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Published: February 20th 2012
Fishers 1
Boats need eyes to see where they are goingWe have been languishing on the Vietnam shore of the South China Sea for almost three weeks. To the east are the Philippines, to the south is Malaysia and China is north. The daytime temperature hovers around 30C and it cools off to about 24C at night. The sea water is silky smooth, warm and so salty that one can just lie back and float as on a big blanket.
We’ll start with the food as this army marches on its stomach. The area we are in has a well developed tourist infrastructure. There are restaurants serving foods from around the world. We have enjoyed the thalis with the buttery, fresh-baked nan bread at the Indian restaurant; the classic Margherita wood-fired oven pizza from the Italian restaurant, other Mediterranean delicacies and even Australian beef burgers at the Phat Restaurant across the road.
However, the Vietnamese restaurants are plentiful, diverse, inexpensive and very good. Our favourite, a place called Areca, a 3km bike ride east from our guest house, is usually crawling with Russians (like most of Mui Ne) so we try to get there early to get a table. It’s a family run place with the daughters taking orders,
My Queen
A physedder is alway up for a workout Mum in the kitchen, Dad and a son or son-in-law handing out menus, serving beer, clearing tables and handing out a plate of little bananas as each table finishes their meal. There are tables at the lower street level and then a few stairs up to tables in the upper room. The family takes their flip-flops off at the top of the stairs - and so do the guests... a very nice touch. The fried chicken breast with the ginger, honey and orange sauce is our favourite. We usually have an avocado and cabbage salad with a light vinegar, oil and mint dressing, too, along with some breaded shrimp or calamari. Once we had the pork ribs in a sweet and sour sauce. We’ll usually have a Saigon beer (480 ml) and a large Tiger beer (640 ml). Those three or four dishes and the beer rack up a bill of around $8. Other delights are the coconut and sweet potato curry - a bowl full of flavour but no heat. There is a cute little place just across from our guest house - a garden full of greenery with tables here and there - where we had a seafood
hotpot crammed with shrimp, calamari and vegetables. Along with the beer the bill was under $10. Another one of our favourite restaurants served us fried bananas for dessert - to die for!!!!
Speaking of beer, when served in a Vietnamese restaurant, a bottle is between 50 cents and a dollar. There is some inexpensive, drinkable local white wine (Delat) for $4 a bottle. Chilean and Australian wine is more expensive than at home. Western hard liquor is a little cheaper but the real bargain is found in the local rum. We passed on the cheap $2 stuff and went for the high-class $3.50 stuff. Every afternoon, when it is 4:00 o’clock somewhere, we mix it with delicious tetra-packed mango juice which is almost the same price as the rum.
We swim a lot - maybe an hour an a half a day divided into three sorties. One afternoon we were surprised by dozens of little fish jumping around us - almost dancing - darting straight into the air and skittering sideways on their tails before sinking back into the water. They were so numerous that one even jumped into my mouth as I was taking a breath. After
a couple of days of this a heretofore mid-shore fishing boat swept in along the shore dragging a net and scooped up a big load. Turns out these dancing fish are a species of anchovy and this was our introduction to the world of Vietnamese fish sauce. Seems the world’s best fish sauce is made in Vietnam. Vietnam’s best fish sauce is made on the island of Phu Quoc in the Gulf of Thailand. The second best fish sauce is from Phan Thiet - were we are now. Distribution of the sauce in today’s world was complicated by the trade embargo placed on the country in 1975 by the US. Today, all is forgiven yet one can buy ‘Phu Quoc’ fish sauce that is ‘Made In Thailand’...so, check the label before you buy if you are looking for the good stuff.
As the days went by more and more boats dragged their nets up and down the shore in front of us. Sometimes a dozen boats with what sounded like make-and-break engines would pound up and down all morning and into the afternoon until the wind and the waves drove them away. The little fish are cleaned from the
nets and spread on mesh mats on the ground for a first stage of drying. Then they are gathered up and make their way by motorcycle or truck in wicker bags and baskets to an open-air facility where they placed on screened racks to dry out in the sun. We saw thousands of these racks along the road one day - literally on the road (see photo).
