyster bigger; over 5 – 6 cycles (each lasting upwards of two years, remember), they can start producing 15mm oysters (which take 7 – 10 years to grow). Not a get-rich-quick scheme, you’ll see. But it must be lucrative because there are three farms along this stretch. And they’re mostly made into jewellery:
This necklace was being sold for c.£200, but as I’ve never bought a pearl necklace, I have no idea whether this is cheap or extortionate.
“Coconut tree prison” was built by the French in 1924. It was used to house POWs in the Vietnam War (which here they call the American War), where the 40,000 inmates were tortured by US troops. Four thousand died, and 10,000 were injured. The displays focused on this torture, with reconstructions of tiger cages:
And some poignant photos:
But it was all too engineered. For example, they showed the escape tunnel that took 41 prisoners to freedom in 1969:
I’m guessing that it didn’t have these inviting steps, though. Surely even Americans would have spotted what was going on here…?! I discovered afterwards that the whole place is a reconstruction, completed in 2013, although it did give a sense of the place:
Fish sauce is a major Phu Quoc export. Except it isn’t, because several airlines have banned it for fear that broken bottles will stink the place out for months, if not years. Anchovies are caught and mixed with salt on the boat (3:1 ratio) and put straight into these vats, which can hold 15 tons. They’re then covered and left for 12 months when the first batch is siphoned off from the tap at the bottom. This is 45% protein. Water is added, the mixture left for another 3 months, and batch two taken: 40% protein. The process is repeated for the third and final batch: less than 40% protein. And then the leftovers are used as fertiliser for the pepper farm. Now that’s what you call recycling. Around 4,000 litres are produced in total, and then the process starts again.
It’s powerful – such a shame photos can’t communicate smells and tastes. The smell catches your throat, but is bearable. It’s fishy, but dull and concentrated. Not pleasant, but only mildly offensive. You wouldn’t want to hang around for long, though. And it’s strong. They don’t use this stuff in cooking – it’s too good – it forms the basis of sauces and dips. The Vietnamese like dipping.
Bai Sao (“Star beach”, named due to the starfish here) is widely acknowledged as the best beach on the island (this is not actually true – apparently, the military base in the north has commandeered all the best beaches, so it’s more accurate to say it’s the best beach mere mortals can visit):
I’d brought a baguette, but the lunch looked delicious. I should have mentioned – I was the only westerner on the trip – everyone else was Vietnamese. And as the guide spoke little English (yes, I was rather annoyed, too), the majority of the tour was in Vietnamese. But my fellow tourists were wonderful, taking me under their wing, with many of them speaking very good English indeed (two pretty much fluently). They kindly invited me to join their lunch, which was so lovely – we all sat round the table, with the dishes in the middle. Each person got a bowl of rice, and a small plate. You transfer a few mouthfuls of some of the dishes to your plate, and then go back for more when you’re ready. A really social occasion, unlike our “one person to one meal” approach. It was a highlight of my trip. I’ve included this photo for the record, but the sun made everything dark and, not liking having my own photo taken, I’m very uncomfortable taking other people’s so didn’t try again.
We then had another hour or so to relax on the beach, and I went swimming with one of the older Vietnamese ladies (fluent in English – she lived in Australia for 30 years). Educated, intelligent, fascinating, she gave me the entire history of Vietnam. Too much to reproduce here, but I’ll include snippets as they’re relevant. It occurred to me that I hadn’t met her like in Cambodia. And immediately it struck me why: all the intelligencia were killed by the Khmer Rouge. And their families were also “destroyed” (which surely decreased the average IQ in the country quite significantly).
A quick stop at a market to buy fruit:
And fish, if you wanted it:
And then the pagoda. Nice, but very new, so no real character yet. But great views (note the monk in the foreground, who did add to the feel of authenticity!):
Inside:
And I took this so I can find out what on earth they are (I assume they’re here as an offering):
Big, fat columns made of beautiful wood:
Very impressive, as were the rafters:
And then I stepped outside, and was reminded that I was a European giant:
I think the tour guide was enjoying this trip. We had an unscheduled stop at a dried fish shop. Yes, it was as bad as it sounds:
Hygiene was non-existent with flies landing on everything (the incense sticks are a token gesture to keep them away). And some very dubious wares:
This “swimming bladder” was rather perturbing:
Every kind of fish, in every kind of way. And not pretty. But interesting.
I would say I liked the seahorses, but I obviously didn’t like the fact that they were dead and bottled:
Then off to the now obligatory waterfall. It had been developed and in some respects it was done sympathetically, like the path:
But in other ways, it was quite gaudy (no, I don’t know what the tiger is doing there, either):
But the main waterfall was worth the trip, despite the hordes (not pictured):
The SIM wine factory was less interesting. Mostly because it wasn’t much different from wine-making in any country. But I did try the free sample (well, about one sip’s worth), which tasted like neat Ribena, with a hint of alcohol (it was only 1 – 2%).
Other, much stronger, versions are available:
But I was more intrigured by these:
Pepper is another major export from these parts. It only grows on red soil and takes two years to start producing fruit worth using: red ones are dried to become white pepper, and the green ones become black.
Another tasting session. They eat their mango very unripe (have I mentioned this before?), so it’s very bitter. In Cambodia, it was served with chili salt or sugar, but here we tried it with pepper:
All kinds of pepper mixtures: salt and pepper, garlic and pepper, chili and pepper and, of course, fish sauce and pepper.
Back via kicking out time at a local primary school:
And a rush through Duong Dong, which confirmed that it wasn’t worth a bicycle trip here tomorrow. A packed, varied and interesting day with a lovely bunch of people, finished off with a mango smoothie:
Aaaaah 🙂