To make fish sauce the anchovies and salt are arranged in wooden vats to ferment and are slowly pressed, yielding a salty, fishy liquid . The anchovies ferment for a year in these large wooden vats in dark warehouses to become a rich, golden liquid with pungent flavor. We have yet to find the warehouses but we have seen very large clay pots outside many homes as folks make up their own special brew. From this sauce many unique dipping sauces are made. These recipes usually mention the grandmother who passed it down. A great link with info and a recipe is at
http://whiteonricecouple.com/recipes/vietnamese-recipes-2/viet-fish-sauce-dip/
On Valentines Day the staff of our guest house went out for an evening of Karaoke and invited us along. They were rather impressive singers whereas
Fishers 3
Off-Shore Boats at Mui Ne Darla and I were not. Admittedly, they have experience as we understand they do this a lot. We felt so privileged to see these folks in another dimension. If we closed our eyes it almost sounded as if we were listening to the local radio with that thin, sweet, lilting oriental melody. It is possible that the more beer we drank the better was the singing....
For lunch at the guest house we usually peel a few mangoes, tender and delicate. Sometimes we’ll have a pineapple but, really, one can never have too many ripe mangoes on hand. Breakfast at the guest house can be noodle soup or some western choices - thanks to the French the bread here is terrific. When we go out for lunch it is for pho (pronounced 'fuh'😉 which is the national dish of Vietnam. It is a steaming bowl of rice noodles and a delicious broth soup served with loads of fresh basil and bean sprouts. Chicken, beef or seafood can also be added to the pho. This a really happy dish that always leaves us with a contented smile.
We have done a lot of biking up and down the shore
and away from the shore where it is really Vietnam. Most of the land here is red sand but there is one narrow road we found that heads inland up a small river valley that must be pretty wet when the heavy rains come as even in the dry season we saw rice paddies and other crops growing - very green. This road meanders through palm trees for a few kms past small farms with pigs, a few cows and marauding chickens, well-to-do houses with tiled porches and small businesses like a bandsaw mill, a motor cycle repair shop or a small general store. As we rode by little children would always yell ‘Hello’. We would always Hello back and smile at the proud parents nearby.
Today the sea decided to remind us just who was boss. Each time we swim we have a certain destination parallel to the shore that we must get to and back to achieve the fitness goal-of-the-moment. Usually in the morning the sea is smooth and glassy, perfect for our workout. The trouble, today, was just getting into the water as huge (4-5ft) waves would rear up and crash down boiling in front of
us. We ran the gauntlet and swam to our usual spot and back. Later we swam again to cool off after the bike ride and the waves were even bigger. All afternoon they thundered and drew the young adventurous into the water with lots of shrieking.
The sea calmed yet the waves grew larger during the night, our little masonry beach house shuddered. In the morning the sea was like glass except where the waves met the shore. We were tossed about like twigs trying to get beyond the breakers for our morning swim.
The director of the guest house, Hoa - mentioned in an earlier blog (stunning MBA student) - visited this weekend and decided they would have a party because a) she was there and b) we were leaving. We really have been treated so well by all the staff. We get special care with so many smiles.
The kitchen staff simmered a few chickens, complete with the feet, with carrots, potatoes and big chunks of blood (nothing is wasted). They went out and bought about a hundred small scallops which they steamed open, discarded the top shell, added diced chives and red peppers, added
a little block of butter and then cooked them in the oven. The food was brought to the long staff table under the palm leaf roofed lobby. All of the 11 staff sat down plus us. Many beers were opened and there was lots of toasting in Vietnamese - Mot, Hai, Ba, YO. In English it translates as One, Two, Three, YO as all the glasses that can meet are clinked. (Yo, it seems, is the same in both languages. We ate until we were stuffed and then a little more. In our month here we have met a few travelers we really liked and would like to see again. However the constant day-in, day-out contact with the seven women and four man staff here at our guest house has made it seem like this is our home while we are here.
In a couple of days we will catch an overnight train north to continue our adventure. We will leave behind the dry and comfortable 30C weather for longer sleeves, a world of silk and new cuisine.
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Anchovies
These are dried and made into fish sauce all.
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liz
non-member comment
Wow!
Sure sounds like a fine time. I am just off for a ski along Jacks Road with Sandra Hoy, so although I think I would like to be where you are, at least we have real winter here now, and can enjoy it! xo Liz